
Ed Logg's plan form for Atari Asteroids - wallflower
https://twitter.com/jpdysonplay/status/846373739671498753
======
sehugg
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-o...](https://web.archive.org/web/20141222010537/http://www.edge-
online.com/features/making-asteroids/) (might be display errors, maybe ad-
block-detector caused)

~~~
cyberferret
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.

~~~
laumars
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!

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acomjean
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)

~~~
joezydeco
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.

~~~
acomjean
Long and very technical. Wow. Really interesting stuff, especially the game
specific stuff at the end.

6502 sounds like the Apple // processor.

Thanks.

~~~
joezydeco
6502 was indeed the Apple ][ CPU.

Also: Commodore PET/VIC20/64/128, BBC Micro, Nintendo NES, Atari 2600/5200,
and Atari 400/800 home computers.

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CamTin
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.

~~~
rangibaby
They certainly had spreadsheets. Except they were called worksheets, and
computer was a job description rather than a machine :-)

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jamesbowman
Some detailed analysis of the Asteroids hardware/software:

[http://computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Asteroids/](http://computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Asteroids/)

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droithomme
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?

~~~
sehugg
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
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.

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

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

