what was the average development time for a 2600 game?

[wogihao]

Im curious, what was the development time for a average 2600 game in the early 80s compared to say when the 2600 came out first?

 

 

Were the developers working on multiple projects that shared a common kernell/code and it was basicly just a hack between the versions or were they distinct programs in there own right?

[+Psionic]

Im curious, what was the development time for a average 2600 game in the early 80s compared to say when the 2600 came out first?

On average...anywhere from six weeks (or less!) to six months. Depends on how good the programmer was...and how good the game was. Of course, it really comes down to how much time and effort was put into it, regardless of the programmer.

 

Examples from the same programmer:

 

E.T. took less than six weeks. Result?

Saboteur took over six months. Result?

 

Were the developers working on multiple projects that shared a common kernell/code and it was basicly just a hack between the versions or were they distinct programs in there own right?

Depends...code was often reused if someone came up with something good or useful (Steve Woita's use of the 'woks' in all his games). Other times, things were started from scratch every time.

Edited January 6, 2008 by PingvinBlueJeans

[wogihao]

Im curious, what was the development time for a average 2600 game in the early 80s compared to say when the 2600 came out first?

On average...anywhere from six weeks (or less!) to six months. Depends on how good the programmer was...and how good the game was. Of course, it really comes down to how much time and effort was put into it, regardless of the programmer.

 

Examples from the same programmer:

 

E.T. took less than six weeks. Result?

Saboteur took over six months. Result?

 

Were the developers working on multiple projects that shared a common kernell/code and it was basicly just a hack between the versions or were they distinct programs in there own right?

Depends...code was often reused if someone came up with something good or useful (Steve Woita's use of the 'woks' in all his games). Other times, things were started from scratch every time.

 

Thanks I see what you getting at, it seems to have been a golden era to be a programer! its a pitty so much information about these projects has been lost but i guess people just didnt see it as important back then (much like kung fu films).

[mos6507]

Also, sometimes developers would work on more than one game at a time, putting one down temporarily to work on another. So it's sometimes hard to tally up the total amount of development time. And not all programmers were equally prolific.