Growth

I was only a little kid when I first played it.

A simple, small, obscure, old Amiga game.

Also, one of the most important learning experiences of my life.

The game is a hybrid of Breakout and Space Zap (reversed), in which you have to destroy the core of the "growth" by shooting through a constantly increasing amount of matter.

If it reaches the edges of the screen, you lose; you have to pay attention and prevent it from expanding too much.

Little explosive tiles are also randomly generated, which you can take advantage of in order to clear a wider area at once.

As you advance through the levels, the core begins spawning colourful shapes that kill you on touch, to make sure you don't fall asleep if you find the game too easy.

Every few levels the gameplay will change into one of two variants:

• One in which the growth stops advancing and you have a ball to keep bouncing, Breakout-style. You lose if the ball touches any of the four edges.
• Another where you have to shoot a bunch of falling bubbles. You can only move sideways at the bottom of the screen and you lose if any bubble makes it past you.

As to why it influenced me so much: it taught me the importance of aiming for the core of the problem while at the same time not losing track of my surroundings.

You can't completely ignore the minor, secondary things, otherwise they end up multiplying so much they end up crushing you.

It sounds pretty simple, but when you're 5 it's quite deep.

I know many adults in their middle age who still fail to understand the concept.

I hear it all the time: "going for the low-hanging fruit", the "80/20" rule, MVP...

Then they only focus on the 80% but completely ignore the remaining 20%.

The 20% which is ultimately going to decide if they win or lose.

(Screenshots by Lemon Amiga)