NUMB THUMB CLUB - Interview with Bob Smith

ATARI 2600 ODYSSEY 2 INTELLIVISION COLECOVISION COMPUTERS

INTERVIEW WITH:
BOB SMITH

Blue Dragon

I recently caught up with former Imagic programmer Bob Smith and he was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions for an interview. Bob designed and programmed the immensely popular Imagic title Dragonfire, not to mention the Riddle of the Spinx and Star Voyager titles for Imagic. He also programmed the Atari 2600 versions of Video Pinball for Atari and Star Wars for Parker Bros.

CORBIE DILLARD: So let's start with your fascinating background. How on earth did you ever go from building sailboats to designing video games?

BOB SMITH: Long story. While building trimarans in the south bay, I had been working toward an FCC license with the idea of moving away from the SF bay area and starting our family. About that time, I saw an article in Popular Electronics about the 6800 microprocessor. I was hooked. I started programming programmable calculators (which were the only hands-on computers for regular folks at that time). I did a slalom racing game on one of the early HP card reading calculators.

In 1975, we moved to NW New Mexico to start a family. I started building our house (a geodesic dome, of course), and went to work for a local lumber yard. I wound up building an 8080 based computer (Processor Technology Sol) for them and doing a business package in Basic. That convinced me that I wanted to work with computers, but wanted nothing to do with business software.

The Processor Technology machine provided an 8080 assembler, and a listing of the bootstrap ROM. That was enough to let me write my first 8080 assembly project, which was a point of view driving game (I called it Seca). I sold this to the then current software magazine, Creative Computing.

By 1979, my wife was ready to go back to the bay area (she’s a native). We sold the dome & acreage, and, with 2 children, back we went.

I looked at programming jobs, applied for several, and got a few offers, one from a Swiss power company, and two offers from Atari, one from Dennis Koble in the consumer division to program the VCS (aka 2600), and one from Steve Calfee in Coin Op. I was very impressed by the quality of the coin op group, but also very intimidated, so I went with the consumer group, which was much more laid back.

I never did regret passing over the ultra stable Swiss power company.

CD: What made you decide to go to work for Imagic?

BS: The first work I did for Atari was 2600 Video Pinball. After that project, I was made supervisor of half the 2600 group (Brad Stewart was the other). At this point I was 30, had two kids, and had a good amount of gray hair. Most of the 2600 programmers were 22 or 23, many just out of school. I think they needed someone a little older to herd cats (as they say).

During my 18 months at Atari, Space Invaders took off, Video Pinball exceeded 2 million in sales, and it was obvious to everyone that this was a goldmine. Atari had come up with a phantom stock scheme to try and compensate the 2600 people, but trust in management wasn’t high. When Dennis Koble mentioned he was planning a new venture with Bill Grubb (later Imagic CEO), I volunteered then and there. Founder’s stock and royalties sealed the deal for me.

CD: Were you allowed to choose the projects you worked on or were they chosen for you?

BS: We had creative sessions. We did plenty of blue skying, but we weren’t idiots, we always invited sales and marketing. However, the 2600 was such difficult hardware, it usually came down to what the programmer thought he could get onto the display. As an example, Rob Fulop’s Demon Attack was based on his idea of line by line color changes, and the concept ‘Death from Above’ (which was his working title).

CD: Of all the games you worked on while at Imagic, what is your personal favorite and why?

BS: Hmm. Dragonfire, Riddle of the Sphinx, and Star Wars would be my top three. Dragonfire for the playability, Riddle of the Sphinx for the concept, and Star Wars for the technicals.

CD: Your Dragonfire game is widely considered to be one of the best video games to come out of the Atari era. How did you come up with the idea for Dragonfire?

BS: Since the 2600 had such primitive graphics, the user interface was everything. I wanted a quick fluid motion to be the ‘feel’ of the game. Jacks (gathering jacks while a bounced ball is in the air) was the real world example of the game play I wanted. The bridge scene I added to give it a little more gameplay- it was very inexpensive in ROM.

CD: Were there any aspects of creating and programming Dragonfire that proved to be a real challenge?

BS: The display code for the moving dragon, with fire, was the most difficult part of the code. I wrote what we called a ‘moving 4 character kernel’ with an extra missile (the dragonfire). I actually got a mention in the IEEE Spectrum for that display kernel.

Of course, the ever present challenge was to get all of the code into 4 kilobytes. We probably spent 25% of the development time scrunching code.

CD: Other than Rob Fulop's Demon Attack, your Dragonfire game has been ported to more game consoles and personal computers than any other Imagic release? How does it feel to know your game spawned so many ports?

BS: It pleases me, of course. It was a very accessible and playable game.

CD: Although you're probably best known for Dragonfire, you also created the quite unique Riddle of the Sphinx title as well. How did you come up with the idea for the game?

BS: I wanted to do an Egypt game, so by using the 2600 concepts of reusing sprites down the screen (there were only two sprites on the system), along with line by line color changes led to the world scrolling down to meet the player. I wanted it to be more than a shooter, so I added the concept of “keys” to pass certain objects.

CD: Riddle of the Sphinx is considered to be one of the tougher Imagic titles. Did you make a conscious effort to make the game extremely challenging?

BS: I did want it to take some time to finish the game, since I didn‘t consider it very replayable (except for the difficulty switch). We also had a contest for this title, though I don‘t remember if it came about before the title was finished. The grand prize was awarded at the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose, CA. I still have the winning scroll.

CD: The video games of today have become so life-like and complicated that it can take months to fully master a game. What are your thoughts on the modern era video games and consoles and do you feel like maybe some of the magic found in the earlier video game titles has been lost a bit over the years?

BS: I like the increased depth the better hardware affords. I’m happy that the industry is slowly moving away from shooters into more interesting genres.

I think the large project budget is what has killed the magic. Investors want to be assured of a return, hence sequels and knockoffs ad naseum. No corporation can afford to take chances or attempt to break new ground, but, fortunately, there are still bold individuals and small ventures who will dare for the love of gaming.

It’s a shame that the days of one or two people projects are over. I have to laugh (and shudder) when I hear of 200 member teams.

CD: Do you ever go back and play any of your classic Imagic titles?

BS: Not in a few years.

CD: Are you still involved with video game development or have you moved on to bigger and better things?

BS: Is there an occupation bigger and better? I worked on most of the game consoles, along with some PC work, and a bit of coin-op. In 2000, I moved to southern Oregon and started working on handhelds- probably my best known is March of the Penguins (with Dave Crane) on the DS/GBA. I’m now working on a web based game, which will go to the iPhone.

CD: Do you still keep in touch with any of the Imagic programmers today?

BS: Sure, Brad Stewart comes to Thanksgiving every year, and I keep in touch with Dennis Koble. 2600 people and others from that era are still a small community; the Classic Gaming Expo has been a great way to keep in touch with people who’ve slipped out of range.

CD: Other than your own creations, were there any other Imagic titles that really impressed you during your time with the company?

BS: Rob and Dennis always did great work. Dennis’ Trick Shot math & performance was amazing for a 1 MHz 8-bit processor with no multiply or divide. We had a group of interns who did some impressive Intellivision work.

CD: Did you actually own any of the video game consoles that Imagic developed games for back during the Atari era?

BS: Oh, yes. EPROMS followed me home on a regular basis. My two sons were in grade school during the Imagic years, and they had lots to say about the gameplay and art.

CD: Were there any projects that you started but weren't able to finish due to the rapidly declining video game market during your later time with Imagic?

BS: I was working on an Atari 400/800 dungeon cartridge (and Dennis was working on the 2600 version) when things finally went south. I would have liked to have finished those. The last 2600 title I did was Star Wars. It was done on multiple SKUs in a very short time; I would have liked another month to work on those display kernels.

CD: How does it feel to know that gamers of all ages are still enjoying your Imagic creations still to this very day?

BS: I like being part of the early history of our industry. It was back when men were men, and small furry creatures were small furry creatures (to paraphrase Douglas Adams).

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