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'''Asteroids''' was the product of [[Atari]] employees Lyle Rains and Ed Logg. At the time of Asteroid's creation, Atari was making forays into vector display technology. At the time, Vector displays could produce sharper details than (typical) raster displays, so it was seen as a popular display alternative for video games. One other company, [[Cinematronics]], had already experimented with vector graphics in 1977 in their arcade interpretation of the famous MIT game [[Space Wars]]. Though vector graphics eventually disappeared from the arcades in 1986, a few other companies joined Atari and Cinematronics at making vector games, but no one made nearly as many as these first two companies. | '''Asteroids''' was the product of [[Atari]] employees Lyle Rains and Ed Logg. At the time of Asteroid's creation, Atari was making forays into vector display technology. At the time, Vector displays could produce sharper details than (typical) raster displays, so it was seen as a popular display alternative for video games. One other company, [[Cinematronics]], had already experimented with vector graphics in 1977 in their arcade interpretation of the famous MIT game [[Space Wars]]. Though vector graphics eventually disappeared from the arcades in 1986, a few other companies joined Atari and Cinematronics at making vector games, but no one made nearly as many as these first two companies. | ||
One of Atari's first attempts with vector graphics was a game known as [[Lunar Lander]]. In Lunar Lander, you attempted to pilot a craft to land safely on the surface of the moon. It was the graphical adaptation of a popular text game that circulated around academic computer science programs. Lunar Lander sold poorly and Atari decided to abandon the game's production in favor of a better game that was rising in popularity. Lyle Rains and Ed Logg had developed a game so addictive that several Atari employees would wait in line for a chance to play. The interruptions to their work became so frequent that they had to build a separate prototype just for their coworkers to play on so that they could continue their work. When they were done, Asteroids was released to the arcades and proceeded to get so many quarters that arcade operators had to increase the size of the containers they were using to catch all of the money. It was seen as a game that would knock [[Space Invaders]] off of its throne. In truth the two games lived side by side and did very well together. | One of Atari's first attempts with vector graphics was a game known as [[Lunar Lander]]. In Lunar Lander, you attempted to pilot a craft to land safely on the surface of the moon. It was the graphical adaptation of a popular text game that circulated around academic computer science programs. Lunar Lander sold poorly and Atari decided to abandon the game's production in favor of a better game that was rising in popularity. Lyle Rains and Ed Logg had developed a game so addictive that several Atari employees would wait in line for a chance to play. The interruptions to their work became so frequent that they had to build a separate prototype just for their coworkers to play on so that they could continue their work. When they were done, Asteroids was released to the arcades and proceeded to get so many quarters that arcade operators had to increase the size of the containers they were using to catch all of the money. It was seen as a game that would knock [[Space Invaders]] off of its throne. In truth the two games lived side by side and did very well together. | ||
In 1981, it seemed only natural that Atari would bring this game home on its own systems. At that time, it was more common for a company to monopolize a popular title for bragging rights ("You can ONLY play this on Atari home systems") and less popular for games to appear across multiple platforms. So the game appeared on the [[Atari 2600]] and the [[Atari 8-bit]] family of computers, namely the 400 and 800 at that time. The 8-bit version was also planned as one of the first Atari 5200 cartridges, but the non-centering analog sticks made playing the game far too difficult, so it was canceled. These versions graphics differed drastically from the arcade version, since the arcade was vector display and televisions were raster. Nevertheless, these conversions were accepted as having been well done, and sold very well. | In 1981, it seemed only natural that Atari would bring this game home on its own systems. At that time, it was more common for a company to monopolize a popular title for bragging rights ("You can ONLY play this on Atari home systems") and less popular for games to appear across multiple platforms. So the game appeared on the [[Atari 2600]] and the [[Atari 8-bit]] family of computers, namely the 400 and 800 at that time. The 8-bit version was also planned as one of the first Atari 5200 cartridges, but the non-centering analog sticks made playing the game far too difficult, so it was canceled. These versions graphics differed drastically from the arcade version, since the arcade was vector display and televisions were raster. Nevertheless, these conversions were accepted as having been well done, and sold very well. | ||