Misplaced Pages

Asteroids (video game)

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gixce93 (talk | contribs) at 09:58, 8 January 2014 (→Development and design). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 09:58, 8 January 2014 by Gixce93 (talk | contribs) (→Development and design)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

2600 video game
Asteroids
Promotional flyer for Asteroids.
Developer(s)Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s)Atari, Inc.
Designer(s)Lyle Rains and Ed Logg
Platform(s)Arcade, Various
Release'Arcade'Atari 2600'Atari 7800'Atari Lynx
Genre(s)Multi-directional shooter
Mode(s)Up to 2 players, alternating turns

Asteroids is an arcade multi-directional shooter released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. and designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg. The player controls a spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy asteroids and saucers while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game gets harder as the number of asteroids increases and such objects become faster.

Asteroids was conceived during Logg's meeting with Rains and implemented hardware developed by Howard Delman. It uses a vector display and a two-dimensional view that wraps around in both screen axes. The game has been acclaimed by players and video game critics for its innovative vector graphics, complex controls, and gameplay. It was one of the most popular and influential games of the golden age of arcade games, selling 70,000 arcade cabinets and being widely imitated, and has since been ported to multiple platforms.

Gameplay

Asteroids screenshot

The objective of Asteroids is to destroy asteroids and saucers. The player controls a triangular-shaped ship that can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. The ship eventually comes to a stop when not thrusting. The player can also send the ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen (with the risk of self-destructing or appearing on top of an asteroid).

Each level starts with a few large asteroids drifting in various directions on the screen. Objects wrap around screen edges – for instance, an asteroid that drifts off the top edge of the screen reappears at the bottom and continues moving in the same direction. As the player shoots asteroids, they break into smaller asteroids that move faster and are more difficult to hit. Smaller asteroids also score higher points. Two flying saucers appear periodically on the screen; the "big saucer" shoots randomly like cannon fodder, while the "small saucer" emphasizes firing at the ship. After reaching a certain score, only the small saucer appears. As the high score increases its angle range narrows until it is extremely accurate. Once the screen has been cleared of all asteroids and flying saucers, a new set of large asteroids appears, thus starting the next level. The game gets harder as the number of asteroids increases and such objects become faster, and ends when the player has lost all of their lives.

Like many games of its time, Asteroids contains several bugs. The maximum possible score in this game is 99,990 points, after which it "rolls over" back to zero. Other common terms for this bug were "turn over" and "flip over". The game slows down as the player gains 50-100 lives, due to a programming error in that there is no limit for the permitted number of lives. The player can "lose" the game after more than 250 lives are collected.


Development and design

Asteroids was conceived by Lyle Rains and programmed and designed by Ed Logg, the latter whose first work with Atari, Inc. was 1978's Super Breakout. Paul Mancuso joined the development team as the game's technician and engineer Howard Delman contributed to the hardware it used. In a meeting with Rains in April 1979, Rains spoke of a multiplayer video game in development for the Atari Cosmos, a tabletop video game console cancelled in 1981 which used holograms to produce 3D images. Logg did not know the name of the game, thinking Computer Space as "the inspiration for the two-dimensional approach." The unfinished game featured a giant, indestructible asteroid, so Rains considered Logg: "Well, why don’t we have a game where you shoot the rocks and blow them up?" In response, Logg described a similar concept, where the player selectively shoots at rocks that break into smaller pieces. Both agreed on the concept.

Asteroids was implemented on hardware developed by Delman and is a vector game, in which the graphics are composed of lines drawn on a vector monitor; Atari's first such game was Lunar Lander. Rains wanted the game done in raster graphics, while Logg, experienced in vector graphics, suggested an XY monitor because the high 1024x760 resolution permits precise aiming, an idea that Rains allowed. The hardware is chiefly a MOS 6502 executing the game program, and QuadraScan, a high-resolution vector graphics processor developed by Atari and referred to as an "XY display system" and the "Digital Vector Generator (DVG)." A full-color version known as "Color-QuadraScan" was later developed for games such as Space Duel and Tempest.

The original design concepts for QuadraScan came out of Atari's off-campus research lab in Grass Valley, California, in 1978. It was given to Delman, who used it as part of Lunar Lander's circuit board. Logg received Delman's modified board connected to a monitor and containing a size of 4×4 inches, five buttons, 13 sound effects, and additional RAM, and used it to develop Asteroids. The original Asteroids prototype board is part of Delman's personal collection.'

Logg programmed a ship into the monitor and wanted to see it float around, but had no design document. Influenced by Spacewar!, he experimented with different settings to find the most suitable experience while looking out for errors. The resultant version of Asteroids features inertia, giving the ship endless movement and zero-g drift. He drew various asteroid shapes and had them drifting across the screen. As Logg came up with strategies, he felt an incentive was needed for players. He regrets the placement of the hyperspace button, since if it were placed near his right thumb he would not have to take his hand off the thrust button, and stated he should have placed in an algorithm that made hyperspace safer.

The two saucers were formulated different from each other; the "big saucer" shoots randomly like cannon fodder, while the "small saucer" emphasizes firing at the ship. A steadily decreasing timer that shortens intervals between saucer attacks was employed into the game to keep the player from not shooting asteroids and saucers. The minimalist soundtrack features a "heartbeat" sound effect, which quickens as the game progresses. The MOS 6502 did not had a sound chip, so Delman created a hardware circuit for 13 sound effects by hand which was wired onto the board.

A prototype of Asteroids was well-received by several Atari staff and engineers, who would "wander between labs, passing comment and stopping to play as they went." Logg was asked for the time he leaves and when employees play it, and due to the popularity he made a second prototype for staff to play. Atari went to Sacramento, California for testing. A group of old players familiar with Spacewar! struggled to maintain grip on the thrust button and requested a joystick, whereas younger players accustomed to Space Invaders noted they get no break in the game. Logg and other Atari engineers observed proceedings and comments were written down in four pages.


Reception and legacy

Asteroids was immediately successful upon release. It displaced Space Invaders by popularity in the United States and became Atari's best selling arcade game of all time, with over 70,000 units sold. Atari earned an estimated $150 million dollars in sales and a further $500 million in revenue from the game. Atari had been in the process of manufacturing another vector game, Lunar Lander, but demand for Asteroids was so high "that several hundred Asteroids games were shipped in Lunar Lander cabinets." Asteroids was extremely popular that video arcade operators installed large boxes holding the number of coins spent by players.

The saucer in the original game design was supposed to take a shot as soon as it comes. This action was altered so there would be a delay before the saucer shoots, leading to "lurking" from players. Lurking is a strategy in which the player uses thrust to keep the ship in motion, leaves 1 or 2 asteroids undamaged, and hunts for saucers, allowing the player to pick off as many 1,000-point UFOs as possible and play indefinitely on a single credit. Since the saucer could only shoot directly at the player's position on the screen, the player could "hide" at the opposite end of the screen and shoot across the screen boundary, while remaining relatively safe. Complaints from operators losing revenue due to lurking led to the creation of an EPROM restricting such chances.

Asteroids received overwhelmingly positive reviews from video game critics. Brett Alan Weiss, writing for Allgame, likened the monochrome vector graphics to minimalism and viewed its sound effects as memorable. Weiss found its overall design to be near-perfect and cites the intensity and controls as elements that make the game addicting. He admitted the game is easily understandable and "holds up extremely well over time." William Cassidy, writing for GameSpy's "Classic Gaming," noticed its innovations, including being the first video game to track initials and allow players to enter their initials for appearing in the top 10 high scores, and commented, "the vector graphics fit the futuristic outer space theme very well."

Released in 1981, Asteroids Deluxe is the first sequel to Asteroids. Dave Shepard edited the code and made supplements for the game without Logg's involvement. The onscreen objects were tinted blue, and hyperspace was replaced by a shield that depleted if used. The asteroids rotate, and the added killer satellite enemy breaks apart into three smaller ships (when hit) that home the player's position. The arcade game machine's monitor displays vector graphics overlaying a holographic backdrop. It was followed by Owen Rubin's Space Duel in 1982, featuringg colorful geometric shapes and co-op multiplayer gameplay, and Blasteroids in 1987, in which Ed Rotberg added "power-ups, ship morphing, branching levels, bosses and the ability to dock your ships in multiplayer for added firepower." Asteroids: Gunner, released to iOS platforms in 2011, has a large amount of content as a free-to-play game, with 150 waves, power-ups, and an achievement system.

The gameplay in Asteroids was imitated by many games that followed, mostly "Asteroid clones." The Mattel Intellivision title Astrosmash was conceived as Avalanche! after Meteor! did not take up the cartridge's entire ROM space. Meteor!, an Asteroids clone, was cancelled to avoid a lawsuit and Avalanche! was released as Astrosmash. The resultant game borrows elements from Asteroids and Space Invaders.

The first Asteroids clone, Quality Software's Asteroids in Space (1980), followed by the sequel Meteoroids in Space (1981), was one of the best selling games for the Apple II and was voted one of the most popular software titles of 1978-80 by Softalk magazine, even before Atari had created a port to their own Atari PCs. Others include Acornsoft's Meteors, and Ambrosia Software's Maelstrom, as well as those with expanded gameplay and background, such as Moons of Jupiter for the Commodore VIC-20 and MineStorm for the Vectrex.

Film adaptation

In 2009, Universal Studios won the rights to adapt Asteroids into a film, with Matthew Lopez as the scriptwriter and Lorenzo di Bonaventura as the producer. The game has no plot, so Universal would create the story from scratch, as done with Battleship, a film based on Hasbro board game of the same name.

Ports

File:Asteroids 360.jpg
Xbox Live Arcade port.

Asteroids has been ported to multiple platforms, including much of Atari's hardware (Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx) and many other platforms. Released in 1981, when the Atari 2600 was known as the "Atari Video Computer System" (VCS), the 2600 port was the first game to use bank switching, a technique developed by Larry Wagner that increased available ROM space from 4 KB to 8 KB. Tod Frye, an programmer tasked to work on the port, discovered that he could not make a faithful version of the game within the 4 KB limit addressed by the 2600, so he used bank switching. A port was in development for the 5200 and advertised as a launch title but never officially released, although an unofficial release was produced by AtariAge. The Atari 7800 version is a launch title and features co-operative play. The asteroids receive colorful textures, and the "heartbeat" sound effect remains intact. The game was featured in the original Microsoft Arcade compilation in 1993, along with four other Atari video games: Missile Command, Tempest, Centipede, and Battlezone.

Activision made an enhanced version of Asteroids for PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows, and the Game Boy Color in 1998. Doug Perry, writing for entertainment and video game journalism website IGN, praised the high-end graphics – with realistic space object models, backgrounds, and special effects – for making Asteroids "a pleasure to look at" while being a homage to the original arcade version. The Atari Flashback series of dedicated video game consoles have included either the 2600 or arcade versions of Asteroids. Atari also used the game for its other late '90s and 2000s anthology series.

Published by Crave Entertainment on December 14, 1999, Asteroids Hyper 64 is the Nintendo 64 port of Asteroids. The game's graphics were upgraded to 3D, with both the ship and asteroids receiving polygon models along static backgrounds, and it was supplemented with weapons and a multiplayer mode. IGN writer Matt Casamassina was pleased that the gameplay was faithful to the original but felt the minor additions and constant "repetition" was not enough to make the port "warrant a $50 purchase." He was disappointed about the lack of music and found the sound effects to be of poor quality.

In 2001, Infogrames released Atari Anniversary Edition for the Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation, and PC compatibles. Developed by Digital Eclipse, it included emulated versions of Asteroids and other old Atari games. Jeff Gerstmann of Gamespot criticized the Dreamcast version for its limitations, such as the presentation of vector graphics on a low resolution television set, which obscures the copyright text in Asteroids. The arcade and Atari 2600 versions of Asteroids, along with Asteroids Deluxe, were included in Atari Anthology for both Xbox and PlayStation 2.

Asteroids was released via Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 on November 28, 2007, with an option for special revamped HD graphics and a high-speed "throttle monkey" mode. Both Asteroids in its arcade and 2600 versions and Asteroids Deluxe were ported to Microsoft's Game Room download service in 2010. The arcade version was also ported to the Windows Phone platform on February 23, 2011. Glu Mobile released an mobile phone port of the game with supplementary features as well as the original arcade version.

Asteroids was included on Atari Greatest Hits Volume 1 for the Nintendo DS. Craig Harris, writing for IGN, noticed that the Nintendo DS's small screen can not properly display details of games with vector graphics.

Highest score

On November 13, 1982, 15 year old Scott Safran of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, set a world record of 41,336,440 points on the arcade game Asteroids. He beat the 40,101,910 point score set by Leo Daniels of Carolina Beach on February 6, 1982. To congratulate Safran on his accomplishment, the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard searched for him for four years until 2002, when it was discovered that he had died in an accident in 1989. In a ceremony in Philadelphia on April 27, 2002, Walter Day of Twin Galaxies presented an award to the surviving members of Safran's family, commemorating the Asteroid Champion's achievement.

On April 6, 2010, John McAllister set a preliminary record score of 41,338,740 after 58 hours, streamed live over the Internet, breaking the record set by Scott Safran 27 years earlier.

References

  1. ^ Kohler, Chris (November 17, 2011). "Asteroids Designer Ed Logg Honored With Pioneer Award". Wired. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  2. ^ "The Making of Asteroids" (PDF). Retro Gamer (86). Imagine Publishing. 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Salen, Katie; Zimmerman, Eric (2004). Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-24045-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Edge Staff". "The Making of Asteroids". Edge (117). Future plc. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  5. Bjork, Staffan; Holopainen, Jussi (2005). Patterns in Game Design. Charles River Media. p. 60. ISBN 1-58450-354-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Owen, David. "Invasion of the Asteroids". Esquire. 2 (81). Hearst Corporation. Archived from the original on August 1, 2008. {{cite journal}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; June 22, 2008 suggested (help)
  7. ^ Brett Alan Weiss. "Asteroids". allgame. Macrovision. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  8. ^ Cassidy, William. "Asteroids". ClassicGaming. IGN. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  9. ^ Monfort, Nick; Bogost, Ian (2009). Racing the Beam. MIT Press. ISBN 978-1-234-56789-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  10. Dillion, Roberto (2011). "Part 1: Games That Pushed Boundaries". The Golden Age of Video Games: The Birth of a Multibillion Dollar Industry. CRC Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4398-7323-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  11. Asteroids Flyer, 1979, Atari, Inc.
  12. Vendel, Curt; Goldberg, Marty (November 2012) . "Chapter 8". Atari Inc.: Business Is Fun. Syzygy Company Press. p. 515. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ Wolf, Mark J.P. (2008). The video game explosion: A history from Pong to Playstation and beyond. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-33868-X.
  14. Demaria, Russel; Wilson, Johnny I. (2004). High Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (2nd ed.).
  15. Blanchet, Michael (March 19, 1982). "Beating the Video Games: Lurking on an Asteroid". The Miami News. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  16. "Production Numbers" (PDF). Atari. 1999. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  17. Kohler, Chris (2005). "Chapter 3, Playing Arcade Games on Your Computer". Retro Gaming Hacks (1st ed.). O'Reilly Media. ISBN 0-596-00917-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  18. Monogenis, Harry (November 8, 2011). "Asteroids: Gunner is a free game coming to the App Store/". Destructoid. Modern Method. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  19. Weiss, Brett (2007). Classic Home Video Games, 1972-1984: A Complete Reference Guide (1st ed.). McFarland.
  20. "Mattel Intellivision - 1980-1984". ClassicGaming. IGN. Archived from the original on June 23, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. "Most Popular Software of 1978-80". Softalk. 1980. Retrieved November 5, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. Kit, Borys (July 2, 2009). "'Asteroids' lands at Universal". Reuters. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  23. Brett Alan Weiss. "Asteroids". allgame. Macrovision. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  24. Nashawaty, Chris (November 11, 1994). "PC Game Review: 'Microsoft Arcade'". Entertainment Weekly (248). Time Inc. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  25. Perry, Doug (November 13, 1998). "Asteroids". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
  26. Ulanoff, Lance (November 16, 2005). "Atari Flashback 2". PC Magazine. Ziff Davis. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  27. Dave Tach (November 12, 2012). "Atari Flashback 4 channels 2600 nostalgia with a 75 game bundle". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
  28. Casamassina, Matt (December 18, 1998). "Asteroids Hyper 64". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  29. Jeff Gerstman (July 11, 2001). "Asteroids Anniversary Edition". Gamespot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  30. Reed, Kristan (January 26, 2005). "Atari Anthology Review". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  31. Eberspecher, Tom (November 26, 2007). "Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe on Xbox LIVE Arcade". Gamerscore Blog. Microsoft Games Global Marketing team. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  32. "Classic Arcade Games Make a Comeback on Xbox". Microsoft. January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  33. Amy-Mae Elliott (September 4, 2007). "Asteroids". Pocket-lint. Pocket-lint Ltd. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  34. Harris, Craig (November 8, 2010). "Atari Greatest Hits Volume 1 Review - IGN". IGN. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  35. ^ Chris Kohler (November 13, 2008). "Nov. 13, 1982: Teen Sets Asteroids Record in 3-Day Marathon". Wired. Conde Nast. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
  36. "Asteroids Player Smashes 27-Year-Old High Score". Wired. April 5, 2010. Archived from the original on April 7, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

Categories: