Halcyon Days (book)
Encyclopedia
Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers is a digital book edited by James Hague and published in 1997. The book was originally formatted using HTML
and sold via mail-order, shipped on a floppy disk
by Dadgum Games for USD
$20. In 2002 Halcyon Days was made freely available on the web. The book continues to be sold by Dr. Dobb's Journal
on a CD-ROM
also containing Susan Lammers's Programmers at Work.
The introduction to Halcyon Days was written by John Romero
.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
and sold via mail-order, shipped on a floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
by Dadgum Games for USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$20. In 2002 Halcyon Days was made freely available on the web. The book continues to be sold by Dr. Dobb's Journal
Dr. Dobb's Journal
Dr. Dobb's Journal was a monthly journal published in the United States by CMP Technology. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. DDJ was the first regular periodical focused on microcomputer software, rather than hardware. It later became a monthly section within the periodical...
on a CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
also containing Susan Lammers's Programmers at Work.
The introduction to Halcyon Days was written by John Romero
John Romero
Alfonso John Romero is a game designer, programmer, and developer in the video game industry. He is best known as a co-founder of id Software and was a designer for many of their games, including Wolfenstein 3D, Dangerous Dave, Doom and Quake...
.
Interviewees
- Ed Averett http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/AVERETT.HTM (Magnavox Odyssey²Magnavox Odyssey²The Magnavox Odyssey², known in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil as the Philips Odyssey, in the United States as the Magnavox Odyssey² and the Philips Odyssey², and also by many other names, is a video game console released in 1978.In the early 1970s, Magnavox was an innovator in the...
) - Danielle Bunten BerryDanielle Bunten BerryDanielle Bunten Berry , born Daniel Paul Bunten, and also known as Dan Bunten, was an American game designer and programmer, known for the 1983 game M.U.L.E. , and 1984's The Seven Cities of Gold.-Biography:Bunten was born in St Louis, Missouri, and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas as a...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/BERRY.HTM (M.U.L.E.M.U.L.E.M.U.L.E. is a seminal multiplayer video game by Ozark Softscape. It was published in 1983 by Electronic Arts. It was originally written for the Atari 400/800, and was later ported to the Commodore 64, the Nintendo Entertainment System and the IBM PC Jr. Japanese versions also exist for the...
, The Seven Cities of Gold) - Stephen C. Biggs http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/BIGGS.HTM
- Adam Billyard http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/BILLYARD.HTM
- Bill BudgeBill BudgeBill Budge is a computer game programmer and designer. His two main claims to fame are 1981's Raster Blaster and 1983's Pinball Construction Set. Both these games were released originally for the Apple II....
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/BUDGE.HTM (Raster BlasterRaster BlasterRaster Blaster is a 1981 computer pinball game for the Apple II resembling the classic Firepower table.-Summary:This video game was written and designed by Bill Budge and published by BudgeCo. It showed a fullscreen high resolution display of a pinball game table...
, Pinball Construction SetPinball Construction SetPinball Construction Set is a computer game by Bill Budge published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the Apple II and Atari 800 in 1983 and was later ported to other platforms, such as the Commodore 64 and DOS .-Description:...
) - Chris CrawfordChris Crawford (game designer)Christopher Crawford is a computer game designer and writer noted for creating a number of important games in the 1980s, founding The Journal of Computer Game Design, and organizing the Computer Game Developers' Conference.- Biography :...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/CRAWFORD.HTM (Wizard, ScramScram (computer game)Scram is the name of two video games, both based around a scram, or emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor.-Atari 800:Scram is a game designed by Chris Crawford for the Atari 800 and released by the Atari Program Exchange. Written in Atari BASIC, Scram utilized differential equations to simulate...
, Eastern Front, Legionnaire, Patton Versus RommelPatton Versus RommelPatton vs. Rommel is a computer war game designed and programmed by Chris Crawford, and published by Electronic Arts in 1987 for the Macintosh and PC systems...
) - Steve DeFrisco http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/DEFRISCO.HTM
- David Fox http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/FOX.HTM (Rescue on Fractalus!)
- Jon FreemanJon FreemanJon Freeman was an influential computer game industry figure of the 1980s and early 1990s. He was a co-founder of Epyx and Free Fall Associates and the spouse of game programmer, Anne Westfall...
& Anne WestfallAnne WestfallAnne Westfall is an influential game programmer of the 1980s. She is the wife of fellow game programmer, game designer and entrepreneur Jon Freeman.-Career:...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/FREEFALL.HTM - Gary GilbertsonGary GilbertsonGary Gilbertson was a music composer for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. His music made use of the AMP engine for the Atari POKEY chip which was programmed by Philip Price...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/GILBERT.HTM - Marc Goodman http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/GOODMAN.HTM (The BilestoadThe BilestoadThe Bilestoad is a computer game by Marc Goodman for the Apple II platform, released in 1982 by Datamost.-Premise:...
) - Dan GorlinDan GorlinDan Gorlin is a computer game programmer, designer and founder of Dan Gorlin Productions. He is best known for his 1982 Apple II game Choplifter.-Career:...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/GORLIN.HTM - Tom Griner http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/GRINER.HTM
- Steve Hales http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/HALES.HTM (Fort ApocalypseFort ApocalypseFort Apocalypse is a 1982 computer game for the Atari 8-bit series created by Steve Hales and distributed by Synapse Software. Joe Vierra wrote the Commodore 64 version the same year...
) - John HarrisJohn Harris (software developer)John D. Harris is a well-known computer programmer, hacker, and author of some classical 1980s Atari computer games.A lot of work carried out early in John's career is considered as groundbreaking in the industry...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/HARRIS.HTM - Eugene JarvisEugene JarvisEugene Peyton Jarvis is a game designer and programmer, known for producing pinball machines for Atari and video games for Williams Electronics. Most notable amongst his works are the seminal arcade video games Defender and Robotron: 2084 in the early 1980s, and the Cruis'n series of driving games...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/JARVIS.HTM - David LubarDavid LubarDavid Lubar is an author of numerous books for teens. He is also an electronic game programmer, who programmedSuper Breakout for the Nintendo Game Boy, and Frogger for both the SNES and Game Boy. As a game designer, he designed the game Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge for the Nintendo Game Boy Color...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/LUBAR.HTM - Scott Ludwig http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/LUDWIG.HTM
- Archer MacLeanArcher MacLeanArcher MacLean is a British video game programmer.- Beginnings :He is the author of such titles as Dropzone and International Karate, which he developed for the Atari 400/800 but were ported to other systems. Archer also created the sequel to International Karate, IK+ which was developed for the...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/MACLEAN.HTM - Jeff MinterJeff MinterJeff 'Yak' Minter is a British computer/video game designer and programmer. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and his recent works include Neon , a non-game music visualization program that has been built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games Space Giraffe , and Space Invaders...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/MINTER.HTM - Brian MoriartyBrian MoriartyBrian Moriarty is an American video game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, Wishbringer , Trinity and Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor ....
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/MORIARTY.HTM - Doug Neubauer http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/NEUBAUER.HTM (SolarisSolaris (Atari 2600)Solaris is a game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari. The game was programmed by Douglas Neubauer, who owns the copyright to the game and the Solaris trademark.-Gameplay:...
, Star RaidersStar RaidersStar Raiders is a video game for the Atari 8-bit family of computers, released in 1979 and programmed by Doug Neubauer. It was also later ported to other Atari computer and game platforms...
) - Philip PricePhilip PricePhilip Price is best known for computer game designs and creative programming done using the Atari 8-bit family of home computers, and was one of the founders of Paradise Programming...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/PRICE.HTM - Warren RobinettWarren RobinettJoseph Warren Robinett, Jr. is a designer of interactive computer graphics software, notable as the developer of the Atari 2600's Adventure — the first graphical adventure video game — and as a founder of The Learning Company, where he designed Rocky's Boots and Robot Odyssey...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/ROBINETT.HTM - Ed Rotberg http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/ROTBERG.HTM (Battlezone, BlasteroidsBlasteroidsBlasteroids is one of the sequels to the original 1979 shoot 'em up video game Asteroids. It was developed by Atari Games and published in 1987 by Image Works for: arcade cabinet, in 1989 for: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, C64/128, MSX, MS-DOS PC, ZX Spectrum.- Gameplay :The gameplay for the game...
, S.T.U.N. RunnerS.T.U.N. RunnerS.T.U.N. Runner is a fast-paced, racing/shooter arcade game released by Atari Games in 1989. The player pilots a futuristic "speed bike" at speeds of up to and even exceeding 900 mph through various tunnels and courses, with changing environments, hazards and enemies...
) - Warren Schwader http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/SCHWADER.HTM (Sammy LightfootSammy LightfootSammy Lightfoot is a 1983 computer game by Sierra On-line. The game was released for a number of 1980s-era home computers and game consoles, such as the Apple II, the Atari 400 and 800, the Commodore 64, the IBM PC, and the ColecoVision. The game was a multi-level platform style game in the vein...
) - Paul Shirley http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/SHIRLEY.HTM (Spindizzy)
- Tim SkellyTim SkellyTim Skelly is an arcade game designer and programmer who worked for Cinematronics from 1978 until 1981. He designed a series of pure action games using black and white vector graphics...
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/SKELLY.HTM
External links
- An Interview with James Hague: Game Developer and Classic Video Game Historian from Jim Lawless' personal web site
- "Fan Captures History of Games' Early Creators" from Wired NewsWired NewsWired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
(1997)