BladeJunker Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I was just thinking about all the Atari games that were based on movies from its era including Agent X's conversion to Cloak & Dagger to the infamous E.T. we all know and love lol. So I've been contemplating making a game based on a movie someday and was wondering which movies people might like to have a game of? To narrow it down let's say movies from 1978 to 1983 as this is the likely time frame such a game might have come out. Also feel free to mention 2600 movie games you liked too. To get the ball rolling I was thinking John Carpenter's The Thing would have been a cool 2600 game and its release date of 1982 just fits into the time range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 For some reason "Escape from New York" comes to mind. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari181 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Manhattan project 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 For some reason "Escape from New York" comes to mind. Good idea I was thinking of that a little while ago, maybe an old school Metal Gear type game, Snake is after all "inspired" by Plisken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Manhattan project 1986 is a little late but Solaris was released in 86 I think so its possible it could have sneaked in. Regardless I like anything with a bomb or a timer involved. I've only seen bits of this movie but I'll go and watch the whole thing since you think it would make good game material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lodmot Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 (edited) Actually a cloverfield based game would be awesome (if doable). Another very appropriate game would be one based off the movie 2012. Kinda creepy considering its 2012 right now. XD Edit: Shit, nevermind. I didn't notice the years of movies you were looking for.. Maybe a movie based off of 2001 a space odyssey? Edited March 23, 2012 by Lodmot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 The Thing would be easy to make a suspenseful game. You could have rooms with different 'people' - they'd all look the same but perhaps different colors. One of them is infected. You could have dogs too. Find the flamethrower and kill the Thing, not the innocents. You could make a Berzerk-style game about Alien/Aliens. More Tron-based games would be welcome. The Black Hole is an idea from that era. Another Star Wars themed game might be great. Superman and Superman 2 was very popular during the Atari era. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Ordinary People (1980) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Logan's Run? Treasure Island? The Time Machine? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 (edited) Actually, it's probably easier to find movies that a game could be made from than not. I was having trouble thinking of the name "Ordinary People" so I searched by year on wikipedia. (That movie was obviously a joke). Since I couldn't think of its name, I was looking for any movie that would be terrible or impossible to make a game from. Turns out there were a ton of movies that would make good game themes. But I challenge anyone to find a way to make an interesting game from Ordinary People! But seriously, search by year on wikipedia. The link above has a chart at the bottom of the page that will list every year. Edited March 23, 2012 by KevinMos3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Actually a cloverfield based game would be awesome (if doable). Another very appropriate game would be one based off the movie 2012. Kinda creepy considering its 2012 right now. XD Edit: Shit, nevermind. I didn't notice the years of movies you were looking for.. Maybe a movie based off of 2001 a space odyssey? Never actually seen Cloverfield, I'm not a big fan of shaky cam or adverts that withhold so much lol. 2001:ASO is an interesting choice, could certainly reproduce that psychedelic "doorway" part of the journey. Definitely would have to play up the HAL Dave struggle more so than the movie did, perhaps a Portal like game with environmental entrapments and taunting dialouge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 The Thing would be easy to make a suspenseful game. You could have rooms with different 'people' - they'd all look the same but perhaps different colors. One of them is infected. You could have dogs too. Find the flamethrower and kill the Thing, not the innocents. You could make a Berzerk-style game about Alien/Aliens. More Tron-based games would be welcome. The Black Hole is an idea from that era. Another Star Wars themed game might be great. Superman and Superman 2 was very popular during the Atari era. Yeah suspense is something I'd hope to capture in a Thing game, I thought the existing game captured a tiny bit of that but fell short. Still I like your basic gameplay structure of rooms and unique units and the objective. Yeah Berzerk does come to mind as a good game perspective as the overhead view would lend itself well to room searching and basic controls. I should dig up my old mockup and have a go at the Thing again. -Tron sure, I do think the Intellivision monopolized Tron games a lot. -The Black Hole, the robots do offer good foils for mission based objectives and the impending doom of the black hole does offer the motive to hurry. -Star Wars definitely, I haven't put a lot of time into it yet but I was thinking of doing a platformer with Luke as there were plenty of spaceship derived games already. -I can't disagree with Superman as a choice since the existing game was not very good to say the least, definitely plenty of potential for some good action gameplay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Actually, it's probably easier to find movies that a game could be made from than not. I was having trouble thinking of the name "Ordinary People" so I searched by year on wikipedia. (That movie was obviously a joke). Since I couldn't think of its name, I was looking for any movie that would be terrible or impossible to make a game from. Turns out there were a ton of movies that would make good game themes. But I challenge anyone to find a way to make an interesting game from Ordinary People! But seriously, search by year on wikipedia. The link above has a chart at the bottom of the page that will list every year. Well I laughed at first but perhaps the 2600 equivalent of Heavy Rain could possibly make a game based on that very somber emotional story. Grieve, Grieve, Cry, Remorse*Combobreaker* Acceptance, You Win! ^_^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Return of the Aliens Deadly Spawn....please. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Logan's Run? Treasure Island? The Time Machine? Logan's Run(My namesake btw.) has some potential and certainly could have been a 2600 game, the cancelled Planet of the Apes comes to mind being from the era and having similar gameplay needs. Treasure Island, I'm guessing you mean the 1985 film with Martin Landau? Google keeps giving me the older and newer versions as there have been so many. You don't mean Muppet Treasure Island do you? ^_^ Still pirates are great fodder for video games, just like ninjas. The Time Machine is brimming with potential as the story has much adventure in it, plenty of versions of that as a movie too. Were you thinking of the 1978 TV film with Priscilla Barnes or just the story in general? I was thinking a Blade Runner game along the lines of the ZX Spectrum version wouldn't be too far out of the 2600's rendering ability with some added refinements on top as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Return of the Aliens Deadly Spawn....please. I miss the times when creature features got into movie theaters. The title threw me off with the "Return" as I thought it was a sequel at first but I see this 1983 film had a few titles. I like the Spawn creatures and their pinkish red coloring works well with the 2600 color palette. Definitely see gameplay potential in this film but I should go watch it before I suggest any gameplay concepts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Treasure Island, I'm guessing you mean the 1985 film with Martin Landau? Google keeps giving me the older and newer versions as there have been so many. You don't mean Muppet Treasure Island do you? ^_^ Still pirates are great fodder for video games, just like ninjas. ==> There was a 70's Treasure Island film, but really, it is timeless. I read the book and saw the 1950's and 1970's films. A 2600 Pirate game with Long John Silver! The Time Machine is brimming with potential as the story has much adventure in it, plenty of versions of that as a movie too. Were you thinking of the 1978 TV film with Priscilla Barnes or just the story in general? ==> Similar to Treasure Island, I read the Time Machine and saw the 1960's film and several variations of it. I guess I am reminded of the 1960's film along with Atari because when I was a kid (Atari era), Time Machine would come on TV or our school would show it in an assembly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Cannonball Run Scavenger Hunt Spinal Tap 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 ==> Similar to Treasure Island, I read the Time Machine and saw the 1960's film and several variations of it. I guess I am reminded of the 1960's film along with Atari because when I was a kid (Atari era), Time Machine would come on TV or our school would show it in an assembly. Okay I'll check out the 1960's version, I'm quite fond of Time After Time(1979) which has H.G. Wells as the title character but I'll watch almost anything with Malcolm Mcdowell or David Warner lol. Best movies they ever showed at my school were Labyrinth and Stand by Me which reveals the era I grew up in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 This isn't a movie, but how about Fraggle Rock? I'm surprised there wasn't a game for this back in the day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Cannonball Run Scavenger Hunt Spinal Tap Cannonball Run was definitely on my list of potentials, the 2600 could always use another racing game. Spinal Tap is one of my film favorites but it will take some thought to make a game out of it. Scavenger Hunt I haven't seen that but apparently there isn't a DVD release yet but I did find it on YouTube if anyone cares to watch it, it has a great cast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kal7IA1T3Q8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 This isn't a movie, but how about Fraggle Rock? I'm surprised there wasn't a game for this back in the day. You and me both, how come no game. I guess it just got lost in the game crash shuffle, by the time someone thought to do it the market became unstable. Maybe some sort cave exploration with Gobo as the main character could work, also worth while to include Sprocket or the Gorgs somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmo70 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 (edited) Cannonball Run would be cool choice for a racing game. Code of Silence - would make a cool (Chuck Norris approved cool) action video game. China Syndrome, I always thought it had potential for an interesting video game and it could be the first video game to base a character on Jack Lemon.. Edited March 23, 2012 by rmo70 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 [Okay I'll check out the 1960's version, I'm quite fond of Time After Time(1979) which has H.G. Wells as the title character but I'll watch almost anything with Malcolm Mcdowell or David Warner lol. The 60's version really blows away Time After Time even in FX, believe it or not. You have to remember the era it was made, then appreciate the sets and the machine itself, and the time travel FX. Don't misunderstand, I enjoyed Time after Time too but the cheesy 70's light-sparkles FX are distracting to me. Anyway, concerning 2600 games , and I see TV shows are being mentioned now ... dare I mention ... Knight Rider? (BladeJunker, if you don't undertand the humor in that statement, research Knight Rider on this 2600 forum) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BladeJunker Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 (edited) [Okay I'll check out the 1960's version, I'm quite fond of Time After Time(1979) which has H.G. Wells as the title character but I'll watch almost anything with Malcolm Mcdowell or David Warner lol. The 60's version really blows away Time After Time even in FX, believe it or not. You have to remember the era it was made, then appreciate the sets and the machine itself, and the time travel FX. Don't misunderstand, I enjoyed Time after Time too but the cheesy 70's light-sparkles FX are distracting to me. Anyway, concerning 2600 games , and I see TV shows are being mentioned now ... dare I mention ... Knight Rider? (BladeJunker, if you don't undertand the humor in that statement, research Knight Rider on this 2600 forum) I know the 70s dated things in a bad way at times(light sparkles lol), just too many radical film experiments that didn't age well much like synthesizer musical scores of the 80s(Just try and watch Ladyhawk now and not chuckle at the music.). Oh I know Knight Rider since syndication for the show ran quite long into the 80s although I haven't watched in years but the theme music is always fresh in my mind. Edited March 23, 2012 by BladeJunker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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