Atari 5200 ET - Internal Memo

[Dutchman2000]

Here is a memo that John Seghers wrote about the Atari 5200 version of ET:

 

To: Jewel Savadelis Date: Nov. 9, 1982

From: John Seghers

Re: PAM E.T.

 

Due to time and memory constraints, some changes have been forced in the

design of PAM E.T. Following is a description of the current design.

 

There will be a scrolling 4 screen maze through which E.T. will travel.

This maze will contain Elliot's house, a forest clearing, nine transmitter

peices (visible if on screen) and a trail of Reeces Pieces leading from

Elliot's house to the clearing where E.T. starts the game. Each Reeces

Piece will only be visible if E.T. is in the maze square adjacent to the

piece.

 

Also in the maze will be a number of antagonists who will be tracking E.T.

Wherever E.T. goes, he will leave an invisible trail which will be followed

by the antagonists whenever found. E.T. must then try to loose the antagonist

by running through the maze and hoping that the antagonist will lose the trail

or by levitating over the maze walls. The antagonists will move faster than

E.T.'s fastest speed.

 

If an antagonist catches E.T. then a laboratory will be built around E.T.

(a 1 screen maze) which E.T. will have to find the exit from before he can

continue in the large maze. The lab maze will also have antagonists

(scientists) who will attempt to catch E.T. and take him back to the start

of the lab maze. The lab maze will be static with only the right side being

variable. This side is not visible until E.T. gets close enough for it to

scroll the last little bit necessary to see it. This way, although the major

portion of the maze remains static, and therefore the scenery behind the

maze can be created with the maze design in mind, the exit will not always be

in the same place.

 

E.T. must collect the pieces of the transmitter and bring them, one at a time

or severally, to Elliot's house where they will be assembled piece by piece.

When the transmitter is complete, then E.T. must get back across the maze

to the forest clearing to be picked up by the spaceship.

 

E.T. will have a certain amount of energy when the game is started. This

energy count will decrease over time depending on what E.T. is doing. If

E.T. is standing still or moving slowly, the energy will decrease most

slowly. If E.T. is moving at his medium speed, the energy will decrease at

the most economical amount per distance moved. If E.T. is running, then

the energy cost will be twice that of a normal walk at only one and a half

times the speed. When levitating, the energy cost will be double that for

the run and only move at the speed of a slow walk. Whenever E.T. eats

(passes over) a Reeces Piece, an amount will be added to the energy count.

 

Scoring will be based on three things: Time, energy left over, and points

based on various things.

 

A timer will be continuously running and will show the amount of time (in

real minutes and seconds) that E.T. took to get to whatever fate he receives.

 

Points will be added for: Getting a Reeces Piece, getting a transmitter part,

getting all the transmitter parts to Elliot's house and getting to the ship.

 

If E.T. gets to the spaceship, then the amount of energy he has left is added

to his score as a bonus.

 

There will also be a hi-res title screen depicting E.T., the title, and a

copywrite message. And there will be a night forrest scene at the end as

and added bonus for completing the game with E.T. alive.

 

The above described game will be released to marketing on Jan. 1, 1983.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Dutchman2000

[+Allan]

Cool, Dutchman2000,

Thanks for posting this. It's nice to see what the game was going to be.

 

Allan

[darthkur]

Yes, thanks for the info. That was very interesting. I really wish that project would have reached completion.

Edited March 16, 2007 by darthkur

[Dutchman2000]

The game was never released due to the commercial failure of the 2600 E.T. title.

[Henry Lee]

The game was never released due to the commercial failure of the 2600 E.T. title.

 

Can it be done, today?

[+Allan]

The game was never released due to the commercial failure of the 2600 E.T. title.

 

Can it be done, today?

 

Do you mean reprogrammed from scratch? I think there are a lot better choices for a game than E.T. Hopefully someone will find John's game on some disk somewhere. Maybe in Curt Vendal's closet. He keeps finding new stuff in his piles of boxes he got from Atari years ago. You never know.

 

Allan

[www.atarimania.com]

Seems the A8 release programmed by Steve Englehart in 1983 is actually a cut-down version of John Seghers' project...

 

--

Atari Frog

http://www.atarimania.com

Edited March 16, 2007 by www.atarimania.com

[Henry Lee]

 

Do you mean reprogrammed from scratch? I think there are a lot better choices for a game than E.T. Hopefully someone will find John's game on some disk somewhere. Maybe in Curt Vendal's closet. He keeps finding new stuff in his piles of boxes he got from Atari years ago. You never know.

 

Allan

 

I guess there are a lot of choices. But homebrewing is more a work involving passion and is often very personal. If a programmer really loves E.T. the game, its enough for him to decide to give it a go. I personally love Atari 2600's E.T because of the nostalgic values and the word of imagination could be sparkled in a kid when the movie first came out. Personally, reading what John Seghers wrote to Jewel Savadelis I would love an E.T. game for the 5200. Redesigning it today could give E.T. a second chance. Anyway, who were a kid in the early 80's doesn't love E.T ?

[Shawn]

Wow this is great info! Nothing like a total step by step for a 5200 programmer(s) to have a perfect guidline to recreate was was ment to be AND make the next great homebrew (please)

[+Allan]

 

Do you mean reprogrammed from scratch? I think there are a lot better choices for a game than E.T. Hopefully someone will find John's game on some disk somewhere. Maybe in Curt Vendal's closet. He keeps finding new stuff in his piles of boxes he got from Atari years ago. You never know.

 

Allan

 

I guess there are a lot of choices. But homebrewing is more a work involving passion and is often very personal. If a programmer really loves E.T. the game, its enough for him to decide to give it a go. I personally love Atari 2600's E.T because of the nostalgic values and the word of imagination could be sparkled in a kid when the movie first came out. Personally, reading what John Seghers wrote to Jewel Savadelis I would love an E.T. game for the 5200. Redesigning it today could give E.T. a second chance. Anyway, who were a kid in the early 80's doesn't love E.T ?

 

I agree. Maybe someone could at least make a conversion of the 8-bit version. We already have a nice label for it.

 

Allan

[Curt Vendel]

I think if Ken and I do some digging we may just turn up the source code for the A800 version of ET: Phone Home and that could be ported over to the 5200 and re-written to make it a better game.

 

 

 

Curt

 

 

Do you mean reprogrammed from scratch? I think there are a lot better choices for a game than E.T. Hopefully someone will find John's game on some disk somewhere. Maybe in Curt Vendal's closet. He keeps finding new stuff in his piles of boxes he got from Atari years ago. You never know.

 

Allan

 

I guess there are a lot of choices. But homebrewing is more a work involving passion and is often very personal. If a programmer really loves E.T. the game, its enough for him to decide to give it a go. I personally love Atari 2600's E.T because of the nostalgic values and the word of imagination could be sparkled in a kid when the movie first came out. Personally, reading what John Seghers wrote to Jewel Savadelis I would love an E.T. game for the 5200. Redesigning it today could give E.T. a second chance. Anyway, who were a kid in the early 80's doesn't love E.T ?

 

I agree. Maybe someone could at least make a conversion of the 8-bit version. We already have a nice label for it.

 

Allan