Coinopspace:
What was the reason that Accelerator
never saw the light of day? I
heard that it might have been a budget
issue at the time.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"No, it was not a budget issue.
The game was really fun to play as long
as you had two people who were about
evenly matched. Dennis Harper, the
other developer (who went on to do
Toobin’, and others) and I had some
fabulous times playing the game.
Unfortunately, it just wasn’t as much
fun alone, or with someone who was
radically different level."
Coinopspace:
So, it didn’t test well then?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Accelerator tested just “ok”, but at
that point, due to the financial issues,
all games really needed to be stellar to
get into production."
Coinopspace:
How many test locations was it on?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"It was in just one location. We
never made more than one of them.
We did a lot of work to try to equalize
the levels (if you were too far ahead,
“bad things happened”, etc, put in more
jump pads for the behind player, etc.,
but just not compelling enough unless
you were head-to-head."
Coinopspace:
You know where that one is right Rusty?
Scott Evans currently has it; he’s
bringing it to California Extreme this
year.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Very cool. Had a lot of fun doing
the game, even though it never made it."
Coinopspace:
Did you put any Easter eggs in any of
your games, such as your name, initials,
or hidden messages?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Oh yeah, let’s see… well, Cloak &
Dagger had all the hidden teleporters…
not quite Easter Eggs, but a start.
Paperboy has many things show up if you
hit hidden targets (the submarine
periscope, gopher, etc). In Race
Driven’, if you crash off the cliff in a
certain way, you may see the designers
initials in the sky. Very
rare though. You have to roll the
car to see the sky, so it isn’t easy or
obvious. We weren’t supposed to
put in Easter Eggs back then that
weren’t directly connected to the game
play."
Coinopspace:
The hut, was that the name of a hang
out? In Race Drivin’, the small building
behind a house has a sign that says “The
Hut” on it.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Ah, no, I believe that it got that name
from the artist who created it – it
looked like a hut… I could be wrong here
though – long time ago and far, far
away. <grin>"
Coinopspace:
Any other Easter Eggs in any other
titles you worked on?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe;
"Not really…"
Coinopspace:
You receive a ’special thanks’ on the
credits screen in 720°. What was
your involvement with that game?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"I was only peripherally involved with
720°, but it was otherwise the same team
that did Paperboy (which I was much
involved with). Still, I helped
out with some of the design issues and a
couple of game play sequence issues,
plus was one of the patsy skateboarders
who got banged up on our half-pipe we
built in the warehouse. I
created the motion-object engine used by
720° and a batch of other
titles that came out then, too."
Coinopspace:
Rusty, there are random blue flags that
pop up in Skate City and award the
player points. Are those in fact
‘random’ or are they based on something
else? (i.e. your previous skate park
performance, etc.) It’s been a
topic of much debate.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"They are NOT random. They were
placed there carefully by Dave Ralston
(who did that playfield, along with
Paperboy). However, the timing of
when they show up is hidden deep in the
recesses of his and John Salwitz’s (the
programmer) devious minds."
Coinopspace:
Of the titles you worked to create do
you have a favorite?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Well, I really liked Agent X / Cloak &
Dagger. But very close is
Paperboy. Certainly, for me,
Paperboy was the financial winner.
But C&D was lots of fun to create both
technically, and game-wise."
Coinopspace:
What was the relationship like with
Universal when you were the main point
of contact for Cloak and Dagger? Were
you really just there to play the game
and nothing else?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"It was a fabulous relationship between
us. They came looking for a “spy
game” and we had Agent X already well
along in development. The two were
a nice match, so the royalty scheme
didn’t favor either company. We
sent them a cabinet and when I went down
I worked closely with the editor of the
movie, who was my “escort” the whole
time.
We
discussed everything from syntax used in
the move (the word “tape” was already
recorded and so couldn’t be replaced
with ‘cartridge’ for example) to how
credits could be done with a game motif
(like flashing on/off/on, etc.).
I was
the one who actually plays the game in
the film, though it looks a lot like the
boy is playing. That was tough!
I had to play on the cabinet, but they
removed the monitor so that it could be
filmed. The monitor was down and
to the right of where I was standing,
not in front! Try to get the
world’s high score that way!
Not
only that, but the movie frame rate is
24hz, the game is 30hz. So, if you
closely watch the movie, you’ll notice
the action is a bit slow, and the sounds
a bit low. We put in the “Final
scene” in C&D with the secret stolen
plans, just so they could film it for
the movie. Course, it didn’t do
the game any harm either. I had a
blast the week I was at Universal, got
to wander over most of the lot at will."
Coinopspace:
Did you see anything of note on the
Universal lot?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Not too much, except for Dabny Colman
and … Thomas filming a couple of scenes.
There wasn’t much happening there at
that moment. On the other hand, my
trip to Mexico to talk with the Dune
staff (incl. David Lynch & Rapheala) for
a game we didn’t do was full of stuff.
But that is another story."
Coinopspace:
Do you currently own any games? If
so which ones?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"I owned 13 titles when I left Atari,
but I’ve moved 5 times since and dropped
a couple with each move.
I’m now down to a sit-down Star Wars, a
prototype Paperboy, and one I didn’t do
– A “signed” Ted Nugent pinball (that
sees ALOT of play). Actually, so does
the Paperboy.
My
daughter (12) holds the world record
(unofficial) for all three roads on
that. When she’s 13, I’ll submit a
video so it’ll be legit. Every
time I’ve beaten her, she just comes
back and thrashes me again. She’s
found at least 3 Easter Eggs I didn’t
even know were there.
I miss
my C&D, and Roadblasters, out of the
ones I sold off."
Coinopspace:
Which Easter Eggs?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"There’s a gopher on hard way that comes
to mind. Have to ride next to a
house to get it. It’s hard to get
out without losing a life though."
Coinopspace:
If you were designing a coin op game
today, what genre would you like to work
in? Also would you make it a
button masher like most are today or
would you keep it a little more linear
like the classics?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"I’d do a good driving sim (I enjoy
those) that involved the need for some
stunt work (jumping bridges, etc.) if
there was a good theme to go along, like
a “Bond racer” or some such – or
something that had humor and strategy as
a part. The Dune game I proposed
but didn’t do comes to mind.
It
actually would have had you try to
become “prescient”, to know the future,
by giving you subtle hints and
highlighting the colors of these
differently so you would look on the
screen in a special way. It would
be cool with today’s graphics. No button
masher, no intense violence, no shoot-em-up.
Humor and strategy – that is what I
like. The story, the graphics, the
fun are the thing!
I
spent a lot of time after Atari doing
social on-line environments.
Taught me a lot about interaction when
you have a limited “tool set”. I
think I could do some fun games again
these days. Too bad the money
aspect isn’t there like back in the
day."
Coinopspace:
How old were you when you worked at
Atari?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"I was 29 when I joined Atari, left
there when I was 39. Most fun job
I ever had! It was a great group of guys
(& girls) to work with."
Coinopspace:
I know the plan for the System II
cabinet was to have more than just 2
games become available for it.
Were there any other games besides
Paperboy and Championship Sprint on the
drawing board for that cab before it was
deemed that there wouldn’t be anymore?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Not really. They turned Paperboy
into a System II only because they
couldn’t get many pre-sales. Paperboy
tested uniquely for a video game.
Most games do spectacular for a week or
two then drop off. Paperboy
started at a mid-level and never dropped
off. But it was hard to convince the
arcade owners it was a win proposition.
By turning it into a “system” game, they
thought they could make a better sales
pitch.
Championship Sprint was the solution to
doing another game on it to satisfy the
folks who bought a system game that it
really was a system.
Super Sprint used the same processor and basic technology, so the
conversion was relatively easy. Of
course, Atari made out like a bandit
with Paperboy. It was the only
game they ever did a profit share on
with the arcade owners (let us put this
in your arcade, we share profits 50-50,
you never have to buy it). Because
it never fell off in its revenue, Atari
made more than 10x as much as they would
have if they’d sold them outright!
That is trusting in your own market
research!"
Coinopspace:
Not a bad model for certain games.
I didn’t know it was a profit share
title.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"The only one. Need to be very
picky there."
Coinopspace:
I bet the distributors were not happy
with that.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Those owners who didn’t want them
anymore after awhile returned them and
those were turned into Championship
Sprint. No, the distributors were
not pleased, but then, had they sold
them, we wouldn’t have done that!"
Coinopspace:
Any other awesome insights into Paperboy
and its history?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Well, Paperboy almost never saw the
light of day. I took over as
project leader when I first became a
manager for Atari, and it was scheduled
to die based on the previous project
lead. We changed it to a humorous
game instead of a “psycho” game, worked
well."
Coinopspace:
I’ve heard rumors that Atari had
considered making Indiana Jones a laser
disc game. Since you worked on
Temple of doom I’m wondering if you had
any info on this or had even heard of
this? If there is any truth to the
rumor do you have any clue what stage of
development this got to?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"That one is news to me as well, heard
about it first here. Sorry, no
insight to add there."
Coinopspace:
My favorite System 1 game is Indiana
Jones. What was your involvement
on the game? Was anything dropped?
Any bugs or Easter Eggs? Did you
know anything about the laserdisc
version?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Again, for Temple of Doom, I did the
motion object driver (quadrupling or
more the number of items the game could
display). Had fun with it though!"
Coinopspace:
What game do you really love but would
like to own?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"My favorite game I’d LIKE to have –
Robotron 2084."
Coinopspace:
Cloak & Dagger was inspired by Robotron,
correct?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Yes, C&D was my salute to Robotron —
lots of stuff moving around, the
dual-joystick controls; have to be very
“zen” to play it. Very tough!
I believe I have a set of original side
panels from C&D, but I can’t bloody find
‘em right now. Buried in the
basement somewhere, I’m guessing."
Coinopspace:
Were the cabinet sides really drawn with
marker directly on the cabinet? Or
hand drawn?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"No, they would run off these printouts
on these monstrous decals that were the
size of the cabinet. They were hand
drawn and colored by our art staff, like
all the other artwork. However, they
were going for a certain “style” that
made it look that way. Solid
colors, blocked shapes, etc."
Coinopspace:
What is the reason you went with the
crystal castles cab for C&D instead of
an original design?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"That was the production staff’s call.
I was more interested in the audio
quality, etc. and wasn’t too critical of
the cabinet for that game, anyway.
The
Crystals Castles cab worked, and
besides, we were only doing a pre-prod
run of 20. So, we used what was on
hand."
Coinopspace:
How hard was it to bring I, Robot to
market what with all its hardware
complexity and the technological “1sts”
it brought to the table?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Atari held 3 patents on that
technology. It had the first
large-scale custom ICs, it had two
“quad-pokeys” — a new way of getting
more sound effects in, challenging!
Not only that, the market was going
through one of its cycles which is
always a tough time for innovation."
Coinopspace:
What are your thoughts on (Atari’s)
Batman?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Well, I thought it was pretty weak.
They were being rushed to get it out and
some of the more subtle game play
features never made it in, and the
graphics were also rushed. The
team did an amazing job considering the
timeframe. Most games took 12-18
months. Batman took 6.
There
were going to be additional goodies to
pick up that would let you fly, etc.
There was a whole scene that never made
it with aerial stunts. Kelly and
Norm did Batman (also Super Sprint,
Vindicators). They were a good
team."
Coinopspace:
Ah, we have heard similar things in the
past 5-6 chats, those darn licenses.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Yup, license issues."
Coinopspace:
We might have already covered this in
the Robotron reference, but, what is
your “holy grail” arcade machine if you
could only own one?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Yup, Robotron. I really got into
that game. Had an ongoing
challenge with another developer and we
really got deep into that game.
I have
a top score around 3M, stopped moving
the eyes – just kind of blank stared and
moved the controls. Amazing."
Coinopspace:
Did you work on Marble Madness II:
Marble Man at all?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Nope, Marble Madness II happened after
I left. Not sure if that was only
being done to support the home market,
either. Some games like Paperboy
II were done for that. Mark Cerny
did Marble. Fabulous designer.
Really brilliant."
Coinopspace:
I didn’t understand the gap in release
between Marble Madness 1 & 2.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Me neither. I was there at least
5 years after Marble and it never came
up as something to do seriously (almost
all games get talked about a little that
way)."
Coinopspace:
Do you have any crazy late night Atari
stories similar to Eugene Jarvis’ wild
parties and game creation sessions?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Hehehe. Well, have you heard the
Firefox team’s version of what went down
before the show yet?
They
had a very cool proto cabinet that
looked like the Firefox fighter cabinet,
but they were having serious issues
getting the laserdisc to behave.
So they sent the cabinet on to San
Antonio with the hardware while the team
stayed behind to finish programming.
However, even with a multi-day 24 hours
non-stop effort, they still didn’t have
it done, so Warner sent their private
jet to wait for them in San Jose to
bring the ROMs.
But,
they still didn’t get it (even after
calling in some of the rest of us from
other projects to help — which IMHO only
made things worse ). Planes
can’t take off from the San Jose Airport
after 11:00 PM, so they moved the jet to
Oakland.
The
team still wasn’t done at 4:00 AM and
the show opened at 10:00 AM, so they
stole the EPROM programmer and PAL
programmers from the chip lab, took all
their computers, hardware, etc. and got
on the plane. On the way, they
called ahead for pizza to Albuquerque
where the plane landed and picked it up
for them and met ‘em on the runway.
Calling ahead for pizza from the plane
is a classic.
Got to
the show before it opened, but still
couldn’t get it to work right.
They went one day, then two, then the
whole show with this incredible cabinet
that people got to sit in BUT NO GAME.
It was a huge success. The rest of
us decided we didn’t need to do games
anymore!
Let’s
see, then there was the Pole Position
rehab for me. I was playing that
one in the lab after hours A LOT!
Had it very wired, held record on every
track in the labs. So, with Pole
Position, after playing for about 3
hours one night, I drove home. At
that time I was driving a Porsche 924S.
I only lived about 3 miles away, BUT
here I am on Montague Expressway and
there is an “S” curve with two cars
sitting on it.
It was
identical to the PP setup on one of its
curves – speed limit of 50 with 3 lanes.
Shot between the two cars and was going
140 when I came out the other side.
Zipped through the signal (green, thank
god) and realized what I’d done.
Needless to say, no more Pole Position
for me for awhile, had to do some rehab!
Also fortunately, no cops in the area. K
ept telling myself after that 'This is
NOT Pole Position!'"
Coinopspace:
Did you come up with the idea for the
game play of Rampart? It’s pretty
inventive; many have described it as
Missile Command meets Tetris.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Ah, I loved Rampart. It was
actually a takeoff on a game we were
playing in the labs at the time (much
simpler game, and not the same, but had
the “lobbing” effect). When the
ships were added, it really took off –
another Salwitz/Ralston creation.
But I would say I certainly had a piece
of that one too, as I was living in that
lab for awhile.
In a
way, you could say it was inspired in
part by the old 2600 Game Warlords.
The multi-player action was what we were
after that Warlords gave. That,
plus the old 800 games Mule and Archon
still get play in our house.
Thought about linking (the two games)
them. About a year ahead of being
able to do it easily, though."
Coinopspace:
Did you design more than 6 levels for
Marble Madness, and just ended up using
6 because of RAM limitations?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Time limitations more than anything
else, had to button it up and sell it."
Coinopspace:
How long did it take to make a level of
Marble Madness?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Well the first one took 6 months to
figure out the physics and game play
devices we could use. After that,
about 1-2 months each. I believe
there were 12 that had been designed.
I remember a black hole obstacle that
didn’t get used.
We had
also recently gotten the Yamaha music
chip to use (and I programmed to add to
the RPM sound board), so our audio group
was going wild with it (Marble Madness
and Paperboy being two of the first to
use it). RPM = Rusty’s Pokey Music
(which later became the defacto standard
all Atari music/sound effects. RPM
was a predecessor to MIDI. Would
have used MIDI if it had been around."
Coinopspace:
What happened to the unfinished Marble
Madness levels? Is it something
somebody has copies of the code still?
Were the other levels playable/finished?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Marble Madness was Mark Cerny’s baby.
I was Project Lead for about the first
half or so of its lifecycle (Mark became
his own lead at that point as I was
getting bogged down with I Robot,
Paperboy, and others).
He
would have the answer to that, but I
believe that a couple of levels were in
production but never finished, and the
rest just jotted down as potentials.
I seem
to remember one level having been mostly
done, but was nearly unplayable by most
folks, so it was canned in the interest
of time and playability, both – “expert
only” level if there ever was one.
Part
of the problem of Marble Madness
(besides keeping the two players in
sync) was that it was SO easy to make it
too hard."
Coinopspace:
Mark Cerny has come up on my radar as
someone we might try to get, maybe we’ll
make more of a push now.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Ask him about 'Quack'."
Coinopspace:
Do you wish you could’ve worked under
Nolan (Bushnell)?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Hehe. Not really a big issue,
would have been okay with that too.
His legacy lived on with the Arcade
group for years. Though, I think
they were “mostly” more responsible
after his departure. We
still had many recreational moments,
so-to-speak.
I was
at Stanford nearby when Nolan did his
first Pong, played it at the local bar
in fact."
Coinopspace:
How was it to work with Dave Theurer on
I, Robot, and also, who were some of
your favorite people to work with during
your 10 year tenure?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"I loved working with Dave – he was very
serious about his work but still had
fun. Dennis Harper and I collaborated on
a couple (like Accelerator) and I really
liked working with him. John
Salwitz and Dave Ralston and I teamed up
for a couple – lots of fun. I’d
have to say I enjoyed nearly everyone
there I worked with. All of ‘em were
talented, a bit whacked (a good thing),
and enjoyed it.
Ed
Logg is another that comes to mind.
Had a lot of games of Spaceward Ho over
our local intranet with him."
Coinopspace:
Did you know the head of the Atari
graphic department, George Opperman, at
all before his tragic passing in 1985?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Yes, worked with him on several titles
including C&D, really had an eye for
color and style. He left his mark
on almost all the early Atari arcade
titles."
Coinopspace:
Did George have a huge team to work with
or was the department more close-knit?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"He had between 5-8 really talented
folks. Between them they turned
out incredible work, game graphics,
marketing graphics, sales brochures.
Did any of you see the “R” rated
Centipede poster?
It’s
an incredible art poster. They
made 10,000 of them but got cold feet
about putting them in the game as a
promotion, and ended up destroying all
but a couple hundred that they game to
engineering and other staff."
Coinopspace:
The rumor is that girl worked in the
Human Resources department at Atari, is
that true?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe
"Heard that about the girl too, not sure
if it’s true."
Coinopspace:
Any tricks or hidden stuff on Toobin’?
What role did you have in creating it?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Toobin’ was Dennis Harpers baby.
My role was (again) supplying the motion
object driver, but also to play test and
help suggest some game play fixes/mods
to help in certain situations that could
cause players to get stuck. Dennis
and I had just come off doing
Accelerator, so were still good
game-playing buds.
I
remember that there ARE Easter Eggs in
Toobin’, but couldn’t tell you where
they are or even what they are anymore,
been awhile since I last played it."
Coinopspace:
Were there other ideas for the controls?
Or was it always a buttons-only plan?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"We tried a couple controls in the lab –
trackball being a fav, but the buttons
lent a certain panic to the game that
played (and tested) well."
Coinopspace:
Talk about the Atari key club concept
that never came to be.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"That was marketing’s idea to try to get
repeat play. C&D was a game that
they felt it could be applied to that
was currently approaching production, so
we fixed up one cabinet with it to give
it a try."
Coinopspace:
How did it work though?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"It was basically a flash PROM stick —
could hold a whopping 1k of memory (or
was that 256 bytes).
Either
way, it showed promise, but not for a
game like C&D so much. It would
have been better tested on a
role-playing type game, or something
that you really needed multiple sessions
on to complete."
Coinopspace:
Shouldn’t need too much (memory), right?
And the player would by it and bring it
with them, plug it into the front of the
game or something?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Yup, it allowed the player to save
their current state of the game.
They gave away a bunch of keys to
players at that Arcade. About 1 in
10 actually used it. Gauntlet or
any adventure based game would have been
good. Even Tempest could have used
it!"
Coinopspace:
How much would they have cost (either
wholesale for Atari or for the
consumer)?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"They were about $30 for the reader and
about $3 per key. Today it’d be
about $10 for the reader and pennies for
the key."
Coinopspace:
I would have thought more expensive,
interesting.
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe
"They were planning to let the
individual arcade owners sell/give away
the keys. That (price) was “in
bulk”. The test reader we used was
close to $100. Keys were about
$3.75"
Coinopspace:
What was the Atari parts department
like?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe
"Candyland! Loved to wander
through there. Picked up old
controls, cover plates, you-name it that
was in their scrap piles. An
amazing set of rows and shelves.
Have a bowling-ball sized trackball
still out in the garage from there."
Coinopspace:
Rusty, can you dispel the myth of 500
I,Robot games being dumped into the
Pacific Ocean?
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"Not true. Total myth. I
would have LIKED to dump about 500 I
Robot controls into the Pacific – they
were a nightmare, but that didn’t’
happen either. We were using the
Hall Effect. We had an arcade in
Seattle we were testing and it was
playing itself sometimes! Turned
out the arcade was next to a scrap yard
with a monster crane magnet – was
playing the game from 100 yards away!
Turned out the control needed to be
separately grounded (and shielded) to
the PC board. All the production
controls that used the hall-effect did
that after that test.
Not
sure which arcade, but we kept
exchanging controls with them for months
and never found the problem until they
explained where they were located.
Finally, the mechanical group just
grounded the SHIT out of it and it
started to work."
Coinopspace:
Twin Galaxies will want to go thru your
Paperboy with a fine tooth comb!
Breighton (Rusty) Dawe:
"No problem, maybe they can find the
intermittent loose chip I’ve got.
In closing I want to say thank you for
inviting me to your chat! This has
been great fun. This is the first
time after all these years I’ve been
able to chat about these games.
Thank you all! Enjoyed your
questions and feedback. Rare
chance to connect with like-minded folks.
Look
for my daughter come November to hold
the Paperboy records, she really is an
ace at it. I enjoyed it. Bye
all!"
