Happy_Dude Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 That said, I'm probably one of the worst 6502-coders to release an actual 2600 game :-) Not for long Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke 4ever Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Im gonna have to go with 2 of my favorites. Howard Scott Warshaw and Dave Crane. A runner up would be Rob Fulop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 I think Bob Whitehead is my favorite programmer. It's pretty remarkable how the same guy who made Blackjack and Star Ship also made Private Eye (which I got for around $2 last weekend ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Tyler Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Doug Macare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerwannabee Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Howard Scott Warshaw is my favorite old school programmer right now just because he shown the most support for the system today than any other old school programmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Early Era--Steve Jobs for creating Breakout Middle Era--Just about every programmer for Activision. Activision as a company made games that are timeless. Modern Era--Thomas Jentsch. What can I say? I'm addicted to Thrust+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Doug Macare Did he do anything other than Pole Position for the 2600? It's so hard to tell who did what with GCC. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liveinabin Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Ooh, good topic. I guess Gary Kitchen and Manuel Polik/Rotschkar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Doug Macare Did he do anything other than Pole Position for the 2600? It's so hard to tell who did what with GCC. So, GCC was like the outsource group for Atari? I see a little history here: http://www.atariprotos.com/7800/7800.htm Is there a list of what they did? If http://www.digitpress.com/archives/gcc/gcc2_07.jpg is a list of sorts, color me impressed: those are some of the best conversions the Atari has ever seen, Battlezone, Kangaroo, etc. It's funny how GCC keeps coming up in my life: GCC-Greater Cleveland Conference (high school's athletic conf.) gcc-Gnu C Compiler (from my comp sci days) GCC-General Cinema Corporation (theater chain) GCC - General Computer Corporation (Atari partner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian M Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Early Era--Steve Jobs for creating Breakout Actually, I believe it was Steve Wozniak who actually created Breakout. Steve Jobs just did the legwork required to get it seen and published by Atari (as well as cheating Wozniak out of some of the advance money from it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 So, GCC was like the outsource group for Atari? Yes basically. They got caught by Atari for selling speedup kits for Missile Command and instead of being sued (they settled for making 3 arcade games for Atari) they were given a contract for making 2600 games. They were very good at what they did. So GCC did RS Tennis and Qix? I didn't know that. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hi there! Hm... did actually anyone ever try to contact GCC? Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian M Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hi there! Hm... did actually anyone ever try to contact GCC? Greetings, Manuel Remarkably, GCC Corporation still exists (at least it did 2 years ago). They now focus primarily on producing laser printers. Believe it or not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hi there! Hm... did actually anyone ever try to contact GCC? Remarkably, GCC Corporation still exists (at least it did 2 years ago). They now focus primarily on producing laser printers. Believe it or not! I certainly believe you, as I was just browsing their homepage when I was typing my last message. Interesting reading on their "Corporate History" page: http://gccprinters.com/corporate/history.html Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian M Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Interesting reading on their "Corporate History" page: http://gccprinters.com/corporate/history.html Greetings, Manuel Agreed. Weird how they went into the printer business almost exclusively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hm... did actually anyone ever try to contact GCC? I thought about it, but then I figured that no one who was there during the 2600 years would be left. I also generally don't like to go hunting people down, I consider it an invasion of privacy. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hi there! I thought about it, but then I figured that no one who was there during the 2600 years would be left. I also generally don't like to go hunting people down, I consider it an invasion of privacy. When trying to "Hunt down" people for interviews for the Epyx Shrine, I normally get throughout positive reactions from them. Most of them are very happy that someone is still interested in their old work and really enjoy telling their story. I was even invited to an Epyx Reunion BBQ once Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 When trying to "Hunt down" people for interviews for the Epyx Shrine, I normally get throughout positive reactions from them. Most of them are very happy that someone is still interested in their old work and really enjoy telling their story. I was even invited to an Epyx Reunion BBQ once Yes so do I. Out of the 20 or so people I've contacted I've only gotten one "no reply" and one guy who flaked on me (started talking then decided he didn't want to anymore). These days however I prefer to let them come to me, I've had over 15 different programmers contact me because they saw their game on my website. Now I'm the one being stalked by programmers, and I find that pretty cool! Generally if I can find an e-mail address I'll shoot off a "would you like to talk about your game" e-mail. That way if they want to respond they can and if they don't there's no commitment on their end. However sometimes all I find are phone numbers and I never call because I don't want to bother them on the phone. Other people I know have hounded some of these guys by phone (trying to get them to come to their convention, looking for protos that they can sell, and what not), and I consider that most uncool. What can I say, some people just don't have any tact... That's cool you got invited to the Epyx BBQ, I got invited to some Atari reunion shindig a year or so back (a small group of people), but I couldn't go due to time constrants. I would have felt weird there anyway since I was never an Atari employee (although that was my dream job growing up). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 This thread has made me realize just how many good programmers there are for the 2600. I knew there were quite a few, but I never put together just how many. And my hat's off to all the good ones. Hey, without them, we've just got this system designed for Pong and Tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dino from Bula Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 And my hat's off to all the good ones. Hey, without them, we've just got this system designed for Pong and Tank. Ain't that the truth - but, still...my favorite is Carla Meninsky Dodge 'Em is still my favorite. Of course, David Crane made me go blind on Laser Blast. And I still remember the day my ENTIRE family played Pitfall til 3 am...on a 20" RCA console - the only way to play Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjessop Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 Here is an article I found online that describes such and incident and is a pretty good read. http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/atari/art.../King-Pong.html Jerry However sometimes all I find are phone numbers and I never call because I don't want to bother them on the phone. Other people I know have hounded some of these guys by phone (trying to get them to come to their convention' date=' looking for protos that they can sell, and what not), and I consider that most uncool. What can I say, some people just don't have any tact...Tempest[/quote'] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 11, 2004 Share Posted April 11, 2004 Early Era--Steve Jobs for creating Breakout If I remember right, it was the Woz who did the game and Jobs just took all the credit. Typical Jobs. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaXpress Posted April 11, 2004 Share Posted April 11, 2004 Business-minded guys ripping off the technical geniuses? No way. Bob Whitehead cam up with the venetian blinds technique. He and the other early programmers probably had the hardest job because they were breaking new ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Rogue Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Here is an article I found online that describes such and incident and is a pretty good read. http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/atari/art.../King-Pong.html Jerry Just read that. Where did the author get that nonsensical rumor about Apple creating the mouse by turning an Atari Trak-ball over? I hate when non-technical people write articles like this. Doub Engelbart invented the mouse back in the mid 60's at SRI. Here's his 1968 demo for anyone that's interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_wizard Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 david crane. cuz my favorite game is pitfall II lost caverns! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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