Would E.T. have worked better as a platform game? - Making a better E.T.

[Dr Manhattan]

So I've been tinkering with the idea of creating a game in Batari Basic. It really is a genius program even if I'm a bit overwhelmed at first. Running through my list of potential game ideas got me thinking about the most infamous Atari 2600 game in history. I've always been a fan of ET and a big defender the game. I never knew anything about the controversy until I was much older. As a kid I really enjoyed playing ET, and as we all know, it enjoyed moderate sales success.

 

But would this game have worked better as a simple platform title? Something akin to Pitfall or Smurf? Both games are beloved 2600 classics, especially Pitfall which is a pillar of the 2600 library.

 

Imagine a simple walk-left-to-right platform game featuring Elliott in a quest to retrieve phone parts and to rescue his friend ET. It could even incorporate a bicycle level. Something like this seems like it would better capture the spirit of the movie, and at the same time, would be better suited for the young target audience. I imagine that if this game had been made instead of what we got, Atari history would be totally changed.

 

Do you have any ideas for a better ET game? I'd love to hear them.

 

And on a totally related side note, imagine getting Howard Scott Warshaw back into the game to make this project? I would totally be up for crowd funding this. Imagine all the press AA would get? It would be insane.

[Flojomojo]

E.T. would work well as a first-person digital novel type thing, like Gone Home. Platformer? Sure ... back in the day.

 

I didn't realize there were other games based on the movie. I shouldn't be surprised, but we only know about the one.

 

I think HSW's talents would be better utilized as a therapist, not a game developer.

[Lord Thag]

I actually think the original design was reasonably sound, but what kills it is the execution (particularly the ground symbol mechanic). It's like Raiders and Riddle of the Sphynx: unless you have the manual, the game doesn't make much sense, and you can't figure it out easily by just playing, but unlike those games, it feels much more cramped. There all these non-intuitive symbols that do not-obvious things like warp, call spaceship etc. Take adventure. You can figure out what everything does intuitively just by playing. Not so, E.T., with all the warps and whatnot. Plus the much-maligned pits are highly disruptive to play flow. It's not a bad game, but it feels incomplete.

The way to fix it would be to make a large map, ala Adventure (or similar to the 8 bit version) and scatter the pieces around that. Then, you're exploring rather than pit diving, and there is more of a world. You could then add specific locations that do things (phone spcaeship, call elliot etc) to replace the weird ground signs. It would be much better as a proper adventure game, like the 8-bit version, which is pretty fun.

[louisg]

I actually think the original design was reasonably sound, but what kills it is the execution (particularly the ground symbol mechanic). It's like Raiders and Riddle of the Sphynx: unless you have the manual, the game doesn't make much sense, and you can't figure it out easily by just playing, but unlike those games, it feels much more cramped. There all these non-intuitive symbols that do not-obvious things like warp, call spaceship etc. Take adventure. You can figure out what everything does intuitively just by playing. Not so, E.T., with all the warps and whatnot. Plus the much-maligned pits are highly disruptive to play flow. It's not a bad game, but it feels incomplete.

 

The way to fix it would be to make a large map, ala Adventure (or similar to the 8 bit version) and scatter the pieces around that. Then, you're exploring rather than pit diving, and there is more of a world. You could then add specific locations that do things (phone spcaeship, call elliot etc) to replace the weird ground signs. It would be much better as a proper adventure game, like the 8-bit version, which is pretty fun.

 

I agree; E.T. and a lot of those other 2600 adventures were pretty confusing. The original Adventure gets it right though, like you said.

 

If E.T. had other places the pieces were hidden, rather than just pits, that would've gone a long way. I could see it having more hazards in the various locations you go to grab the pieces, too. Think something maybe a little more like Venture: Instead of the blobs on the screen representing pits, maybe they could represent various locations that it'd zoom into.

[Inky]

IMHO, get rid of thee pits, and turn them into bushes and trees the parts are hidden behind. I think that would improve the game (which I already like.)

[Torr]

I too think ET is great, once you know HOW to play.

The fact that game mode 1 I STILL have trouble beating to this day, means I can always fire it up and NOT be sure I will actually win (like game mode 3 of Adventure) is what keeps bringing me back to it to play again. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I win.

 

But a 2D scroller ala Pitfall as you describe could be pretty cool as well, I won't deny that!

Edited July 3, 2018 by Torr

[Torr]

IMHO, get rid of thee pits, and turn them into bushes and trees the parts are hidden behind. I think that would improve the game (which I already like.)

 

I've never been a hater of 'the pits'.

Getting the hang of being able to catch yourself midfall and rise out of a pit that has nothing or you accidentally fell into BEFORE hitting the bottom is a GREAT feeling.

Edited July 3, 2018 by Torr

[high voltage]

I would've liked to see a flying bike section, I mean that was even the movie poster, you expected that

[Video]

That's my idea. The original game is sound, it's simply to small at 8 screens (6 overworld, and two pits, I believe) even adventure was like 64 screens, or something like that, and superman, and rotla, all based on the same idea.

 

My problem, as a kid that got this, was that it literally took less than thirty minutes to beat, with OUT looking at the instructions. It took days to weeks to beat those other games bitd. I mean, it's literally about two minutes to beat if you know what your doing. Yeah, someone will say "but it keeps going" yeah, I guess, different eggs in each playthrough, but once you get the ship, there's little reason to continue, for me. Heh, I still try to crash the ship on the rare occasion I do play.

 

A 3x3 grid on each cube side would give you a world of 54 screens, and there could have been SO much more things to do. Maybe even have people play as Elliott and try to save et from the scientists. It mostly got post dated bad rep for holes, holes, my God the holes. I never considered it a bad game, just to small and short for the adventure type of game it is. Those other games are far more complex, and are all (I believe) older games.

Edited July 3, 2018 by Video

[atarifan88]

You could do a hack of an existing platform game putting ET in the game instead of the main character. Trying to think of one that would lend itself well to the ET theme...

[MrMaddog]

Yeah I can see LJN make an ET platform game for the NES, including the Official Seal Of Approval, and not get flak from anyone except AVGN...

 

But at least you can use platforms to jump out of the pits...

[high voltage]

 

 

But at least you can use platforms to jump out of the pits...

 

Super Mario Bros not (well, ok sometimes)

[crsdawg]

Of course ET could have been a good platformer. It could have been a good maze game or a racing game (why not?)...or any other game style. It's all about execution, not game type. What ET really needed was more development time. If HSW was given the typical 6-7 months to code the game (instead of 6-7 weeks) we would have had something pretty special I think, or at least very good. Hell, I bet with 2-3 more weeks it would have been drastically better...but the suits at Atari after NB left just didn't understand the gaming business and put Warshaw on ridiculous schedule.

 

I think the game as it stands is pretty decent...just flawed. All the hate is just bandwagonism and laziness b/c nobody wants to RTFM. I was speed running the game as a 10 year old...I don't get how people can think it is confusing or complex.

[+pboland]

So I've been tinkering with the idea of creating a game in Batari Basic. It really is a genius program even if I'm a bit overwhelmed at first. Running through my list of potential game ideas got me thinking about the most infamous Atari 2600 game in history. I've always been a fan of ET and a big defender the game. I never knew anything about the controversy until I was much older. As a kid I really enjoyed playing ET, and as we all know, it enjoyed moderate sales success.

 

But would this game have worked better as a simple platform title? Something akin to Pitfall or Smurf? Both games are beloved 2600 classics, especially Pitfall which is a pillar of the 2600 library.

 

Imagine a simple walk-left-to-right platform game featuring Elliott in a quest to retrieve phone parts and to rescue his friend ET. It could even incorporate a bicycle level. Something like this seems like it would better capture the spirit of the movie, and at the same time, would be better suited for the young target audience. I imagine that if this game had been made instead of what we got, Atari history would be totally changed.

 

Do you have any ideas for a better ET game? I'd love to hear them.

 

And on a totally related side note, imagine getting Howard Scott Warshaw back into the game to make this project? I would totally be up for crowd funding this. Imagine all the press AA would get? It would be insane.

 

 

I say if you want a platform game, make it a platform game. After all you are programing it. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

[digdugnate]

The TI-99 4A had a Frogger-style ET game that wasn't officially released, but the ROM is out there. I always thought that was kind of a neat idea.

 

http://www.videogamehouse.net/gamemain/cartsde/et/

[zzip]

The way I see it, ET is most similar in concept to Haunted House:

 

Find the 3 hidden pieces that make a larger object and escape, while avoiding the "spooks". You can also find a forth object that helps you (flower, wand). People seem to like Haunted House. I think the main reason they didn't like ET was they didn't understand it (and those hypersensitive pits!)

 

IMHO, get rid of thee pits, and turn them into bushes and trees the parts are hidden behind. I think that would improve the game (which I already like.)

That makes a lot of sense and is more consistent with the move than falling in pits is!

[Dr Manhattan]

What about a game that also includes solving puzzles, with the overall goal of following the story of the movie and returning ET to his home planet?

 

One thing Howard Scott Warshaw never gets enough credit for is the ambitious scope of his game. It does effectively convey the story of the film. Considering how little time and hardware power he had to work with that's quite an achievement.

[4Ks]

The TI-99 4A had a Frogger-style ET game that wasn't officially released, but the ROM is out there. I always thought that was kind of a neat idea.

 

http://www.videogamehouse.net/gamemain/cartsde/et/

 

This quote stuck out to me:

 

 

According to Patrick King (who programmed another E.T. game on the 99/4A while with Western Technologies) there may be a reason why E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is so hard to find today or possibly never hit the market. According to him, "when Steven Spielberg walked into a room in Northern California and saw our line of E.T. 99/4A games on monitors running alongside the Atari 2600 E.T. game, he went ballistic & ordered the plug pulled on the Texas Instruments license and their 3 million dollar license fee refunded. We suspect this happened because we had used the full powers of the TI 9918 chip (same chip used in Colecovision system) to make our games really look great and the Atari 2600 game on the old Intel 6502 chip looked pretty sad by comparison. Common sense told him that the line of TI-99/4A games should NOT be better looking and more interesting that the market leader 2600 version."

 

If this is true, that means that Atari's half-assed excuse for a game caused at least one very high quality E.T. game to be cancelled.

[KevinMos3]

IMHO, get rid of thee pits, and turn them into bushes and trees the parts are hidden behind. I think that would improve the game (which I already like.)

I've always liked E.T. as it is, but this idea is very interesting. I wonder how the fun would compare if the pits were bushes/trees with the well/pit screens replaced with, say, one of three possible tree or bush patterns made of playfield graphics. Maybe jump across branches to climb the tree and get the phone piece, then jump back down across the branches. Fall from too high could take away more of your energy, like falling to the ground in the pits currently does.

 

 

This quote stuck out to me:

According to Patrick King (who programmed another E.T. game on the 99/4A while with Western Technologies) there may be a reason why E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is so hard to find today or possibly never hit the market. According to him, "when Steven Spielberg walked into a room in Northern California and saw our line of E.T. 99/4A games on monitors running alongside the Atari 2600 E.T. game, he went ballistic & ordered the plug pulled on the Texas Instruments license and their 3 million dollar license fee refunded. We suspect this happened because we had used the full powers of the TI 9918 chip (same chip used in Colecovision system) to make our games really look great and the Atari 2600 game on the old Intel 6502 chip looked pretty sad by comparison. Common sense told him that the line of TI-99/4A games should NOT be better looking and more interesting that the market leader 2600 version."

If this is true, that means that Atari's half-assed excuse for a game caused at least one very high quality E.T. game to be cancelled.

 

That sounds absurd to me, and a little arrogant of Patrick. If Spielberg walked in and saw a Frogger clone, compared to the much deeper adventure game by HSW, I wouldn't blame him for being upset.

Edited July 8, 2018 by KevinMos3

[ventrra]

 

I've always liked E.T. as it is, but this idea is very interesting. I wonder how the fun would compare if the pits were bushes/trees with the well/pit screens replaced with, say, one of three possible tree or bush patterns made of playfield graphics. Maybe jump across branches to climb the tree and get the phone piece, then jump back down across the branches. Fall from too high could take away more of your energy, like falling to the ground in the pits currently does.

 

 

 

That sounds absurd to me, and a little arrogant of Patrick. If Spielberg walked in and saw a Frogger clone, compared to the much deeper adventure game by HSW, I wouldn't blame him for being upset.

On the other hand, if he walked in and saw ET - Adventures at Sea, that might have been just the opposite. AAS is a pretty decent game that never left the proto stage apparently.

[moycon]

I always loved the original E.T. and had it when it hit the market. The pits make sense because in the movie, when E.T. was shriveled up and white and everyone in the theater was teary eyed (yes admit it, you were almost crying at that point in the movie) he was found in what? A drainage ditch/pit so it makes sense those are things to avoid. I'll agree mixing it up and including the parts being hidden in other places like bushes or even house would have made for a better game, but honestly I wouldn't change much other than that.