Bryan Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Just read this in an interview with Doug Neubauer (author of Star Raiders): After the Atari 800 came out, I wrote a pong game which tried to use every feature in the 800. The technicians used it as a diagnostic. I wonder if any copies of this survived. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 (edited) That is interesting...Love to see it.. Nice one Bryan.. Lets hope it surfaces.. Edited January 3, 2015 by Mclaneinc 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 which tried to use every feature in the 800. That's a cool expression, since the atari 800 can virtually do anything. I think people in the early 80's would be surprised if they would be able to see at THAT DATE what the 8bit is really capable too. How cool would that be… using a travel machine and show fabulous demo's and games from today, somewhere in 1982 or so... What would that do with the atari sales? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Seems a bit vague. Too bad there were no follow-up questions. I assume "every feature" means five sound channels, all four controller ports, and a variety of graphical effects. I can't imagine what else it could be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Nice find and it would be great, if even just more information on it turned up. I'd of been interested to see how he planned to use 'every feature' of the hardware, with regards to taking Pong and turning it into something special.As Bill said, great as the 'find' is, Doug's statement is on 'that' side of vague, it leaves a lot open to speculation as to what was meant exactly. Still, that does'nt take away from a superb find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 (edited) Well… I think BLIP is doing that…. although it is still 2 players. Edited January 3, 2015 by ProWizard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 That's a cool expression, since the atari 800 can virtually do anything. I think people in the early 80's would be surprised if they would be able to see at THAT DATE what the 8bit is really capable too. How cool would that be… using a travel machine and show fabulous demo's and games from today, somewhere in 1982 or so... What would that do with the atari sales? I hear ya. I do. But undoubtedly there have since been some nice demos and such written for other platforms of the day too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 If I may add ... if you can go back to 1982 your first order of the day is to show Atari 8bit demo/homebrew !?!?!.... to try to boost their sales !?!?!?!..... hmmmm, somehow I think there's better things to do if you can travel back in time .... dunno take your pick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 You would have thought that considering the author an item like this would have been all around Atari and as it was used as an engineers test demo it would have leaked.. Surely someone must have this bit of software..Especially as Atari was well known (definitely in the UK) for its products falling out the back door early.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I'm surprised it didn't get released through APX. Atari was looking to increase their software numbers and tried to publish as much software through APX as possible.If it was a decent program they added it to the APX catalog. If you look at the early APX titles, you can see they were done by Atari programmers like Bob Polero, Dennis Koble, David Crane, Bob Smith and Robert Zdybel. If this was such a great game why didn't they add it to the APX catalog? Hopefully it will turn up one day. Allan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 A Pong game that uses plenty of features could probably be done in well under 1K - it might be that it was thought to be insignificant. Plus... it's Pong. The last thing Atari computers needed at that time was belittlement in the form of revisiting the simplistic games of their early times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I'm now wondering if this wasn't a bit of sarcasm by Doug, the great Star Raiders creator writes a Pong game that tried to use all the features of an 800, a game so complex they used it as a diagnostic tool? Does this sound like a Pong game to anyone? I think Doug was leg pulling..Would explain why its never been seen in the wild as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Well hopefully we MIGHT get an answer if the man himself still reads his email.. Afaik know he's still around.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 I think it's believable he wrote it as a learning exercise. I get the feeling it wasn't something he intended to publish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) You would have thought that considering the author an item like this would have been all around Atari and as it was used as an engineers test demo it would have leaked.. Surely someone must have this bit of software..Especially as Atari was well known (definitely in the UK) for its products falling out the back door early.. That's not entirely accurate [at least not for Atari Inc in the US]. The 3 fire button/3 base Missile Command for A8 that Dan Kramer and other Atari Inc engineers used at HQ with their custom Trak-Balls never made it out the door. There's thought to be only 1 version on disk left today. Edited January 4, 2015 by Lynxpro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 A Pong game that uses plenty of features could probably be done in well under 1K - it might be that it was thought to be insignificant. Plus... it's Pong. The last thing Atari computers needed at that time was belittlement in the form of revisiting the simplistic games of their early times. https://www.atari.com/buy-games/arcade-atari-play/pong-world Ahem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 That's not entirely accurate. The 3 fire button/3 base Missile Command for A8 that Dan Kramer and other Atari Inc engineers used at HQ with their custom Trak-Balls never made it out the door. There's thought to be only 1 version on disk left today. Not entirely but very close to being completely accurate as far as the UK is concerned, I could name names of those responsible for certain leaks but its not my place to (and I do know who was responsible), Atari UK was a sieve with proto's and prior to release stuff falling out. From what I was told the US side were just as bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 https://www.atari.com/buy-games/arcade-atari-play/pong-world Ahem. I think you missed the words "at that time" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.