While most gamers remember old games with nostalgia, the team behind the Game Archive project is systematically saving them for the future. From cassettes with 8-bit games to gaming magazines and interviews with developers, Czech and Slovak gaming history is getting a digital second life thanks to their work. In an interview at this year's Game Access in Brno, we asked how games are archived, why it is important to capture even the "noise," and what it means when games become cultural heritage.
Rudolf Jan Suchý and Martin Štochl, who are involved in the Game Archive project – an initiative dedicated to documenting Czech and Slovak gaming history – accepted our invitation to an interview. Could you briefly describe what the project is about?
The Game Archive is a project of our organization, Game History, which was founded about five years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic. Its goal is to collect and manage artifacts and other materials from Czech and Slovak gaming history. We started by digitizing gaming magazines and other printed materials, but we gradually expanded to collecting independent games, period software, oral history with developers, and presentations at conferences such as Game Access. The main areas of our work are collection, digitization, and research.
Our first step was RetroHerna, which was intended to popularize gaming. We focused on global gaming history and brought it to the public through exhibitions and outreach events. Gradually, however, we began to focus more on archiving and research. In addition to magazines, we also participated in international projects, such as the rescue of the OUYA console, an independent platform that ceased to exist after three years. We collaborated with archivists and developers from around the world to restore its functionality. Thanks to this, new games are still being created on it today as part of various game jams.
The project focuses on three main areas:
The outputs often combine all of these components. For example, for the Videostop project, we first had to obtain the original data cassette, interview the authors, scan the accompanying materials, and place everything in a broader context. So it's not just about saving software, but also about preserving so-called paratexts – documents that illustrate the context of the time.
We also collaborate with institutions such as the National Film Archive, for example on the pixelarchiv.cz project, where we provide expert consultations.
How are game artifacts digitized?
It depends on the type of artifact. For cassettes for 8-bit computers (e.g., ZX Spectrum, Atari, Commodore 64), the data is converted to an uncompressed audio format (e.g., 32-bit WAV) so that even subtle nuances in the signal can be captured. The resulting file can be several GB in size.
Floppy disks are digitized using technology that scans magnetic flux. This allows even non-standard records, such as copy protection, to be captured. For example, some games deliberately stored data in such a way that each reading produced a slightly different result. If the game detected that the reading was the same each time it was launched, it evaluated it as an illegal copy and crashed. Our digitization method can capture and preserve these subtle differences. Digitization is therefore not just about transferring data, but about preserving the entire context – including “noise,” errors, or protection mechanisms. We like to compare it to the difference between simply transcribing text and scanning a page that also has handwritten notes or stains. Whether it's a CD, floppy disk, or cassette, we treat them as analog carriers of digital data. If we want to create a faithful 1:1 replica, we have to approach it with the appropriate care.
How many gaming magazines have you digitized so far?
We have approximately 1,700 magazines in our database, with about 70 still missing. The collection is almost complete, but we occasionally come across previously unknown copies, such as samizdat publications. Some magazines, such as Level, were published in multiple versions of a single issue – we try to have them all. Due to the destructive nature of digitization, we keep two copies of each issue – one for archiving and one for scanning.
How do you deal with outdated or incompatible formats?
Most formats are well documented, so the key is to have the appropriate old hardware and use emulation. However, this does not always work the first time around – in such cases, heuristics come into play, i.e., estimation based on experience with various formats and data structures. It is very manual and intuitive work that requires knowledge of historical technologies.
A good example is the unlabeled digital data tapes (DDS) we obtained from the Atari club in Cítov. First, we had to figure out how to read them, and then we gradually deduced from the data that they were backups created by a specific version of backup software from 1993. We had to find it, install it, and use it to extract the data.
So we often sit over a hexadecimal editor and literally "read bytes" to find out what we actually have in front of us. It's detective work that combines technical knowledge, patience, and intuition.
What technologies do you use for digitization?
The technologies used vary depending on the type of media. For cassettes, we have developed our own procedure – we use a high-quality player from the 1990s with automatic speed correction and a sensitive head, supplemented by a professional sound card for high-quality recording. We digitize floppy disks using a specialized controller (e.g., Pauline, Greaseweazle, or KryoFlux), which allows for flux-level copying, including non-standard formats and copy protection. For CDs, we adhere to the Redump community standard, which offers the widest coverage of various archiving cases.
We scan physical documents, such as magazines, using proven equipment – for example, Epson scanners with automatic feeders, which are also used by memory institutions such as the National Museum or the National Film Archive.
How do you collaborate with international databases such as Redump or No-Intro?
These platforms focus on archiving games and software. They are not centralized projects – they operate on a volunteer basis and are governed by recommended practices rather than fixed standards. The difference between them is that Redump is dedicated to optical discs, while No-Intro focuses on cartridges. Redump has the broadest scope, which is why we contribute to it most often. We test new digitization methods and share feedback with the community. It's a living ecosystem where everyone contributes what they have, and together we push the boundaries of what can be preserved.
How important do you think the involvement of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in international efforts to archive gaming history is?
Enormous. We started more than ten years ago, before archiving gaming history became a global trend. We worked on our knees for a long time, but basically we were doing what is now beginning to be institutionalized. The specificity of Czech and Slovak gaming history lies in the fact that we are located on the border between East and West. Gaming culture developed differently here than in the West, but at the same time, we very quickly absorbed Western influences after 1989. This puts us in a unique position that no one has yet properly mapped out.
Western narratives often revolve around Nintendo, Atari, or the video game crash of the 1980s. But in the former Eastern Bloc, gaming culture developed in parallel – with its own computers, its own games, and often within the "homebrew" scene. And that's what needs to be captured. For example, at Game Access, we talked about this with American designer Warren Robinett, who was surprised at how differently things worked here in the 1980s and 1990s. If history is to be a tool for understanding development, we must capture it in its entirety – including these "fringe" perspectives.
Furthermore, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the "golden Czech hands" are not just a myth. A strong community developed around 8-bit computers in our country, laying the foundations for the first commercial games in the 1990s. Everyone knew each other, shared ideas, and thus created a scene that was unparalleled elsewhere. This makes it all the more important to preserve it.
How do you select the games you present at RetroHerna?
RetroHerna is intended to popularize retro gaming, so in addition to Czech rarities, we also present globally known titles – classics from consoles that an entire generation of gamers grew up with. The goal is for visitors to not only play the games, but also understand their historical context.
Over the ten years we have been operating, we have established a proven selection of games and devices that work reliably and are ready for immediate use. Players tend to prefer so-called pick-up and play games – racing, fighting, or platform games that are intuitive and do not require lengthy explanations. However, we also include specific titles at themed events – for example, interactive fiction or text games at literature-focused festivals. We are open to suggestions and adapt to the requirements of the organizers.
Has anything changed for you this year since the establishment of the Czech Audiovisual Fund?
The change in the fund's name and the inclusion of video games is primarily symbolic – the Ministry of Culture is signaling that it perceives games as part of cultural heritage. In practice, this has so far been rather indirect. For example, in this year's release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, we saw that well-known public figures were also involved in the promotion. This is reminiscent of the situation in Poland in 2011, when then-Prime Minister Donald Tusk presented Barack Obama with a collector's edition of The Witcher 2. In addition to the symbolic significance, however, certain funds will now be released for game development. This could be particularly helpful for small developers, as well as providing support for events such as festivals or activities related to the archiving and popularization of gaming history, which could be of great benefit to us as archivists.
Unlike traditional grants, the Czech Audiovisual Fund provides financial support that is tied to a share of the profits. This may be a more advantageous model for some creators. For us, it is important that this increases overall interest in games as a cultural phenomenon.
Regardless of the new law and the restructuring of the fund, the National Film Archive is developing the previously mentioned pixelarchiv.cz project, which is developing methods and procedures for how memory institutions (archives, museums, galleries) should preserve games in their collections. We see this as a further shift in the interest of society and the state in games as cultural heritage.
ŠVELCH, Jaroslav, 2018. Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games. The MIT Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts. ISBN: 9780262038843
DONOVAN, Tristan, c2010. Replay: the history of video games. East Sussex: Yellow Ant. ISBN: 978-0-9565072-0-4.
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