vice president of Exidy. "The
substantial investment we make in
research and· development will be
returned to us a zillion times over if
the games are good."
Another common reason for
in-house R&D is control, which
most company spokesmen say is
important in getting a game from the
concept stage to the final product.
"One of the biggest advantages is
that you're not at the mercy of other
companies to get products," says
Stroud. "Then there's the problem
with copies, of course . When you do
everything in-house, there's less
chance of a game getting out."
At Atari, Fournell agrees that the
control factor is important, but it is
something that came naturally out of
the company's background. "Atari
grew out of an engineering staff and
so it never did do development
outside of the company," he says .
But there are other motivations
behind Atari's investment in R&D. "If
you want to be a leader in electronic
entertainment you have to control
your own destiny," Fournell adds.
"We want to be , and are, leaders in
that field, and that leadership comes
from doing your own thing in-
house ."
Pride and prestige are among the
other intangibles mentioned by the
companies who do their own R&D .
"There's a certain amount of satisfac-
tion in being the creator of the
design," says · Exidy's Hauser. And,
with Exidy planning to enlarge,
possibly double, its R&D staff,
Hauser adds, "It's to our advantage
to continue to be innovators rather
than just ·implement other people's
games ."
Whatever the reasons, justifica-
tions ·or motivations for in-house
R&D, all of the companies agreed
that one essential ingredient must be
present for the development formula
to work: people. And all the
companies reported that the "right
people" are a special group who are
not always easy to find .
"It ·seems that game designers are
a special breed," says Ward Ellis, vice
. president of engineering at Cinema-
tronics . "They are not too far
removed from a first-hand acquain-
tance with the fantasy world . But in
the video area , it is also virtually
essential that a game designer be a
good programmer .
"I realized early on that game
design is an art , not a science," he
adds .
No formula for people
Because game design is such a
unique art, the exact qualities of a
designer are hard to nail down . "If
we had a formula that would select
creative people, we'd no doubt do
very well," says Atari's Fournell
jokingly. "But we look for people
with a love for games , a love for the
work that entails imagination and
enthusiasm. We look for people who
are willing to try something ," he
added.
The unique characteristics of the
coin-op game industry also help
define the kind of people who are
valued on the R&D staffs. "In the
game business , the time frame for
developing products is shorter and
changes more often than in other
industries ," Hauser of Exidy says .
"It's stimulating to those people who
like that kind of atmosphere , people
who like to complete a project then
move on . There is a limited number
of people out there who like to do
California dreaming
While many game companies are
opting to license games from Japan
rather than develop their own, three
California manufacturers, Atari,
Exidy and Cinematronics, plan to
continue the research and engineer-
ing work that is necessary to in-
house development.
As Cinematronics' Engineering
Vice President Ward Ellis sees it,
"The future of a company like
Cinematronics rests on its ability to
develop games. Of necessity, it must
be self-generating." Ellis explains
that in relying on licensing, many
smaller companies have to wait too
long in line behind the bigger ones to
get the winners.
In these three companies, most
developers agree that game
technology wi\\ continue to expand.
"We've probably only exploited ten
or fifteen percent of the available
technology for games," says David
Stroud, vice president of marketing
at Cinematronics. "We will be seeing
much more exciting games in the
next ten to fifteen years."
Michael Fournell, director of
corporate public relations at Atari,
agrees that the technological
developments in coin-op games will
10
keep increasing. "You only have to
look back a few years at Pong and
see that if you look at it today, it's not
as exciting as Asteroids or Missile
Command," he says. "Today, you
don't have to be that stingy with your
code when you write a program
because there is more memory
available in the games and also the
cost of memory chips has come
down."
But what kind of excitement is in
store for the industry?
Fournell mentions clearer
displays, voice synthesizers and
voice circuits. Dave Stroud expects
games to be more complex. "I think
they'll be more complex and
realistic," he says. "I think they'll be
more like simulators."
Stroud's point about more realism
in coin games is an important one
and coincides with the vision of Arlen
Grainger, engineering manager at
Exidy. "It seems to be getting more
and more like we're building a movie
into each game," he says. "With a
game, we want to take people
through the same kinds of highs and
lows, funny spots and lulls the same
way a good movie director would."
"A video game is almost like a
large psychological programming
device," Grainger explains. "We try
to give the cues all at once -
movement , sound and color- so
they are all triggered at the same
time. "
Grainger says that in developing
games now and in the future ,
"psychological imperatives" that are
common to all leading games , play
they will tell you certain obvious
things," he says. "But it is the things
that are sort of hidden from the
players view that are important."
Simple mathematical principles of
movement underlie much of the.
action in hot games. "The necessity
of forcing a player to plot mental
projectories within a limited time
span is implicit in shooting games
and driving games. Also , if
something moves or blinks faste r on
the screen than something else, it will
immediately draw your attention
from what you're doing."
While these principles and the use
of certain colors to attract players
are incorporated into most coin-op
games, a new area of player appeal is
being explored: sound. Grainger
says Exidy is working with
psychological music to evoke
PLAY METER, August 15, 1981