6 ms·

Ed Logg's plan form for Atari Asteroids

97 points by wallflower 10y ago

sehugg 10y ago
While researching for a book I learned that Asteroids was inspired by three different games: Spacewar! (the seminal PDP-1 video game), Computer Space (Atari's derivative of Spacewar) and Space Invaders. The control scheme comes directly from Spacewar; even the hyperspace button works the same way. Space Invaders inspired the "clear the level" aspect of the game. Nishikado cites Breakout as the inspiration for this aspect of Space Invaders. (Shooting games until that point usually didn't have levels to clear, you just ran up your score until the game ended.) There's an old archived post with more trivia and design docs here: https://web.archive.org/web/20141222010537/http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-asteroids/ https://web.archive.org/web/20141222010537/http://www.edge-o... (might be display errors, maybe ad-block-detector caused)
- cyberferret 10y ago
  Spacewar! was one of my absolute favourites back in the day. My business partner at the time and I wasted many an hour side by side on the keyboard on an IBM PC/XT trying to outdo each other. I wonder if there is a browser version, or iOS version around these days?? Would love to revisit it for nostalgic reasons.
  - mmjaa 10y ago
    The original: http://spacewar.oversigma.com http://spacewar.oversigma.com
  - laumars 10y ago
    The thing that gets me about Spacewar is how gorgeous it looked compared to games released even much much later. The CRT effects and vector graphics really lift that game to a whole other level that pixel rendering and sprites could never match (and this is coming from someone who loves the pixel art of retro games). As much I sometimes grown when I hear people talking about CRT emulation of classic computers and games consoles, if there was any game that would benefit from CRT emulation it would be Spacewar!
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
jamesbowman 10y ago
Some detailed analysis of the Asteroids hardware/software: http://computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Asteroids/ http://computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Asteroids/
mtimjones 10y ago
This is more of a pitch document than a design document.
intrasight 10y ago
Next time I'm back home in Rochester, I will visit Strong to see that document.
droithomme 10y ago
Is that really a design document that was created before developing the game, or is it a summary that was created after a development prototype was mostly complete?
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  That's a good point. It's a great spec either way but that's a good distinction to make when assessing awe factor of historical work.
- sehugg 10y ago
  I'm guessing after some prototype work had been done. I've seen another version of the doc with a back page describing the saucers, which weren't fleshed out until later in the process. Another account describes the game as a "creative exercise" that turned into an actual product (this wasn't uncommon!): http://www.rawbw.com/~delman/pdf/making_of_Asteroids.pdf http://www.rawbw.com/~delman/pdf/making_of_Asteroids.pdf
  - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
    The tweet that Gamasutra is quoting has both pages: https://twitter.com/jpdysonplay/status/846373739671498753 https://twitter.com/jpdysonplay/status/846373739671498753 It looks like they only reproduced (or read) the first one for their article. In any case, it's a fascinating sign of the times. Today the completed game would be considered a "creative exercise"--a skilled programmer could probably finish it in a day.
- peglegjoe 10y ago
  It looks to me like a description of the completed software, for use in writing the manual and promotional meterials and designing the cabinet.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
CamTin 10y ago
I love that somebody had to go to a print shop and ask for "Video Game Plan Forms". Probably the most awe-inspiring thing to me about most great 20th century engineering (and other) accomplishments is that, except in a very few fields (and then rather late) they basically took place without the aid of computerized communication, research, and organizational tools. It seems so daunting to, for example, fight a globe-spanning war on two fronts involving dozens of allied nations and millions of men and women, without even the aid of a spreadsheet.
- princetontiger 10y ago
  the western world has no limit and some of the smartest people with intestinal fortitude. Rome had air conditioning and large centralized armies, just like to present day
- rangibaby 10y ago
  They certainly had spreadsheets. Except they were called worksheets, and computer was a job description rather than a machine :-)
acomjean 10y ago
Asteroids is kinda interesting because its a vector based game. (the beam is moved around the screen, turned on and off rapidly to draw the game screen). The vector graphics made the game looks so crisp and clean. Slower beam movement make brighter lines, which is clever. I recently stumbled across a youtube video where someone takes a modern laser projector and recreates asteroids using it. A little long, but kinda interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHjG759ABY&t=774s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHjG759ABY&t=774s
- tyingq 10y ago
  The arcade musuem has a copy of the manual for that G05 vector X/Y monitor used in Asteroids, Red Baron, Battlezone, etc. http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari%20Monitor%20TM-146%20Issue%201%20Electrohome%20G05-801%20Monochrome%20XY.pdf http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari%20Monito... The laser projector link you put up is really cool. Laser servos can't move around anywhere near as fast as a vector monitor, so it's neat to see how he had to scale the number of objects down to a manageable level.
  - acomjean 10y ago
    Neat. I think he said 30,000 points per second for the laser I think he said, which seems pretty good. Nearest neighbor.. I'll have to take another look at an asteroids, but the fact that you can't even tell that how it works, even when the screen is full of objects is telling. those XY monitors were quite the thing. I'm getting "VECTREX" flashbacks (the 80s vector based home game console).. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
- joezydeco 10y ago
  The definitive guide to how the Atari vector system worked was written by Jed Margolin (ex-Atari engineer). It's amazingly detailed but incredibly easy to read: http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm The secret is very precise (and expensive) DACs. The vector generator actually did all the hard work in Asteroids. The main CPU (a 1.5 MHz 6502) just created vector lists for the AVG to draw.
dang 10y ago
Url changed from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/294648/Check_out_the_handwritten_game_design_doc_for_Asteroids.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/294648/Check_out_the_hand..., which points to this.

97 points by wallflower 10y ago

While researching for a book I learned that Asteroids was inspired by three different games: Spacewar! (the seminal PDP-1 video game), Computer Space (Atari's derivative of Spacewar) and Space Invaders. The control scheme comes directly from Spacewar; even the hyperspace button works the same way. Space Invaders inspired the "clear the level" aspect of the game. Nishikado cites Breakout as the inspiration for this aspect of Space Invaders. (Shooting games until that point usually didn't have levels to clear, you just ran up your score until the game ended.) There's an old archived post with more trivia and design docs here: https://web.archive.org/web/20141222010537/http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-asteroids/ https://web.archive.org/web/20141222010537/http://www.edge-o... (might be display errors, maybe ad-block-detector caused)

cyberferret 10y ago
Spacewar! was one of my absolute favourites back in the day. My business partner at the time and I wasted many an hour side by side on the keyboard on an IBM PC/XT trying to outdo each other. I wonder if there is a browser version, or iOS version around these days?? Would love to revisit it for nostalgic reasons.
- mmjaa 10y ago
  The original: http://spacewar.oversigma.com http://spacewar.oversigma.com
- laumars 10y ago
  The thing that gets me about Spacewar is how gorgeous it looked compared to games released even much much later. The CRT effects and vector graphics really lift that game to a whole other level that pixel rendering and sprites could never match (and this is coming from someone who loves the pixel art of retro games). As much I sometimes grown when I hear people talking about CRT emulation of classic computers and games consoles, if there was any game that would benefit from CRT emulation it would be Spacewar!

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

jamesbowman 10y ago

Some detailed analysis of the Asteroids hardware/software: http://computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Asteroids/ http://computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Asteroids/

mtimjones 10y ago

This is more of a pitch document than a design document.

intrasight 10y ago

Next time I'm back home in Rochester, I will visit Strong to see that document.

droithomme 10y ago

Is that really a design document that was created before developing the game, or is it a summary that was created after a development prototype was mostly complete?

nickpsecurity 10y ago
That's a good point. It's a great spec either way but that's a good distinction to make when assessing awe factor of historical work.
sehugg 10y ago
I'm guessing after some prototype work had been done. I've seen another version of the doc with a back page describing the saucers, which weren't fleshed out until later in the process. Another account describes the game as a "creative exercise" that turned into an actual product (this wasn't uncommon!): http://www.rawbw.com/~delman/pdf/making_of_Asteroids.pdf http://www.rawbw.com/~delman/pdf/making_of_Asteroids.pdf
- PhasmaFelis 10y ago
  The tweet that Gamasutra is quoting has both pages: https://twitter.com/jpdysonplay/status/846373739671498753 https://twitter.com/jpdysonplay/status/846373739671498753 It looks like they only reproduced (or read) the first one for their article. In any case, it's a fascinating sign of the times. Today the completed game would be considered a "creative exercise"--a skilled programmer could probably finish it in a day.
peglegjoe 10y ago
It looks to me like a description of the completed software, for use in writing the manual and promotional meterials and designing the cabinet.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

CamTin 10y ago

I love that somebody had to go to a print shop and ask for "Video Game Plan Forms". Probably the most awe-inspiring thing to me about most great 20th century engineering (and other) accomplishments is that, except in a very few fields (and then rather late) they basically took place without the aid of computerized communication, research, and organizational tools. It seems so daunting to, for example, fight a globe-spanning war on two fronts involving dozens of allied nations and millions of men and women, without even the aid of a spreadsheet.

princetontiger 10y ago
the western world has no limit and some of the smartest people with intestinal fortitude. Rome had air conditioning and large centralized armies, just like to present day
rangibaby 10y ago
They certainly had spreadsheets. Except they were called worksheets, and computer was a job description rather than a machine :-)

acomjean 10y ago

Asteroids is kinda interesting because its a vector based game. (the beam is moved around the screen, turned on and off rapidly to draw the game screen). The vector graphics made the game looks so crisp and clean. Slower beam movement make brighter lines, which is clever. I recently stumbled across a youtube video where someone takes a modern laser projector and recreates asteroids using it. A little long, but kinda interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHjG759ABY&t=774s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHjG759ABY&t=774s

tyingq 10y ago
The arcade musuem has a copy of the manual for that G05 vector X/Y monitor used in Asteroids, Red Baron, Battlezone, etc. http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari%20Monitor%20TM-146%20Issue%201%20Electrohome%20G05-801%20Monochrome%20XY.pdf http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari%20Monito... The laser projector link you put up is really cool. Laser servos can't move around anywhere near as fast as a vector monitor, so it's neat to see how he had to scale the number of objects down to a manageable level.
- acomjean 10y ago
  Neat. I think he said 30,000 points per second for the laser I think he said, which seems pretty good. Nearest neighbor.. I'll have to take another look at an asteroids, but the fact that you can't even tell that how it works, even when the screen is full of objects is telling. those XY monitors were quite the thing. I'm getting "VECTREX" flashbacks (the 80s vector based home game console).. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
joezydeco 10y ago
The definitive guide to how the Atari vector system worked was written by Jed Margolin (ex-Atari engineer). It's amazingly detailed but incredibly easy to read: http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm The secret is very precise (and expensive) DACs. The vector generator actually did all the hard work in Asteroids. The main CPU (a 1.5 MHz 6502) just created vector lists for the AVG to draw.

dang 10y ago

Url changed from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/294648/Check_out_the_handwritten_game_design_doc_for_Asteroids.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/294648/Check_out_the_hand..., which points to this.