Robotron: 2084 - Development

Development

Robotron: 2084 features monaural sound and pixel graphics on a 19 inch CRT monitor. It uses a Motorola 6809 central processing unit that operates at 1MHz. To produce multiple sounds on a single audio channel, the game uses a priority scheme to generate sounds in order of importance. A custom graphics coprocessor—which operates as a blitter chip—generates the on-screen objects and visual effects. The coprocessor increases the transfer speed of memory, which allows the game to simultaneously animate a large number of objects.

The game was developed in six months by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, founders of Vid Kidz. Vid Kidz served as a consulting firm that designed games for Williams Electronics, whom Jarvis and DeMar had previously worked for. The game was designed to provide excitement for players; Jarvis described the game as an "athletic experience" derived from a "physical element" in the two joystick design. Robotron: 2084's gameplay is based on presenting the player with conflicting goals: avoid enemy attacks to survive, defeat enemies to progress, and save the family to earn points. It was first inspired by Stern Electronics' 1980 arcade game Berzerk and the Commodore PET computer game Chase. Berzerk is a shooting game in which a character traverses a maze to shoot robots, and Chase is a text-based game in which players move text characters into others. The initial concept involved a passive main character; the object was to get robots that chased the protagonist to collide with stationary, lethal obstacles. The game was deemed too boring compared to other action titles on the market and shooting was added to provide more excitement.

The dual joystick control design resulted from two experiences in Jarvis's life: an automobile accident and playing Berzerk. Prior to beginning development, Jarvis injured his right hand in an accident—his hand was still in a cast when he returned to work, which prevented him from using a traditional joystick with a button. While in rehabilitation, he thought of Berzerk. Though Jarvis enjoyed the game and similar titles, he was dissatisfied with the control scheme; Berzerk used a single joystick to move the on-screen character and a button to fire the weapon, which would shoot the same direction the character was facing. Jarvis noticed that if the button was held down, the character would remain stationary and the joystick could be used to fire in any direction. This method of play inspired Jarvis to add a second joystick dedicated to aiming the direction projectiles were shot. Jarvis and DeMar created a prototype using a Stargate system board and two Atari 2600 controllers attached to a control panel. In retrospect, Jarvis considers the design a contradiction that blends "incredible freedom of movement" with ease of use.

The developers felt a rescue theme similar to Defender—one of their previous games—was needed to complete the game, and added a human family as a method to motivate players to earn a high score. The rescue aspect also created a situation were players had to constantly reevaluate their situation to choose the optimal action: run from enemies, shoot enemies, or rescue humans. Inspired by George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Jarvis and DeMar further developed the plot around the concept of an Orwellian world. The two noticed, however, that 1984 was approaching, but the state of the real world did not match that of the book. They decided to set the game further in the future, the year 2084, to provide a more realistic timeframe for their version of "Big Brother". Jarvis, a science fiction fan, based the Robotrons on the idea that computers would eventually become advanced entities that helped humans in everyday life. He believed the robots would eventually realize that humans are the cause of the world's problems and revolt against them.

Jarvis and DeMar playtested the game themselves, and continually tweaked the designs as the project progressed. Though games at the time began to use scrolling to have larger levels, the developers chose a single screen to confine the action. To instill panic in the player, the character was initially placed in the center of the game's action, and had to deal with projectiles coming from multiple directions, as opposed previous shooting games such as Space Invaders and Galaxian, where the enemies attacked from a single direction. This made for more challenging gameplay, an aspect Jarvis took pride in. Enemies were assigned to stages in different groups to create themes. Early stages were designed to be relatively simple compared to later ones. The level of difficulty was designed to increase quickly so players would struggle to complete later stages. In retrospect, Jarvis attributes his and DeMar's average player skills to the game's balanced design. Though they made the game as difficult as they could, the high end of their skills ended up being a good challenge for expert players. The graphics were given a simple appearance to avoid a cluttered game screen, and object designs were made distinct from each other to avoid confusion. Black was chosen as the background color to help characters stand out and reduce clutter.