Interview: Director of Video Graphics at Coleco (82-85)

[ColecoNation]

I realize everyone here doesn't read ColecoNation, but we've got a great interview in the latest issue that I think everyone who's into classic games would enjoy reading. We interviewed Dave Johnson, who was the Director of Video Graphics at Coleco from 1982-1985 (essentially from the beginning to the end), and he provided a lot of interesting info on Coleco and how they ran their operations. I encourage everyone to check it out.

 

+ Nathan

[Lord Helmet]

I love ColecoNation

 

That article is a interesting read. There's alot of info out there about Atari game development, but not much about other systems. Hopefully there is more information out there about Coleco game development.

[Pixelboy]

Another great ColecoNation issue!

[else]

Nice interview. Did you ask him if he has any prototypes stashed away somewhere?

[else]

Ah, never mind about the prototypes. I found that there were more pages to your interview -- I guess I'm not used to the layout of your web pages.

 

That part about the special Colecovision with all the extra ROM in it is very interesting. In fact, it probably explains the purpose for the Colecovision versions of Super Donkey Kong and Super Donkey Kong Jr. that have surfaced. This is a crucial piece of new information that has been missing!

 

Anyhow, it sounds like he threw out any prototypes stuff he might have had. Darn! Wonder if that Colecovision with the extra ROM is still around somewhere waiting to be found....

Edited April 18, 2006 by else

[ColecoNation]

I like the multi-page format of ColecoNation because it creates the feeling that you're flipping through a magazine, also each page fits on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper for those you would want to print a hard copy of it. I can see how it may initially confuse some, but you are all bright people and can figure it out.

 

The info on the Super Game Module is definitely interesting. There has been some speculation that a working SGM prototype exists, but it looks like the closest they got to it working was the mock-up with extra ROM. However, it still would be interesting to see it in real life. Hopefully some hardware engineer at Coleco took it home as a souvenir when the company shut down. And hopefully he didn't throw it out during spring cleaning one year, like Dave Johnson did with his Coleco stuff.

 

It sounds like a lot of game designers took home eproms of game demoes (created with their animation interpreter) when they left Coleco. Dave threw his out, but he mentioned he would talk to some people he's still in contact with to see if they kept anything...

 

+ Nathan

 

 

Ah, never mind about the prototypes. I found that there were more pages to your interview -- I guess I'm not used to the layout of your web pages.

 

That part about the special Colecovision with all the extra ROM in it is very interesting. In fact, it probably explains the purpose for the Colecovision versions of Super Donkey Kong and Super Donkey Kong Jr. that have surfaced. This is a crucial piece of new information that has been missing!

 

Anyhow, it sounds like he threw out any prototypes stuff he might have had. Darn! Wonder if that Colecovision with the extra ROM is still around somewhere waiting to be found....

[else]

Dave threw his out, but he mentioned he would talk to some people he's still in contact with to see if they kept anything...

 

Oh man, how awesome would that be!!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed......

Edited April 19, 2006 by else

[tyranthraxus]

I did another message about this topic in the publications forum but the thread seems

more alive here. So how come you didn't ask him about the rumors that Coleco

delibratly made crappy versions of DK for the Atari and INTV? He did mention they

were done out of house but the rumor has hung over Coleco for so long now.

[ColecoNation]

You bring up some good points and I'm sure everyone else has a few questions that they wished I had asked. The fact of the matter is that some questions Dave could have elaborated more on, however I did edit where I thought fit and I do only give my interviewees two rounds of questions.

 

When someone agrees to be interviewed, I first send a round of general questions about who they are and what they do/did. I then follow-up with a second round of questions. If I get the person to elaborate on a specific topic after two rounds, I essentially concede. I feel that asking any more would start to impose on those who are really doing me a favor. Dave's interview ended up being almost 8 pages when it was all said and done and I was surprised about the number of questions that he answered.

 

I editted out some of his answers where I thought that it did not provide any further info. For example, I asked him if he was aware of today's CV programmers and their games and he replied with a no. Including this question and short answer really wouldn't have added to the interview. I also tried to get him to talk about the hardware and various accessories, but that wasn't too successful either. I'd choose to focus on the topics that he does know about.

 

Tunnels and Trolls: He didn't know anymore about it then what was printed. It never got past game design and the only graphics created for it were the demo that was used at the trade shows. I imagine someone most of found an ex-Coleco employee (many seemed to have taken these demo cartridges with them when they left) who had a eprom of that game and was able to burn the rom. Let's hope Dave's co-workers still kept theirs!

 

Lord of the Dungeon: He wasn't familiar with what the other companies were doing and most of my questions regarding them were not able to be answered.

 

2600 Coleco games: I never thought to ask him about the "conspiracy" because I never thought it really had any validity to it. If you listen to how Dave explains it, the programming was out-sourced and what little design/graphics work they did on it was probably rushed so that most of their time and effot could be put into the ColecoVision's launch games. They essentially had to create and produce 10+ CV games in 9 months and make them amazing and good enough to get people to buy the ColecoVision. Marketing most likely realized that little effort was needed to make a 2600 game that would sell (as shown by the amount of 2600 DKs sold versus the entire CV library of the games at the time).

 

Having him elaborate more on the market changes would have been interesting and I'll definitely remember this one for future interviews. It seemed though that Coleco's employees kept pumping out the games regardless of what was happening (for example, even when the ADAM was introduced, they still didn't slow down on CV games). The market turned so soon after the CV was introduced that Coleco's employees probably didn't feel the slow down until right when the company shut down (which wasn't a surprise to Dave).

 

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the interview. It's about time we learned what it was like at Coleco and how they ran their company. I was amazed by the amount of new info (at least new to me) on the ColecoVision and Coleco that was generated from this interview. I plan to track down other Coleco employees, through Dave and other avenues, so you can expect more soon!

 

+ Nathan

 

 

I did another message about this topic in the publications forum (http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=86694) but the thread seems

more alive here. So how come you didn't ask him about the rumors that Coleco

delibratly made crappy versions of DK for the Atari and INTV? He did mention they

were done out of house but the rumor has hung over Coleco for so long now.

[tyranthraxus]

Well I'd admit the idea of hobbling a port of a hot title to make your system look better is kinda far fetched. However, the

fact still remains that those ports were pretty awful. It would be interesting to hear some feedback on what the people

inside the company thought when games with the Coleco brand on it were so shoddy. He did mention they nixed a crappy

INTV Zaxxon so it sounds like they were well aware of the faults of the 2600 titles. Still fine work tracking him down for

the interview. The CV FAQ is in need of a few revisions.

[Cybergoth]

I plan to track down other Coleco employees, through Dave and other avenues, so you can expect more soon!

 

Yay!

[RangerG]

Great interview, please do a follow-up. Thanks!

[else]

Well I'd admit the idea of hobbling a port of a hot title to make your system look better is kinda far fetched. However, the

fact still remains that those ports were pretty awful. It would be interesting to hear some feedback on what the people

inside the company thought when games with the Coleco brand on it were so shoddy. He did mention they nixed a crappy

INTV Zaxxon so it sounds like they were well aware of the faults of the 2600 titles. Still fine work tracking him down for

the interview. The CV FAQ is in need of a few revisions.

 

I guess I've never believed that Coleco intentionally tried to cripple their games for other systems either. In my opinion, their later releases for other systems were really quite good. I chalk it up to the learning curve -- initally the programmers were new to these systems, but gained more experience as time went by....

Edited April 20, 2006 by else

[else]

I plan to track down other Coleco employees, through Dave and other avenues, so you can expect more soon!

 

Yay!

 

You might want to contact the seller of this eBay auction also. He says he worked at Coleco also. I asked him a question about his auction and he responded quickly and nicely....

 

Colecovision Destroyer auction

[Bruce Tomlin]

I like the multi-page format of ColecoNation because it creates the feeling that you're flipping through a magazine, also each page fits on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper for those you would want to print a hard copy of it. I can see how it may initially confuse some, but you are all bright people and can figure it out.

It would be good if there was something bigger to click on to change pages than those tiny single-digit numbers at the bottom. Maybe a pair of forward/back arrows. It would be nice at the tops of pages, too.

 

Of course the ultimate magazine emulation is The Escapist. It works really well on a wide-screen monitor, too.

[Bill Brasky]

Well I'd admit the idea of hobbling a port of a hot title to make your system look better is kinda far fetched. However, the

fact still remains that those ports were pretty awful. It would be interesting to hear some feedback on what the people

inside the company thought when games with the Coleco brand on it were so shoddy. He did mention they nixed a crappy

INTV Zaxxon so it sounds like they were well aware of the faults of the 2600 titles. Still fine work tracking him down for

the interview. The CV FAQ is in need of a few revisions.

 

I am sooo sick of hearing that stupid Coleco conspiracy theory repeated. It sounds more like a self-comforting theory for 2600 die-hards who couldn't accept that their system was graphically challenged. Yeah, I'm sure Coleco doled out millions in licensing and royaltie fees to Nintendo just to spite 2600 owners. Most all the other Coleco 2600 games are considered good ports. Why not cripple all of them if that was the plan?

 

 

 

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