Adventure (1979 video game)

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This article is about the Atari 2600 video game. For other games with the same name, see Adventure (disambiguation).
Adventure
Adventure Box Cover
Developer(s) Atari, Inc
Publisher(s) Atari, Inc
Designer(s) Warren Robinett
Platform(s) Atari 2600, Xbox 360, Games for Windows LIVE (Via Game Room)
Release date(s) Christmas 1979[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Genre(s) Maze game, action-adventure
Mode(s) Single player

Adventure is a 1979[1] maze video game for the Atari 2600 video game console and is considered the first action-adventure game. Its creator, Warren Robinett, introduced the first widely-known Easter egg to the gaming world.[7]

Contents

History and design [edit]

Adventure was published by the console's developer, Atari, Inc. It was inspired by a computer text game, Colossal Cave Adventure, created by Will Crowther and later modified by Don Woods.[1]

Despite discouragement from his boss at Atari who said it could not be done,[8] game designer Warren Robinett created a graphic game loosely based on the text game. Atari's Adventure went on to sell a million copies, making it the seventh best selling Atari 2600 game.[9]

At the time of the game's creation Atari did not credit any of its authors for their work.[10] Robinett included a hidden message in the game identifying himself as the creator,[8] thus creating one of the earliest known Easter eggs in a video game. It took up 5% of the storage space on the cartridge.[11] Atari found out about the Easter egg when it received a letter from a fifteen-year-old player, but left it in the game, partially due to the expense of creating a new read-only memory (ROM) mask, or memory chip, which was $10,000 US in the early years after the game's release.[12]

The total memory used by the game program was 4096 bytes (4 KB) for the game code (in ROM)[citation needed] and 128 bytes for program variables (in RAM).[13] The Atari 2600's CPU was a 1.19 megahertz 8-bit MOS Technology 6507, which was a cheaper version of the 6502.[14]

Because of a limitation in the Atari 2600's hardware, the left and right sides of nearly every screen are mirror images of each other, which fostered the creation of the game's confusing mazes.[15] The notable exceptions are two screens in the black castle catacombs and two in the main hallway beneath the Gold Castle. These two hallway screens are mirrored, but contain a vertical "wall" object in the room in order to achieve a non-symmetrical shape, as well as act as a secret door for an Easter egg.

Innovation [edit]

The player in the catacombs of the White Castle, carrying the White Key and being chased by the dragon, Grundle.

Adventure was the first action-adventure game on a video console,[16] the first to contain a widely-known Easter egg, and the first to allow a player to have a stash of items, which required the player to select which one to use at any given moment, usually through keyboard or joystick input. Adventure allowed the player to drop one item and pick up another without having to type in any commands. The game was also the first to use a fog of war effect in its catacombs, which obscured most of the playing area except for the player's immediate surroundings.[17]

Easter egg [edit]

The Adventure Easter egg: "Created by Warren Robinett."

Inside the black castle catacombs (on difficulty level 2 or 3), embedded in the south wall of a sealed chamber (accessible only with the bridge), is an "invisible" 1-pixel object referred to as the gray dot.[18] One must "bounce" the player cursor along the bottom wall to "grab" the dot. The dot is not actually invisible, but simply the same color as the wall and is easily seen when placed in a catacombs passage or over a normal wall. The dot is not attracted to the magnet, unlike most other objects in Adventure.

Bringing this dot to the east end of the corridor below the golden castle while other differently colored objects are present causes the wall object to also become 'invisible', allowing the player to pass into a room displaying the words "Created by Warren Robinett".[10]

Gameplay [edit]

The player's goal is to find the enchanted chalice and return it to the gold castle. The player character, represented by a square, explores a multi-screen landscape containing castles, mazes, and various rooms. Hidden throughout the world are a sword, keys that unlock each of the three castles (gold, black, and white), a magic bridge that allows the player to travel through walls, and a magnet that attracts the other items toward it.

Roaming the world are three dragons:

  • Yorgle, the yellow dragon, who is afraid of the Golden Key and will run from it. He guards the chalice (whenever he can find it), or helps other dragons guard items.
  • Grundle, the green dragon, who is the slowest. He guards the magnet, the bridge, the black key, and the chalice
  • Rhindle, the red dragon, who is the fastest and most aggressive. He guards the white key and chalice.

A dragon can be "killed" by touching it with the sword. If the console's right difficulty switch is in the "A" position, the dragons will run away when they see the sword.

When a dragon touches the player, it will "strike" (remaining motionless for a moment with its mouth open, (waiting for a shorter time if the console's left difficulty switch is in the "A" position) and then "swallow" the player, who becomes trapped in the dragon's belly. While the dragon's mouth is opened, it cannot be killed.

A black bat flies around randomly carrying any single object, including live or dead dragons, which it occasionally swaps with another object along its flight path. The player can catch the bat and carry it around. The bat continues to fly even after the player has been killed, and occasionally the bat will pick up the dragon whose stomach contains the player, giving the player a whirlwind tour of the Adventure universe. The player can sometimes trap the bat inside castles. The bat's name was intended to be Knubberrub, but that name never made it into the manual.[19]

There are three different games available via the game select switch:

  • Game 1 is a simplified version of the game and does not have the red dragon, the bat, the catacombs, the white castle, or the maze inside the black castle. The objects in game 1 are always in the same starting locations.
  • Game 2 is the full version, having all the features described. The locations of the objects at the start of a new game are always the same.
  • Game 3 is similar to Game 2, but the initial locations of the objects are randomized, providing a different game each time, though the location of the dot is consistent. The randomization of Game 3 makes its difficulty highly variable, and it is occasionally unsolvable.

When a player is eaten by a dragon, he does not have to start over. Hitting the game reset switch resurrects the player back at the gold castle and resurrects any dead dragons; the objects all remain where they were at the time of the player's death. This is one of the earliest usages of the "continue game" feature, now common in video games. Hitting the game select switch after death returns the game to the game select screen, losing the current game's state.

Ports and re-releases [edit]

Adventure has been ported to or re-released on several platforms:

Legacy [edit]

  • A sequel to Adventure was first announced in early 1982. The planned sequel eventually evolved into the Swordquest series of games.[20][21]
  • Though not the first "questing" computer game, Adventure was the first to be programmed for a home console. The locations (castles, labyrinths, secret rooms, and dark dungeons), items (keys, sword, and "treasure"), and monsters (bats, dragons) were unique in the world of video games, and later would find their way into games such as Haunted House, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy. Though significantly simpler and smaller than the latter two games, Adventure is on occasion described as their "spiritual forerunner."[2]
  • In Ernest Cline's Ready Player One, Adventure is mentioned several times throughout the book.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c Connelly, Joey. "Interview with Warren Robinett". The Jaded Gamer. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2007-10-11. 
  2. ^ a b "The Essential 50 Part 4 - Adventure from". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2012-12-17. 
  3. ^ "Atari Arcade". Atari.com. Retrieved 2012-12-17. 
  4. ^ The Video Game Theory Reader 2 - Bernard Perron - Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2012-12-17. 
  5. ^ Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super ... - Bill Loguidice, Matt Barton - Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2012-12-17. 
  6. ^ The Medium of the Video Game - Mark J. P. Wolf - Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2012-12-17. 
  7. ^ Gouskos, Carrie. "The Greatest Easter Eggs in Gaming". Retrieved 2008-01-30. 
  8. ^ a b Wallis, Alistair. "Playing Catch Up: Adventure's Warren Robinett". GamaSutra. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-11. 
  9. ^ Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games, IGN, August 26, 2008
  10. ^ a b Bogost, Montfort 2009, p. 60.
  11. ^ Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-7615-3643-4. 
  12. ^ Bogost, Montfort 2009, p. 61.
  13. ^ Bogost, Montfort 2009, p. 14.
  14. ^ Bogost, Montfort 2009, p. 26.
  15. ^ "Good Deal Games Warren Robinett Interview". Gooddealgames.com. Retrieved 2012-12-17. 
  16. ^ Bogost, Montfort 2009, p. 16.
  17. ^ Bogost, Montfort 2009, pp. 58–59.
  18. ^ Hague, James. "Halcyon Days: Warren Robinett". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-11. 
  19. ^ Merrill, Arthur. "Warren Robinett Interview: A. Merrill's Talks to the Programmer of "Adventure" for the Atari 2600". Arthur's Hall of Viking Manliness. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2013. 
  20. ^ Green, Earl. "Atari 2600 Adventure". Phosphor Dot Fossils. Archived from the original on May 7, 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-11. 
  21. ^ Hlavaty, Stephen. "The Mysteries of Atari's SwordQuest Series". Good Deal Games. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-11. 
  22. ^ "Atari 5200 ''Adventure II''". Cafeman.www9.50megs.com. Retrieved 2012-12-17. 
  23. ^ "Atari 5200 - ''Adventure II''". AtariAge. Retrieved 2012-12-17. 

External links [edit]
Games
1977 launch titles
Game lists
Game developers
Atari2600a.JPG
Hardware and emulation
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