28 replies to this topic

[Allas]

Someone knows about atarian programmers women?

I only remember, Anne Westfall from team Archon.

[birdie3]

Didn't Carol Shaw program 3D Tic Tac Toe for the 800 and River Raid for the VCS?

[Allas]

birdie3, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 5:58 PM, said:

Didn't Carol Shaw program 3D Tic Tac Toe for the 800 and River Raid for the VCS?

Yes, and the 800 versions too. Mmmm.... in 1979 .... and a logic game with IA .... impresive.

[Rybags]

There was also:

Danielle Bunton Berry (MULE, Ozark Softscape)

Kathleen O'Brien (Atari BASIC - contributor, Atari ASMEDIT cartridge)

[Stephen]

Don't forget Carla Meninsky - she did Warlords for the 2600. She talks about her time at Atari on HSW's Once Upon Atari DVD.

A quick search also credits her with :
Dodge 'Em
Dodger Cars
Indy 500
Race
Star Raiders
Tempest

The only games she speaks of on the DVD is Warlords though.

Stephen Anderson

[Allas]

And Roberta Williams of Sierra on Line in THE WIZARD AND THE PRINCESS

Edited by Allas, Sun Dec 4, 2005 8:18 PM.

[J.Max]

Rybags, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 8:29 PM, said:

There was also:

Danielle Bunton Berry (MULE, Ozark Softscape)

Kathleen O'Brien (Atari BASIC - contributor, Atari ASMEDIT cartridge)

Danielle Bunton Berry wasn't "Danielle" at the time MULE was programmed though. She was "Daniel". Ms. Bunton Berry is transgendered.

[Allas]

The leader MULE project, wow!

Quote

Playing around with Super Bomberman 2 got me thinking about the truly great multiplayer games. The best ones always allow for that extra edge. It's fun to outmaneuver your friends, but when you can really put the screws to them, you're on to something. A brilliant example, one of my personal favorites, is the computer game classic, M.U.L.E.

MULE was the product of an Arkansas-based development team called Ozark Softscape. The team was comprised of Dan Bunten (project leader), Bill Bunten, Alan Watson, and Jim Rushing. These were the heady days of the early 1980s, with the fall of dedicated consoles (Atari 2600), and the rise of home computers. There was a great desire to experiment and create games that stretched out in new directions. An upstart company named Electronic Arts was entering its own "golden age," with a solid string of excellent, original games like Pinball Construction Set, Archon, and One on One.

Electronic Arts followed the trail blazed by Activision. Game designers weren't stereotypical computer nerds, but young, creative, and above all, craving attention. They imagined themselves as the new artists, and their games as a creative work. These were not merely children's games, they were…something more. Different. New. Electronic Arts promoted this idea, and Bunten and his team were willing to accommodate.

Just what kind of game is MULE? It really is difficult to describe, since it seems so different from the conventional shoot-em-up, sports, and adventure genres crowding today's market. Perhaps it is most similar to Monopoly, with a dash of arcade action and commodities trading added to the mix. Taking place on the world of Irata, four alien settlers set out to develop the land over the course of 12 monthly turns. Each player selects a plot of land, and then equips that plot for production of food, energy, or mining ore and crystite. At the end of each turn, the plots bear fruit, and the players buy and sell their goods at the market.

I'm afraid that I am making MULE sound boring, but it is anything but. The casual pace belies a fiendishly competitive atmosphere where friendships are made and lost in a matter of minutes. If you do not grow enough food, you will lose precious time for your turns and risk falling behind. If you do not produce enough energy, your plots will suffer. And if enough ore is not made, there will be a shortage of mules.

The mule (for Multiple Use Labor Element) is one of the game's more clever touches. Each plot of land needs to be equipped for the proper function, and for that, you need mules. A mule is bought at the colony store, equipped, and then added to your plot.

This development phase is only one part of the game. The other part is the trading phase. After the monthly harvest, players meet at the market, watch the progress of their crops, and buy or sell with each other or the store. This is where MULE can become so fierce. True, it would be nice to share your extra food with everyone for the good of the colony, but what fun is that? Sharing is for losers. The real fun comes from cornering the market. When there is plenty of food in the store, for instance, the price is very low. But when there are shortages, the price soars.

This is where you screw your friends into the ground. How desperate are they for that extra unit of food or energy? Make them run up the screen and raise the price. Skilled players can learn how to control the market and make a killing in the process. And, yes, this is where shoulders start getting punched between curses.

The bidding in MULE is simple, with buyers on the bottom and sellers on the top. A price is found by both parties meeting somewhere in the middle. There is a certain, almost masochistic joy in watching other players desperately running up prices while you sit safely at the top of the screen. Another great "fuck you" moment comes during plot auctions; the leader runs up the price, then quickly darts back down at the last second, sticking someone else with the bill.

In the end, we are all competing for bragging rights and the rank of "First Founder" at the end of the game. However, in another inspired stroke, the colony as a whole must survive together. If the colony fails to make enough money at year's end, nobody is the winner. Think about that while you're cutting everyone off at the knees.

There are still more surprises to be found in MULE that I haven't mentioned. Mules go crazy and run off; pests eat your food; pirates steal all your crystite (diamonds); there are earthquakes, acid rainstorms, and meteorite strikes; the store catches fire, taking with it all surplus goods. And the game itself subtly teaches market economics: supply and demand, economies of scale, the Learning Curve theory of production, the Law of Diminishing Returns, the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.

There really has never been a game like MULE, and that is a tragedy. It deserves to be seen by anyone who considers themselves a lover of videogames.

[Allas]

I always like the Atari logo

Edited by Allas, Sun Dec 4, 2005 10:33 PM.

[miker]

It's NOT the Atari logo! (maybe the blue one behind the girl of the right)

But the girls are quite nice, though.

Edited by miker, Sun Dec 4, 2005 11:50 PM.

[Allas]

I appreciatte the new infograme style Atari Logo. It's a pity the games aren't in the same way.

Why people hate Atari infrogame ?

[Jetboot Jack]

My personal Atari Woman hero is Brenda Laurel (worked with Alan Kay and the Atari Labs team) - a MAJOR voice in the game design world to this day (Computers as Theater is a bloomin' good book)...

sTeVE

[doctorclu]

Allas, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 11:32 PM, said:

I always like the Atari logo 

attachment attachment

Those were nice. I've seen a few others as well.. have to see if I can find them.

About Warlords...

"Don't forget Carla Meninsky - she did Warlords for the 2600. She talks about her time at Atari on HSW's Once Upon Atari DVD."

Warlords is the major reason I keep a 2600 around! That game was the best!

Ok, for those of us that have the early Atari computers, the codenames were Candy for the Atari 400 and Colleen for the Atari 800. They say they could have been secretaries that worked there at Atari. Wish someone would find pictures if that is true.

[doctorclu]

Anne Westfall...

latc.com/1998/08/ 31/news/coversto1.html

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[Major_Havoc]

Allas said:

I always like the Atari logo 

[doctorclu]

Danielle Bunton Berry (MULE, Ozark Softscape)

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[doctorclu]

Stephen, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 8:44 PM, said:

Don't forget Carla Meninsky - she did Warlords for the 2600.  She talks about her time at Atari on HSW's Once Upon Atari DVD.

A quick search also credits her with :
Dodge 'Em
Dodger Cars
Indy 500
Race
Star Raiders
Tempest

The only games she speaks of on the DVD is Warlords though.

Stephen Anderson

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Edited by doctorclu, Mon Dec 5, 2005 2:14 PM.

[doctorclu]

Ok, here is that picture I was looking for... wow...

More of this fun at..

http://www.3drealms....ght/e301_3.html

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Edited by doctorclu, Mon Dec 5, 2005 2:21 PM.

[twh/f2]

doctorclu, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 3:19 PM, said:

Ok, here is that picture I was looking for...  wow...

More of this fun at..

http://www.3drealms....ght/e301_3.html

crazy!!! Beside that nice looking women. What the hell is in those hundreds of atari bottles in the back???

:-)

\twh

[Cybernoid]

twh/f2, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 4:07 PM, said:

doctorclu, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 3:19 PM, said:

Ok, here is that picture I was looking for...  wow...

More of this fun at..

http://www.3drealms....ght/e301_3.html

crazy!!! Beside that nice looking women. What the hell is in those hundreds of atari bottles in the back???

:-)

\twh

Check this out as well:

http://e3girls.com/d...ompany&query=47

I think the Atari Water was when Infogrammes took over and relaunched the Atari logo...

[Allas]

Cybernoid, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 5:32 PM, said:

twh/f2, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 4:07 PM, said:

doctorclu, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 3:19 PM, said:

Ok, here is that picture I was looking for...  wow...

More of this fun at..

http://www.3drealms....ght/e301_3.html

crazy!!! Beside that nice looking women. What the hell is in those hundreds of atari bottles in the back???

:-)

\twh

Check this out as well:

http://e3girls.com/d...ompany&query=47

I think the Atari Water was when Infogrammes took over and relaunched the Atari logo...

Yes, and launchs many sourvenirs like shirts, bags, etc

http://e3girls.com/d...ompany&query=47

[ThomSW]

Any nude photos of that girls?

...or just waste of time?...

[doctorclu]

ThomSW, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 8:06 PM, said:

Any nude photos of that girls?

...or just waste of time?...

I've seen a few along those lines, but not sure what the policy is here on nudity.

So enjoy these pictures for now.

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[keilbaca]

doctorclu, on Tue Dec 6, 2005 9:15 AM, said:

ThomSW, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 8:06 PM, said:

Any nude photos of that girls?

...or just waste of time?...

I've seen a few along those lines, but not sure what the policy is here on nudity.

So enjoy these pictures for now.

I seen those girls in person, apparently driv3r got to japan a lot later than the U.S. release.

when i get home, I'll try to remember to dig up the pictures and post them on here.

Edited by keilbaca, Tue Dec 6, 2005 9:03 AM.

[TMR]

J.Max, on Mon Dec 5, 2005 4:06 AM, said:

Danielle Bunton Berry wasn't "Danielle" at the time MULE was programmed though.  She was "Daniel".  Ms. Bunton Berry is transgendered.

Sadly, that should read "<i>was</i> transgendered" since Danielle Bunton Berry is no longer with us; she died 3rd of July, 1998. =-(

William (at that point, soon to be Cathryn) Mataga coded Shamus and Zeppelin on the Atari 8-bit if memory serves and Anita Sinclair was part of the Magnetic Scrolls team, so she was very likely to have pitched in for either the A8 version of The Pawn or some data that was transferred from the other versions i'd have thought...?