5200 ET title screen graphic

[Dutchman2000]

Find attached a screenshot of the 5200 ET title screen graphic. This was from a disk I recovered some time ago. This was done in the Animat program by Alan Murphy.

atari000.tiff

[Albert]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! Has this never been seen before?

[Greg2600]

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/220214-8-bit-et-phone-home-conversion/?do=findComment&comment=2960056

 

A few months ago, Paul Lay did a conversion of the XL E.T. Phone Home game. He also did a 64K rom which had a colored title screen from Aking. This is very intriguing that a 5200 game was being worked on.

[Dutchman2000]

John Seghers was working on an ET game for the 5200 back in 1982. Due to the problems with the 2600 game, John's game was canceled.

[Greg2600]

John Seghers was working on an ET game for the 5200 back in 1982. Due to the problems with the 2600 game, John's game was canceled.

 

Cool. So it was independent of "Phone Home?" Has Seghers ever described the planned gameplay?

[Tempest]

I'm assuming the final version would have had color right? They weren't doing monochrome high-res stuff on the 5200.

[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.

[Goochman]

Sounds like an interesting game - too bad the 5200 version was completed and released first!

[Coleco]

If he wrote that memo in November and expected to deliver in January, there surely must have been some game code that was well along in progress prior to the project being scrapped. Seems like an A-list top-tier title would have come out on the most advanced console of the time FIRST in an effort to boost adoption. (like Xbox 1, PS4, etc.), but it was a different era....

[Charlie_]

It sounds similar to what was released for the A8, with the A8 version being a simplified version of the above described game.

[+Allan]

It sounds similar to what was released for the A8, with the A8 version being a simplified version of the above described game.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

Allan