Wizard for the VCS [Archive] - Retrogaming Roundtable

zmeston

07-01-2003, 12:45 AM

In the new book "Chris Crawford on Game Design" -- an INCREDIBLE book that every gamer who wants to challenge his thinking and broaden his intellectual horizons should read -- Mr. C discusses the design concepts of Wizard, his unreleased VCS game. It's a neat chapter, and anyone doing 2600 homebrews could surely learn from it. Crawford also shares an anecdote about the infamous E.T., with a few tidbits I haven't read before.

-- Z.

Tempest

07-01-2003, 08:27 AM

Did he give any insight on why he never released it?

Tempest

zmeston

07-01-2003, 08:47 AM

Did he give any insight on why he never released it?

Tempest

To wildly simplify the story, Atari's marketing department felt Wizard wouldn't sell because it was only 2K, and 4K games were "gobbling up all the sales." They asked Crawford to expand Wizard into a 4K cartridge, but he was much more interested in working on Atari computer games than videogames, so he used a fairly compelling argument to talk them out of the idea (!!).

Crawford mentions that Wizard is available on the Web (although not plugging any sites by name), and says: "It is certainly not one of my best designs, but I am nevertheless pleased with it. It's a solid design that takes good advantage of the platform and delivers a gaming experience that was otherwise unavailable at the time. It's a strong demonstration of good design in a tight environment; I set a clear gameplaying goal (hidden movement), and I achieved it."

Again, I can't recommend the book highly enough. It will make you think and make you laugh and piss you off in equal amounts.

-- Z.

Tempest

07-01-2003, 09:39 AM

zmeston

07-01-2003, 05:29 PM

I'll have to buy it and read it on the plane rides to Austin and Vegas.

BTW here's my Wizard page: http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/wizard/wizard.htm

I hope I got most of that information right, considering there was absolutely none out there when I started it.

Tempest

There's no mention of the "Fox Fire" in Crawford's chapter, as you mention, so I'm not sure where you got the name. Also, Crawford mentions that you can press and hold the button to charge up and fire stronger shots, which your page doesn't mention, although perhaps you already knew of this feature and didn't think it important enough to note. Otherwise, your description of the gameplay is on the mark.

I'm conducting an interview with Crawford in the next couple of days, and I'll be asking as many Qs about Wizard and Atari as I can get away with, although I'll probably force you to buy the issue of PSE2 with the interview instead of sharing Crawford's answers here. Gotta support my employers, y'know!

-- Z.

Tempest

07-01-2003, 07:11 PM

Foxfire was a term I came up with, I wasn't exactly sure what to call that little "flame" thing so I guessed. Ask Chris about it for me.

Tempest

Arqueologia_Digital

07-01-2003, 07:40 PM

Hey, i�m very curious about the label art...anybody have a pic???

slapdash

07-02-2003, 01:02 PM

Heh, say hi to Chris for me. He probably won't even remember me, but I'm the guy who talked him into releasing it. Thank him again! :-)

zmeston

07-03-2003, 01:48 PM

Foxfire was a term I came up with, I wasn't exactly sure what to call that little "flame" thing so I guessed. Ask Chris about it for me.

Tempest

I just got off the phone with Chris, and he says that he didn't include the "foxfire," and wouldn't have had room anyway; he used every last byte of his alloted 2k. Also, I just noticed that the BIN file of Wizard on AtariAge is 4k, not 2k -- which raises the bizarre possibility that another programmer picked up where Crawford left off, with the intent of expanding the game to 4k as per Atari's request.

Speaking with Crawford is like talking to God, incidentally; he's absurdly intelligent. I could tell he was dialing down his vocabulary to effectively communicate with me, like a parent speaking to his kid in baby talk: "Zach make potty now?" We spoke for 90 minutes, but I could've basked in the glow of his game-design wisdom all day.

-- Z.

Tempest

07-03-2003, 01:51 PM

Interesting. Anyone have a 2K wizard rom?

Tempest

slapdash

07-07-2003, 01:03 PM

Sure it isn't just the 2K copied over twice to make 4K?

Tempest

07-07-2003, 01:18 PM

Yes it is, I checked last night. Actually there are two bytes that are different when I did this, but I don't think they affect anything.

Tempest

zmeston

07-07-2003, 02:15 PM

Yes it is, I checked last night. Actually there are two bytes that are different when I did this, but I don't think they affect anything.

Tempest

So we're left with the far less dramatic conclusion that Crawford has simply forgotten about the "foxfire" feature. Heh. Thanks for the info!

-- Z.