Cryptic Prototype Codes....

[Tempest]

"The code, the code! Figure out the code!"

 

Just a little Intellivision humor, I couldn't resist...

 

Anyway, I've devoted much of my remaining mental power to trying to figure out extactly what those cryptic codes you sometimes see on prototypes mean. If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look at this proto for example:

http://www.msu.edu/user/reicher6/Unrelease...d/friskytom.htm

 

 

You can see that instead of a date it has the code "185-07". I believe this is some kind of internal Atari dating system or possibly a version number. I haven't been able to find anyone who knows or any Atari employees that remember. It's really frustrating, but I've discovered a few things about the code:

 

1. It always has the format: xxx-0x.

2. The last two digits are no greater than 07 (this may be a day of the week).

3. Games with this code are works in progress and not final versions (I'm almost certain about this).

 

 

Here are the examples from my collection, if anyone else has seen these codes on their prototypes please list them here.

 

Frisky Tom (5200): 185-07

Vanguard (5200): 033-02

 

Moon Patrol (2600): 166-06

Moon Patrol (2600): 207-07 (this is a later version than the one above)

 

Jungle Hunt (2600): 056-02

Pole Position (2600): 135-05

 

 

Can anyone find a pattern to these codes? My only clue on a relation with a date is that my Frisky Tom proto may be the same as John Hardie's which is dated "11-6-83". So 11-6-83 may equal 185-07, but this is a wild guess (plus I don't see any relation there).

 

Tempest

[MattyXB]

Maybe the first can be the day of the year? If the other is the day of the week.

 

You have no Prototype over 365 (days in the year). So it can be the days in the year.

 

Sorry for my bad english, but I think you will understand it.

 

MattyXB

[Hakogame 箱亀]

Maybe it's how many days the game's been in production followed by the version number. -just a guess.

[Albert]

Ugh, those numbers could be anything! The first set of three digits could very well be the day of the year. This could also be a build number, which would get incremented each time the programmer built a new version of the game.

 

The second number might be the day of the week, but that would seem somewhat redundant if the first number represents the date. It could be the build number for any given day, for instance, "This is build 7 of day 207". The fact that there are two digits allocated to this number suggests to me it is not the day of the week. It could also have been used to keep track of how many copies are floating around. So if they made 7 copies of that particular build there might be "207-01" through "207-07" floating around somewhere.

 

If you convert the number formed by the first three digits into a date and correlate that with the date the game shipped, you can probably disprove the date theory. For instance, if a game was released in May 1982 and the dates show up as June and September, and this happens for many of the games, then it's probably not a date. The fact that you have two Moon Patrols only about 40 days apart and the higher number is a newer version somewhat supports the date theory. But that would also support the build number theory.

 

The more prototypes you can gather information on the easier it'll be to spot a pattern.

 

..Al

[Tempest]

I'm hoping to talk to a few ex-Atari employees at the CGE, maybe they can shed some light on this (although the ones I've talked to so far can't remember anymore). I know we used a similar numbering system here where I work for our program builds but we abandoned it long ago and no one who was involved with that project is around anymore (damn it!).

 

Oh well, another thing to think about on that 5 hour plane ride to Vegas (between Lynx games that is).

 

 

I just talked to Curt Vendel about these codes and apperently his Frisky Tom proto just says 185 (no -xx after it). If the three digit numbers are part of the same set of codes, then I have some more that might help:

 

Moon Patrol 212

Moon Patrol 214 (I think this is the final version, it's in a lab loaner case)

Battlezone 132 (maybe 232, I can't tell from my picture).

 

So with the Moon Patrols, I think they go like this:

 

166-06 (early version with different graphics and boudlers!)

207-07

212

214

 

I think we're on to something here!

 

Tempest

 

[ 07-17-2001: Message edited by: Tempest ]