ABSTRACT
A low-tech example of an interesting foundational technology can be seen in Abalone, a board game invented in 1987 by Laurent Levi and Michel Lalet. The technology, which started as something more foundational, ended up as something purely decorational and a pretty ugly decoration at that. The fancy technology could not save a boring game, and it flopped. A more modern example can be seen when considering the technology of “ragdoll physics.” The basic idea is that technology companies often fail because they make the mistake of listening to their customers. One repeated error that comes up again and again when people try to predict the future of technology: they assume that technologies will converge and unify. Technology is the medium of game designers game and one of the four cornerstones of game design. Contrast that use with how the same algorithms are used in the game Ico.
