David Crane Interview

[Albert]

http://www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/int_David_Crane.htmlGood Deal Games has posted an interview with David Crane, co-founder of Activision and creator of the popular Atari 2600 title Pitfall! Here's a brief excerpt where David Crane is asked if the concept for Freeway really originated from his spectating a man trying to cross Lake Shore Drive during rush-hour traffic while attending the Consumer Electronics Show:

 

Absolutely true. Each time I finish a game I look to the real world for inspiration. I was primed for the idea when I saw it, and the product flowed very easily from that point. And no, Frogger was not in the arcades at the time. Both games were developed independently, although we both probably owe some allegiance to Atari's 1970s game "Space Race".

 

You can read the full interview with David Crane at Good Deal Games.

[Big Player]

Great interview from one of the 2600 legends. Here's my favorite quote:

 

A lot of Activision's early success came from the group synergy within the design lab. While we each had our own game project working, we would also kibbutz on each others' games. That way each game had the flavor of its designer, but benefited from the vision and experience of the entire group. None of the games would have done as well without that cooperation.

 

One week before Pitfall! was to be released, I only gave you one life to play the whole game. I was experimenting with that concept as sort of the ultimate challenge. That's right, fall in one pit and start over from the beginning! Well, thankfully my buddies practically tied me to my chair until I put in extra lives and I'm glad they did. But most of the help came in much smaller details - things so small that taken individually you would never notice. It was the sum total of all the feedback and suggestions that polished the games to a fine edge.

[Stella'sGhost]

When I was very young I also liked to know what made things tick, and I knew that inside the Atari were IC's and a PCB and connectors and other strange small parts, and I also knew that inside the carts there were IC's...but more than that I wondered who put the magic in those roms??? Programmers? Whats that?...oh computers eh?... who made Pitfall, my favorite game back then, David Crane programmed Pitfall?? Well I'll be!!!

 

Some of the mystery and magic of video games was forever sparked by the realization that there was a real guy behind that game, you see, before this I thought that computers made video games by themselves!!!

[RCorcoran]

There is another interview with David Crane on the net too. Check out Shane Monroe's RetroGaming Radio show to hear some very funny banter with David as well as some other "stuff". The show (mp3) is 2 hrs long so be prepared for a large download (~26MB) or you can stream it via WinAmp.

 

http://www.retrogamingradio.com