Breakout is an
arcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, public houses, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers...
developed by
Atari, IncAtari, Inc. was a video game and computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Primarily responsible for the formation of the video arcade and modern video game industries, the company was closed and its assets split in 1984 as a direct result of the North American video game...
and introduced on May 13,
1976-Events:*In October, Warner Communications acquires Atari from Nolan Bushnell for $28 million USD. Bushnell stays on as chairman.-Notable releases:...
. It was conceptualized by
Nolan BushnellNolan K. Bushnell is an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain...
and Steve Bristow, and influenced by the
1972-Events:*Following the poor sales of Computer Space, Nolan Bushnell leaves Nutting Associates to move his coin-op engineering and design firm with Ted Dabney in to a full fledged company. When officially incorporating, Bushnell discovers that a roofing company had already been using their name...
arcade game
PongPong is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. The aim is to defeat an opponent—either computer-controlled or a second player—by earning a higher score. The game was originally manufactured by Atari Incorporated , who released...
. The game was ported to
video game consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or electronic device that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s and upgraded to video games such as
Super Breakout. In addition,
Breakout was the basis and inspiration for books, video games, and the Apple II personal computer.
In the game, a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen. A ball travels across the screen, bouncing off the top and side walls of the screen. When a brick is hit, the ball bounces away and the brick is destroyed. The player loses a turn when the ball touches the bottom of the screen. To prevent this from happening, the player has a movable paddle to bounce the ball upward, keeping it in play.
The
arcade cabinetA video game arcade cabinet, also known as a video arcade machine or video coin-op, is the housing within which a video arcade game's hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the JAMMA wiring standard...
uses a black and white
monitorA monitor or display is a piece of electrical equipment which displays images generated by devices such as computers, without producing a permanent record. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...
. However, the monitor has strips of colored
cellophaneCellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, and bacteria makes it useful for food packaging...
placed over it so that the bricks appear to be in color.
History and development
Breakout, a discrete logic (non-
microprocessorA microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit words...
) game, was conceptualized by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, after the latter had "rejoined" Atari after the merge of Atari subsidiary
Kee GamesKee Games was an arcade game manufacturer that released games from 1973 to 1978. Kee was headed by Joe Keenan, a long-time friend of Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Keenan managed to hire several defectors from Atari, and began advertising itself as a competitor...
.
They had an idea to turn
PongPong is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. The aim is to defeat an opponent—either computer-controlled or a second player—by earning a higher score. The game was originally manufactured by Atari Incorporated , who released...
into a single player game, where the player would use a ball to deplete a wall of bricks without missing the ball on its rebound. Bushnell was certain the game would be popular, and the two partnered to produce a concept.
Al AlcornAllan Alcorn is a pioneering engineer and computer scientist. He grew up in San Francisco, California, and attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in 1971....
was assigned as the project manager, and began development with Cyan Engineering in 1975. The same year, Alcorn assigned
Steve JobsSteven Paul "Steve" Jobs is an American businessman, and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs previously served as CEO of Pixar Animation Studios....
to design a prototype. Jobs was offered
US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
750, with an extra $100 each time a chip was eliminated from the prospected design. Jobs promised to complete a prototype within four days.
Jobs noticed his friend
Steve WozniakStephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak is an American computer engineer who founded Apple Computer, Inc. with Steve Jobs. His inventions and machines are credited with contributing significantly to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s. Wozniak created the Apple I and Apple II computers in...
—employee of
Hewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company , commonly referred to as HP, is a technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. HP has its United States offices at the former old Compaq Campus in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, Latin America offices in Miami-Dade County, Florida,...
—was capable of producing designs with a small number of chips, and invited him to work on the hardware design with the prospect of splitting the $750 wage. Wozniak had no sketches and instead interpreted the game from its description. To save parts, he had "tricky little designs" difficult to understand for most engineers. Near the end of development, Wozniak considered moving the high score to the screen's top, but Jobs claimed Bushnell wanted it at the bottom; Wozniak was unaware of any truth to his claims. The original deadline was met after Wozniak did not sleep for four days straight. In the end 50 chips were removed from Jobs' original design. This equated to a US$5,000 bonus, which Jobs kept secret from Wozniak, instead only paying him $375.
Atari was unable to use Steve Wozniak's design. By designing the board with as few chips as possible, he also cut down the amount of TTL (
transistor-transistor logicTransistor–transistor logic is a class of digital circuits built from bipolar junction transistors and resistors. It is called transistor–transistor logic because both the logic gating function and the amplifying function are performed by transistors .TTL is notable for being a widespread...
) chips to 42. This made the design difficult to manufacture—it was too compact and complicated to be feasible with Atari's manufacturing methods. However, Wozniak claims Atari could not understand the design, and speculates "maybe some engineer there was trying to make some kind of modification to it". Atari ended up designing their own version for production, which contained about 100 TTL chips. Wozniak found the gameplay to be the same as his original creation, and could not find any differences.
Gameplay
Breakout begins with eight rows of bricks, with each two rows a different color. The color order from the bottom up is yellow, green, orange and red. Using a single ball, the player must knock down as many bricks as possible by using the walls and/or the paddle below to ricochet the ball against the bricks and eliminate them. If the player's paddle misses the ball's rebound, he or she loses a turn. The player has three turns to try to clear two screens of bricks. Yellow bricks earn one point each, green bricks earn three points, orange bricks earn five points and the top-level red bricks score seven points each. To add to the challenge, the paddle shrinks to one-half its size after the ball has broken through the red row and hit the upper wall. In addition, ball speed increases at specific intervals: after four hits, after twelve hits, and after making contact with the orange and red rows.
The maximum score that one player can achieve is 896, by eliminating two screens of bricks of 448 points each. Once the second screen of bricks is destroyed, the ball in play harmlessly bounces off empty walls until the player finally relinquishes the game, as no additional screens are provided. However, a secret way to score beyond the 896 maximum is to play the game in two-player mode. If Player One completes the first screen on his or her third and last ball, then immediately and deliberately allows the ball to "drain," Player One's second screen is transferred to Player Two as a third screen, allowing Player Two to score a maximum of 1344 points if he or she is adept enough to keep the third ball in play that long. Once the third screen is eliminated, the game is over.
Ports
The original arcade version of
Breakout has been officially
portIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
ed to several systems, such as Video Pinball, the
Atari 5200The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, or simply the Atari 5200, is a video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc. as a replacement for the famous Atari 2600. The 5200 was created to compete with the Intellivision, but wound up more directly competing with the ColecoVision shortly after its...
(included in
Super Breakout), which was presented as planet Striae's galactic game event and the
Atari 2600The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
, where the game is actually showing the storyline of a prisoner that's trying to escape.
The
Atari 2600The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
port was programmed by
Brad StewartBrad Stewart is a professional musician best known for his work with hard rock band Shinedown. However, he now plays in Amaru and Society Red.-Shinedown:Brad was the second member to join Shinedown after vocalist Brent Smith...
. Stewart had been working on a backup project for the Atari 2600, which was eventually canceled. Consequently, Brad and Ian Shepherd were both available to program
Breakout for the Atari 2600. They decided to compete in the original version of
Breakout for the programming rights. In the end, Brad won. In development, he didn't receive help of the original designers (and was unaware who they were), and felt that there were few obstacles to overcome. Difficulties arose with the
Television Interface AdapterThe Television Interface Adapter is the custom chip that is the heart of the Atari 2600 game console and was created by Jay Miner of Amiga fame....
. The game was published in 1978 and was conceptually the same, but with a few key differences. First, there were only six rows of bricks. Second, the player is given five turns to clear two walls instead of three. One notable addition was the Breakthru variant, where the ball does not bounce off of the bricks, but continues through them until it hits the wall.
AtariAtari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Infogrames Entertainment SA ....
had this term trademarked and used it as a sister term to
Breakout in order to describe gameplay, especially in look-alike games and remakes.
Super Breakout
The success of the game resulted in the development of Super Breakout a couple of years later. While ostensibly very similar to Breakout – the layout, sound, and general behavior of the game is identical – Super Breakout is a
microprocessorA microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit words...
based game instead of discrete logic, programmed by Asteroids programmer
Ed LoggEd Logg was an arcade video game designer, employed first at Atari and after at Atari Games. He co-developed the video game Asteroids with Lyle Rains. Other games designed or co-designed by Logg include Centipede, Millipede, the Gauntlet series, and the San Francisco Rush series.-External links:* *...
using an early
M6502The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of...
chip. Super Breakout can therefore be emulated in
MAMEMAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The aim of MAME is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines;...
and is also featured in a number of different Atari compilation packs. The original Breakout has not been featured, since there is no processor in Breakout — the game would have been more "simulated" than emulated.
In
Super Breakout, there are three different and more advanced game types from which the player can choose:
- Double gives the player control of two bats at the same time—one placed above the other—and two balls. Losing a life occurs only when both balls go out of play, and points are doubled while the player is able to juggle both balls without losing either.
- Cavity retains the single bat and ball of Breakout, but two other balls are enclosed on the other side of the wall, which the player must free before they, too, can be used to destroy additional bricks. Points are increased for this, but triple points are available if the player can keep all three balls in play.
- Progressive also has the single bat and ball, but as the ball hits the paddle, the entire wall gradually advances downwards step by step, gaining in speed the longer the ball lasts in play.
Other platforms
Glu Mobile released a licensed cellular phone version of Super Breakout that includes the original game as well as updated gameplay, skins, and modes. In 2008, Atari released the game for the
iPhoneThe iPhone is an Internet and multimedia enabled smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Because its minimal hardware interface lacks a physical keyboard, the multi-touch screen renders a virtual keyboard when necessary...
and
iPod TouchThe iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, and Wi-Fi mobile platform designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The product was launched on September 5, 2007, at an event called The Beat Goes On. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
via Apple's
App StoreThe App Store is a service for the iPhone and iPod Touch created by Apple Inc. which allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with the iPhone SDK and published through Apple. Depending on the application, they are available either for free, or for a...
.
Breakout 2000
There was also a reinvented
Breakout 2000 game for the
Atari JaguarThe Atari Jaguar was a video game console, released by Atari Corporation in . It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in processing power. It was in competition with 3DO and later consoles that made up the Fifth generation of video game...
game console. Breakout 2000 was a 3-D version of the arcade classic. Designed for one or two players. The object of the game remained the same but in a 3D playfield. There were a total of ten different Phases to survive, each consisting of five playfields. Each playfield was more difficult to clear than prior one, and each Phase added even more difficulty and features.
The game featured good and bad power-ups somewhat similar to
Arkanoidis an arcade game developed by Taito in 1986. It is based upon Atari's Breakout games of the 1970s. The title refers to a doomed "mothership" from which the Vaus, the player's ship, escapes.-Overview:...
. There were unbreakable bricks, multi-hit bricks and stacked bricks. Ball movement was limited to the lower level of stacked bricks so breaking a lower brick would allow the stacked bricks to fall into the now vacated location. The game also featured a 2 player mode that allowed two people (or a person and the computer) to compete head to head. In this mode a player's ball could loop around to the other player's playfield and break the opponent's bricks. A 2X bonus was awarded for breaking your opponent's bricks.
IBM PCThe IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
and PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
Breakout was once again updated for the
IBM PCThe IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
and also for the
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
. This version featured an ongoing storyline. In it, the character of Bouncer must rescue Daisy and his friends from the evil Batnix. With advice of Coach Steel, he travels different lands to rescue his friends:
- Tutorial: Bouncer must break out of Batnix's prison to rescue his friends. After that, he must escape a wolf.
- Egypt: Against a backdrop of Egyptian desert sits a giant pyramid, its secrets hidden from view. Only total destruction will unlock all its treasures. Beneath the pyramid are secret tombs through which Bouncer must battle in order to reach the Mummy's Lair, where a final battle will rescue his first friend.
- Farm: Bouncer must use his Breakout skills to defeat sheep, chickens, and ducks to rescue his second friend. After that, he must outrun another wolf.
- Castle: A giant Dragon carries a captive into a majestic, towering medieval castle surrounded by a deep moat. Bouncer must first defeat the knight guards on the drawbridge before he can enter the castle. Once Bouncer has completed several different challenges, he must climb the castle tower to the Dragon’s nest and do battle with the Dragon to save another one of his friends.
- Factory: Batnix has devised an evil robot henchman to guard his captives in his diabolical factory. A series of devious, puzzle-like levels must be negotiated before Bouncer battles the deranged robot to complete his mission.
- Space: Bouncer launches a rocket into space in order to chase the evil Batnix and rescue Daisy. Bouncer must use his Breakout skills to deflect killer asteroids.
Unofficial variations
Many unofficial variations of Breakout were created for home computer platforms such as
Apple II PlusThe Apple II Plus was the second model of the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer, Inc.-Features:The Apple II+ had a total of 48 KB of RAM, expandable to 64 KB by means of the language card, an expansion card that could be installed in the computer's slot 0...
,
TRS-80TRS-80 was Tandy Corporation's desktop microcomputer model line, sold through Tandy's Radio Shack stores in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The line won popularity with hobbyists, home users, and small-businesses...
and
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
. A version of the game called "Little Brick Out" was included on the DOS 3.2 System Master disk for the Apple II.
Apple II
Breakout directly influenced Steve Wozniak's design for the Apple II computer — "A lot of features of the Apple II went in because I had designed
Breakout for Atari. I had designed it in hardware. I wanted to write it in software now." This included his design of color graphics circuitry and the now infamous beep and click sound circuitry. It also directly influenced his design of
Integer BASICInteger BASIC, written by Steve Wozniak, was the BASIC interpreter of the Apple I and original Apple II computers. Originally available on cassette, then included in ROM on the original Apple II computer at release in 1977, it was the first version of BASIC used by many early home computer owners....
(which he referred to as "Game Basic"), with his Integer BASIC version of Breakout being the first "proof of concept" application running on the prototype Apple II. His desire to play
Breakout on his new computer also led to the addition of a paddle interface, and ultimately the bundling of paddle controllers and a cassette tape containing the code for
Breakout for the Apple II's commercial release.
Pilgrim in the Microworld
Pilgrim in the Microworld is an
autobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
by David Sudnow detailing his obsession with
Breakout. Sudnow describes studying the game's mechanics, visiting the manufacturer in
Silicon ValleySilicon Valley is the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, United States. The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area; it is now...
, interviewing the programmers, and reading many books dedicated to
Breakout.
Super Breakout story
For
Kid Stuff RecordsKid Stuff Records was a record label of the 1980s devoted to children's music. The label's albums were mostly tie-ins for franchises such as Care Bears, The Pink Panther Show, Strawberry Shortcake, Fat Albert, Garfield, and Masters of the Universe, along with video games such as Pac-Man, Missile...
,
John BradenJohn Braden , a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, was a writer, producer, and director of motion pictures and television programs, as well as a public advocate against drugs in the movie industry....
recorded a 7-in 33 1/3 RPM record telling the story of
Super Breakout. This
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
story dealt with
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
astronaut Captain John Stewart Chang returning from a routine mission transporting
titaniumTitanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Sometimes called the “space age metal”, it has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color.Titanium can be alloyed with iron, aluminium, vanadium, molybdenum, among other...
oreAn ore is a type of rock that contains minerals such as gemstones or metals that can be extracted through mining and refined for use. Samples of ore in the form of exceptionally beautiful crystals, exotic layering visible when sectioned or polished or metallic presentations such as large nuggets or...
from
IoIo is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter and, with a diameter of 3,642 kilometres, the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System. It was named after Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of the lovers of Zeus.With over 400 active volcanoes, Io is the most...
to space station New California. He encounters a rainbow barrier, presumably a force of nature, that seems to have no end on either side. He has three lobbing missiles of white light that he can bounce off the hull of his shuttle, and they prove able to break through the layers of the force field. With his life support systems failing, what follows is a test of endurance turned game as he strives to break through the barrier in space.
Other games
- Arcade remakes include Atari's own Super Breakout and Taito
The is a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix.Taito Trading Company was established by a Russian Jewish businessman named Michael Kogan. Taito also imports and distributes American coin-op video games in Japan, as well as their own...
's Arkanoidis an arcade game developed by Taito in 1986. It is based upon Atari's Breakout games of the 1970s. The title refers to a doomed "mothership" from which the Vaus, the player's ship, escapes.-Overview:...
as well as Namco, is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. The company is most famous for creating Pac-Man, the best-selling arcade game in history...
's QuesterQuester is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1987 only in Japan.-Gameplay:The player must move a paddle left and right across the bottom of the screen deflecting a ball to hit bricks. Some bricks contain special power-ups to enhance play. The gameplay is similar to Taito's Arkanoid....
.
- Handheld devices have had variants included with them as well. The most notable are those designed for rotary control, such as the iPod
iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched on . The product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano, and the compact iPod Shuffle. The iPhone can function as an iPod but is generally...
and the BlackBerryBlackBerry is a line of wireless handheld devices that was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager. In 2002, the more commonly known smartphone BlackBerry was released, which supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services....
's Brick Breaker. The iriveririver is a brand and division of ReignCom, manufacturer of digital audio players and other portable products. They typically include USB mass storage, or the Media Transfer Protocol, multiple codecs, FM tuners, recording capabilities, and upgradeable firmware...
got Brickmania on the RockBoxRockbox is a free software replacement for the firmware held on various forms of digital audio players . Rockbox offers an alternative to the host device's operating system firmware which provides a plug-in architecture for adding various enhancements and functionality to DAPs which are not...
OS. An earlier handheld variant was Nintendo's Alleyway, released in 1989 for the original Game Boy system.
- Microvision
The Microvision was the very first hand-held game console using interchangeable cartridges. It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November . The Microvision was designed by Jay Smith, the engineer who would later design the Vectrex gaming console...
The earliest handheld device with swapable cartridges, ca 1979, shipped with Block Buster, a simplistic Breakout clone.
- An updated version called Bebop was made in the 90s.
- Later versions of Turbo Pascal
Turbo Pascal is a software development system that includes a compiler and an Integrated Development Environment for the Pascal programming language running under CP/M, CP/M-86, and MS-DOS, developed by Borland under Philippe Kahn's leadership...
included Breakout, with source code, as an example of the Object PascalObject Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Delphi. Pascal compilers, including those for Object Pascal, generally run very fast while producing highly optimized code....
language.
- Currently Sega's newest mini-game on SONIC the Hedgehog (2006) is based on Breakout..
- Peggle
Peggle is a casual action video game developed by Sukhbir Sidhu and Brian Rothstein of PopCap Games. Initially released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X systems in 2007, it has been since ported to Xbox Live Arcade, the Nintendo DS , Windows Mobile, the iPod, iPod Touch, and iPhone, as a Java...
is based on a combination of pachinkois a Japanese gaming device used for amusement and gambling. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but with no flippers and a large number of relatively small balls. The player fires a ball up into the machine, controlling only its initial speed. The ball then cascades down...
machines along with the mechanics of Breakout.
- Hardball is a free computer game similar to breakout which was made for the Palm OS
For the modern smartphone operating system by Palm, see: webOSPalm OS is an embedded operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc. for personal digital assistants in 1996...
.