adam242 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) I can't thank you guys enough for all these interviews... and the podcast itself. My long-term (five and a half years) girlfriend broke up with me over the holidays in December. Listening to these is one of the few enjoyable distractions I've found from the mental hell I've been going through. I haven't been very active here since, and haven't even turned on and used any of my Atari collection in weeks - briefly considered just selling it all. But it is a great escape to just load up my iPod, lie there and listen. Thanks. Edited February 24, 2016 by adam242 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 I can't thank you guys enough for all these interviews... and the podcast itself. My long-term (five and a half years) girlfriend broke up with me over the holidays in December. Listening to these is one of the few enjoyable distractions I've found from the mental hell I've been going through. I haven't been very active here since, and haven't even turned on and used any of my Atari collection in weeks - briefly considered just selling it all. But it is a great escape to just load up my iPod, lie there and listen. Thanks. Bummer. Sorry to hear that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkindig Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 I can't thank you guys enough for all these interviews... and the podcast itself. My long-term (five and a half years) girlfriend broke up with me over the holidays in December. Listening to these is one of the few enjoyable distractions I've found from the mental hell I've been going through. I haven't been very active here since, and haven't even turned on and used any of my Atari collection in weeks - briefly considered just selling it all. But it is a great escape to just load up my iPod, lie there and listen. Thanks. wow, Adam, I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles. I'm glad if we are able to help at all. But, please don't sell your Atari collection! It will never give up on you. Randy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkindig Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 (edited) David Crane, Pitfall! and Atari 400/800 OS http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-136-david-crane-pitfall-atari-400800-os David Crane started his programming career at Atari, making games for the Atari 2600. He also worked on the operating system for the Atari 800 computer, as well as the games Outlaw and Howitzer, which were sold through APX. David left Atari in 1979 and co-founded Activision, along with Alan Miller, Jim Levy, Bob Whitehead, and Larry Kaplan. While at Activision, he was best known as the designer of Pitfall! This interview took place October 23, 2015 Edited February 26, 2016 by rkindig 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 David Crane, Pitfall! and Atari 400/800 OS http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-136-david-crane-pitfall-atari-400800-os David Crane started his programming career at Atari, making games for the Atari 2600. He also worked on the operating system for the Atari 800 computer, as well as the games Outlaw and Howitzer, which were sold through APX. David left Atari in 1979 and co-founded Activision, along with Alan Miller, Jim Levy, Bob Whitehead, and Larry Kaplan. While at Activision, he was best known as the designer of Pitfall! This interview took place October 23, 2015 I was hoping to hear about the DPC and what Activision's plan was for it if the video game market didn't crash. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted February 29, 2016 Author Share Posted February 29, 2016 David Stoutemyer, The Soft Warehouse http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-137-david-stoutemyer-the-soft-warehouse David Stoutemyer was co-founder of The Soft Warehouse, a company that specialized in mathematics software for several computer platforms. The company published three programs through Atari Program Exchange. Algicalc and Polycalc first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog for $22.95 each. Algicalc was described as a "valuable tool for students and teachers of algebra and calculus and for professionals who want a quick way to perform operations in symbolic algebra and calculus." It won third price in the education category in that catalog. Polycalc was described as "a computational tool for performing symbolic algebra and calculus operations. It differs from ALGICALC in that POLYCALC supports polynomials that are generalized to permit fractional and negative powers of variables, and the program can use many unassigned variables, whereas ALGICALC can use only one. However, POLYCALC is essentially a polynomial system rather than a rational expression system." Their third Atari program was Calculus Demon, which was first available in the fall 1982 catalog. It also cost $22.95, and was described as "a comprehensive tool for automatically deriving symbolic partial derivatives and indefinite integrals of expressions." This interview took place on January 29, 2016. Surfer Bob, Warez Sysop http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-138-surfer-bob-warez-sysop "Surfer Bob", real first name Carlos, ran The Pipeline BBS, an Atari bulletin board system that offered warez for download -- pirated software. This interview took place on January 28, 2016. Teaser quote: "He didn't have anybody to back him up but he had a stun gun ... he had that in his pocket, and he walked up to Shlomo and grabbed him ... took out the stun gun and just, like, sparked it in his face." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Glen Faden, Microsailing http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-139-glen-faden-microsailing Glen Faden published one program for the Atari 8-bit computers: Microsailing, which was published by Atari Program Exchange. Microsailing first appeared in the Spring 1983 APX catalog. This interview took place on January 27, 2016. Teaser quote: “I got a lot of interesting feedback. One of the comments that I got back from people was that it was too difficult.” 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 Glenn is actually spelled with two n's — my apologies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 Steve Hales: Slime, Dimension X, Fort Apocalypse http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-140-steve-hales-slime-dimension-x-fort-apocalypse Steve Hales published several games with Synapse Software: Slime, Dimension X, Fort Apocalypse, and Mindwheel. His first job was reverse engineering the Atari 2600 to create the Starpath Supercharger. His game for that platform was Suicide Mission, an Asteroids clone. This interview took place on October 21, 2015. In it we discuss Ihor Wolosenko and Cathryn Mataga, whom I previously interviewed; and Mike Potter and Bob Polin, whose interviews are forthcoming. Steve has released the source code for Fort Apocalypse. He and I talked about the possibility of also releasing the code for his other games. In March 2016 he emailed me, "I did a deep look into my archives, and didn’t find anything useful. I have one more place to look, but its not near me at all, so it will take a few months to look." However, he does have Mindwheel running on a web site at http://mindwheelgame.comand his more modern game, Squirrel Warz for iOS, is available at http://www.squirrelwarz.com. Our interview starts with us talking about the recovery and scanning of the Star Raiders source code. Although he didn't create Star Raiders, Steve is the person who found the source code printout for Star Raiders in his files, and lent it to me to scan. Teaser quote: "[Dimension X] didn't really come out that well. It was actually my first lesson in a failure of something that was fun." "Solo developers of the time, their games were sometimes pretty great but sometimes mostly not. Electronic Arts brought, because of what Trip Hawkins learned, he brought the Hollywood studio system to the games industry." 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 That's awesome. Thank you. I'm not sure if you take "question requests," but when you interview Mike Potter, could you ask him something about the impetus behind / inception of Shadow World? It's a bit of a selfish suggestion, I guess, since I dig the game so much that I even wrote a Bookcast chapter about it. Now that I think about it, it's possible that you've already interviewed him. Well, play Shadow World when you get the chance, if you're unfamiliar with it. It's a lot of fun. It represents a great expansion on the ideas in Defender. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 These interviews are fantastic - just listened to another batch. The CompuServe one was really interesting. The Pitfall II story was nice. The Sirius Software one was fascinating. In fact they are all very enjoyable and a nice mix of Atari, computing history and peoples lives and careers. You both seem much more fluent and they are easy to listen to; was funny when one of Kevin's jokes lead ballooned and there was a silence - I feel your pain! Thanks for plugging the High Score Club Still time to JOIN IN EVERYONE - you can post scores for missed games or just start now on River Raid About the new boxed game BOMBER - You guys seem to struggle with abbuc and Pro© so here goes: The abbuc magazine/club is in German. Pro© is a separate entity and the only printed English Atari 8-bit magazine in the world! (there is also a German version). Bomber was an abbuc software contest game from last year, the authors have created a special limited edition for Pro© to distribute - this is entirely to support the magazine which is the key thing to mention. There are also other boxed games and T-Shirts available. Pro© needs our support to continue, Markus "powersoft" is subsidising this from his own pocket. 8 issues so far and issue 9 coming soon. abbuc is fairly well supported and established. Would be really nice to hear from you guys about what you thought about each issue/or games/or any new Atari stuff in a bit more detail, but I know it's all down to having time so at least you give things a mention. Keep up the good work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 Bob Polin, Blue Max http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-141-bob-polin-blue-max Bob Polin was the programmer of Blue Max and Blue Max 2001 — both published by Synapse Software, and co-creator of Puzzle Panic with Ken Uston. He also wrote the game "Maxter Mind" which was published by Antic magazine. This interview took place on February 15, 2016. In it, we discuss Ihor Wolosenko, whom I previously interviewed. After we did this interview, Bob sent me the floppy disks containing the source code for Blue Max, which I was able to recover. (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/249933-blue-max-source-code-for-you/) Teaser quote: "I literally — when I do a game it's very, very intense where I day in and day out do it. I just burnt out, did nothing for a few years." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Bob Polin, Blue Max http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-141-bob-polin-blue-max Interesting that he doesn't like the C64 port at all, considering it's the one most people know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Interesting that he doesn't like the C64 port at all, considering it's the one most people know. A8 > C64 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 (edited) Interesting that he doesn't like the C64 port at all, considering it's the one most people know. I was wondering about that, too. The C64 version is also more colorful, and the game-play is balanced better, especially in terms of the plane's speed vs. the bombs' falling rates. Peter Adams did a great job. Maybe it's just weird to see your own game converted for another platform, since you've worked hard on every detail and it's not exactly as you've envisioned it. I can understand that. Anyway, cool interview, as always. Thanks for this good stuff. Edited March 7, 2016 by Chris++ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
José Pereira Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 One thing of Blue Max the C64 is the plane bigger than on A8 and it doesn't look good. Just because they have bigger wide hardware sprites doesn't mean you have to use all pixels . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 Clayton Walnum, A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing and ST-Log http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-142-clayton-walnum-analog-computing-and-st-log Clayton Walnum was writer and editor at A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing and ST-Log magazines. He started out as technical editor at A.N.A.L.O.G., and was eventually executive editor of both magazines. Clayton wrote the C-manship column - an ongoing tutorial on the C programming language - as well as many, many other articles. This interview took place on November 8, 2015. In the interview we talk about Lee Pappas, whom I previously interviewed. Teaser quotes: “The first day, he pointed out my desk and it was like a foot deep in submissions that they hadn’t gotten to yet. So my first job was to go through all of those submissions and find the stuff that looked interesting, and see what we might want to buy for the magazine.” “At that point on the masthead I was listed as executive editor. I was pretty much single-handedly producing both A.N.A.L.O.G. and ST-Log.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R4ngerM4n Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Will all these interviews be released in written form as well? A would buy that book... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 http://computingpioneers.com/index.php/Computing_Pioneers Allan 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) Will all these interviews be released in written form as well? A would buy that book... No book is planned, but as Allan noted some of the transcripts are available online. Edited March 8, 2016 by Savetz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fultonbot Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 The latest crop of interviews are awesome. The only thing I would have liked was to hear what Bob Polin did after his Atari work, but he didn't seem very verbose or willing to talk about it. Poor Kevin was really trying hard to get him to talk. Nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fultonbot Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Will all these interviews be released in written form as well? A would buy that book... I would also buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 Bob Stahl, Atari receiving inspection and software quality http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-143-bob-stahl-atari-receiving-inspection-and-software-quality Bob Stahl worked in the Atari home computer division, where he was the senior technician in the receiving inspection department, doing first article inspection. (He explains what that means in the interview.) He then moved to software quality engineering, testing produced software to make sure it looked right and worked correctly. Later, he was hired by Atari's coin-op division to do receiving inspection for that company. He also ran an Atari BBS called Modem Magazine. In this interview we discuss Cassie Mass, whom I previously interviewed. This interview took place on November 1, 2015. Teaser quotes: "Biggest problem we had, of course, was the cassette tapes in the early days losing data ... Huge dropouts in the data stream, looking at the status signal through an oscilloscope. But we never found out exactly why, and you know that technology went away really quick." "I took a 300 baud acoustic modem and a Mr. Microphone on one computer, and a stereo and a 300 baud acoustic modem on another, and we would send files from one corner of the garage to the other using FM frequencies over the airwaves." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Steve Hales: Slime, Dimension X, Fort Apocalypse http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-140-steve-hales-slime-dimension-x-fort-apocalypse Steve Hales published several games with Synapse Software: Slime, Dimension X, Fort Apocalypse, and Mindwheel. His first job was reverse engineering the Atari 2600 to create the Starpath Supercharger. His game for that platform was Suicide Mission, an Asteroids clone. I wonder if Steve Hales knows anything about the 400/800 versions of DragonStomper and Escape from the Mindmaster? http://atariage.com/forums/topic/249649-dragonstomper-escape-from-the-mindmaster/?p=3452506 Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Stephen Lawrow, Mac/65 assembler http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-144-stephen-lawrow-mac65-assembler Stephen Lawrow created the Mac/65 assembler, which was published by Optimized Systems Software. Stephen became an employee of OSS, where he also worked on the company’s enhanced BASIC products, BASIC XL and BASIC XE. This interview took place on November 1, 2015. In this interview we discuss Bill Wilkinson of OSS, whom I previously interviewed. Teaser quotes: “I got so frustrated, I couldn’t wait till I got Mac/65 mature enough where it could start assembling itself. So that’s why it has a lot of compatibilities syntactically with the Atari Assembler/Editor.” “A lot of us were not formally educated in software development. Because it just didn’t exist in the colleges at the time ... Algorithms, searching, and things like that — all that stuff happened after that.” 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.