Atari's unreleased Garfield arcade game design idea document

[Dutchman2000]

			      I I I
			      I I I
			      I I I
			     I  I  I
			    I   I   I
			  II    I    II

			      ATARI (R)

			 Coinop Game Idea

			   Preliminary

			 COMPANY  PRIVATE 



Date: 9/14/83 (updated 10/24/83)

Submitted By: Garfield Development Team

Name of Game: Garfield's Quest

Perspective: 

Garfield is a medium resolution (512x384 pixels) color raster game with
the horizontally-mounted monitor showing a variety of fixed point
perspective views of the playfield.

Objective(s): 

The ultimate objective of the game is to help Garfield locate and rescue
Pooky, Garfield's intimate companion and teddy bear.  During the course of
the game, other objectives will be presented to the player, with
appropriate risk/reward tradeoffs. 

Control(s): 

Controls for the game will be a 4-position joystick for selection of
direction and an action button with 4 character LED label. Other Controls
under consideration include analog joysticks, trackballs and touch screen.

Background:

Pooky has been stolen from Garfield by a burglar.  Garfield and Odie are
on a quest to locate the burglar's hideout and rescue Pooky. Along the way
they encounter many hazardous obstacles and characters, whose intentions
are to prevent the duo from accomplishing their goals. 
Gameplay: 

The game is divided into three chapters, with each chapter having four
scenerios. Each chapter starts with a short scenerio describing the events
causing the player to be where they are.  The other three scenerios
present a situation where Garfield and/or Odie must be manuevered to avoid
"death" and gain "clues".  Each scenerio utilizes a theme taken from the
Garfield comic strip, and gives the player a different "feel" of gameplay
(cue-response, continuous-action, and exploration). 

In the cue-response scenerios, Garfield's motion is under the control of
the game (constantly moving), with direction and options under the control
of the player (who selects the options by directing Garfield about the
display using the controls). The player can thusly react (respond) to the
images (cues) shown on the display during the scenerio. Default actions
(typically bad) will insure participation by the player. 

In the continuous-action scenerios, Garfield's motion is under the control
of the player, with the background and auxillary characters under the
control of the game.  The player can thusly perform actions continuously
during the scenerio. Playfield scrolling or Evil Otto characters will
insure participation by the player. 

In the exploration scenerios, the emphasis is in finding clues which will
lead Garfield and Odie to the burglar.  This is done by running over
highlighted objects on the display (which may be scrolled) in a short
amount of time.  A bonus timer will insure participation by the player. 
Clues include the burglar's tools (flashlight, gloves, mask, crowbar),
stolen objects (jewelery, candlesticks, TVs, money), and pieces of Pooky
(yellow ribbon, button eye).

Each scenerio starts with an opening sequence which introduces the
scenerio and indicates the immediate objectives to be achieved by the
player. The action then starts and control is given to the player. The
player must complete each scenerio satisfactorily before the next scenerio
may be played. The following is an outline of the scenerios: 

	I. Urban (Neighborhood, City)
		0. The Abduction		(animation)
		1. Ride'em Cowcat		(cue-response)
		2. Encounter in the Park	(exploration)
		3. Fantasy in the Supermarket	(continuous-action)
	II. Rural (Countryside, Farm)
		0. Hitchhiking to the Country	(animation)
		1. Down on the Farm		(continuous-action)
		2. Bathtime			(cue-response)
		3. Escape			(exploration)
	III. Wilderness (Woods, Mountain)
		0. Into the Woods		(animation)
		1. Lost in the Woods		(continuous-action)
		2. Bobcat Territory		(cue-response)
		3. The Hideout			(exploration)
	IV. Twilite Zone
Synopsis:

The first chapter follows Garfield as he learns about the abduction of
Pooky, and sets off in search of the teddy bear, riding his sidekick Odie.
After hunting for clues in the park, and encountering a baddy gang of
cats, the duo decide to take a break for lunch.  Not having any cash, they
raid the local supermarket, much to the despair of the store manager.

The second chapter continues with Garfield and Odie tracking the Burglar
into the countryside and to a farm.  They are temporarily sidetracked by
the barnyard animals, and the Sweet Old Lady of the farm takes Garfield
inside for a bath.  Garfield manages to escape from the farmhouse only to
find that Odie is nowhere to be scene.  Garfield then hunts for Odie,
and upon finding him, has to fight a mean old Bobcat.

The third chapter finds Garfield and Odie lost in the woods, with little
information to find their way out.  Surprisingly soon, they come to a
clearing in the forest which happens to be the Burglar's hideout.
After a fun-filled cat-and-dog-fight, Garfield marches home triumphantly
with Pooky in his arms, and a smile on his face.

Scenerio Descriptions:

"The Abduction"

This is the first animated scenerio, where the Burglar "teddy-naps" Pooky.
There is no player interaction, as this is intended to entertain the
player and establish the theme of the game.  In the dark of night,
Garfield is sleeping peacefully with Pooky laying next to him. A shadow
moves over Garfield, and a hand reaches down to pluck Pooky. The view
changes to the window, as a dark figure carrying a large bag jumps out the
window, who drops a lighted flashlight on the floor. Later, as the sun
appears in the open window, Garfield wakes up, yawns, and then panics when
he notices Pooky missing. He spots the first clue (a flashlight) and
deduces that a burglar has stolen Pooky. 
The scene ends with Garfield resolving to locate and rescue Pooky.

"Ride'em Cowcat"

This is a cue-response scenerio, where Garfield and Odie set out to locate
Pooky. Garfield first jumps up to the window sill and looks outside (he
may notice a mud puddle just under the window). The first option is to
wait, move left, move down, move right.  If he moves left or down, he
jumps down only to land in the mud puddle. If he waits, Odie jumps up next
to Garfield, causing him to fall into the mud puddle. Once he is in the
puddle, he must get out soon, or Odie will jump down on top of him,
causing a loss of life. If he move right, he misses the mud puddle. Odie
jumps in front of Garfield, as Garfield looks around. Odie then points in
the direction of the Burglar's trail. The second option is to ignore Odie,
punt Odie, or jump on Odie. If he ignores Odie, Jon comes by and picks
Garfield up. If he punts Odie, Odie goes sailing into the air. If he jumps
on Odie, Odie starts running off with Garfield holding onto his ears. The
two start running down the block as black footprints appear in front of
them. Garfield must be then be manuevered around the block (backyard,
sidewalk, and alley), avoiding various obstacles (lawn mowers, trash cans,
walls, hedges, bicycles, trees and tree branches, mud puddles, fire
hydrants, bully dogs, cars), following the burglar's footprints. 
The scene ends with Odie pooping out in the park, causing Garfield to fall
off. 
"Encounter in the Park"

This is an exploration scenerio, where Garfield is trying to locate a clue
to lead them to the Burglar.  The clue is somthing related to the burglar
(tools, stolen items, pieces of Pooky) and can change in type and location
each time the game is played.  Garfield must be moved about the display,
running over various objects (sandbox, fountain, bushes, swings, garbage
cans, picnic tables).  The more objects touched, the more points are
scored, and the possibility of finding the clue increases.
The scene ends with Garfield and Odie landing in front of a supermarket. 

"Fantasy in the Supermarket"

This is a continuous-action scenerio, where Garfield is trying to grab as
much food as possible before the Store Manager can catch him.
The supermarket consists of four rows of aisles, each containing some food
items (vegatables, canned products, dairy products, staples, meat).
In each row, there is something Garfield would like most (which is worth
to most, but would be the most difficult to grab).  A possible side goal
could be to gather the ingredients for lasagna (noodles, cheese, meat,
sauce, spices) for a large bonus (plus a delicious meal). 
The scene ends with Garfield and Odie outside the supermarket (eating
their ill-gotten gain). 

"Hitchhiking to the Country"

This is the second animation scenerio, where Garfield and Odie catch sight
of the Burglar (in a car), and jump on a dump (or garbage) truck to follow
him. They pass through the city, and into the country, when the truck and
car travel down different roads. 
The scene ends with the truck dumping its load (or Garfield and Odie
falling off the truck). 

"Down on the Farm"

This is a continous-action scenerio, where Garfield arrives at a farm.
Garfield gets to chase the animals around the farm, possibly even riding
one. Garfield must be manuevered around the farm, chasing small animals,
and avoiding large animals.
The scene ends with Garfield getting dirty in the pig sty, and deciding to
go into the house. 

"Bathtime for Garfield"

This is a cue-response scenerio, where the Sweet Old Lady (S.O.L.) trys to
give Garfield a bath (which is the next worst thing to having your claws
removed). Garfield must be manuevered around the house, avoiding both the
S.O.L. and the bathtub, which the S.O.L. strategicly places where Garfield
can be tricked into moving.  Traps would include the sofa, waxed table,
and walls. 
The scene ends with Garfield escaping from the house, and joining Odie. 

"Escape"

This is an exploration scenerio, where Garfield is searching for more
clues to the where-abouts of the Burglar.
The scene ends with Odie sniffing out more footprints, leading into the
woods.
"Into the Woods"

This is the last animation scenerio, where Garfield and Odie enter the
woods.
The scene ends with Garfield and Odie apparently lost in the woods.

"Lost In the Woods"

This is a continous-action scenerio, where Garfield and Odie have to
circumvent many natural obstacles. Garfield must be manuevered around the
forest, helping Odie from getting eaten by a bear, falling into the
stream, getting tangled in a trap, etc. The scene ends with Garfield and
Odie coming into a clearing in the woods. 

"Bobcat Territory"

This is a cue-response scenerio, where Garfield and Odie encounter the
Bobcat. Garfield begins thinking about food, as Odie runs off ahead. He
hears Odie barking in the distance, and runs over to investigate. They
encounter Bob, the local toughguy bobcat. The first option is to fight,
flee, or avoid the Bobcat. If he fight, the Bobcat makes mincemeat out of
Garfield. If he flees, the Bobcat makes mincemeat out of Odie. If he
avoids, the Bobcat follows them. The action continues until the Bobcat is
tricked and gets wedged between two small trees. The scene ends with
Garfield and Odie rejoicing over the defeat of the Bobcat. 

"The Hideout"

This is the last scenerio, where Garfield and Odie encounter the Burglar.
The Burglar's hideout is a small shanty in the middle of a clearing. All
the windows are boarded up, but smoke wafts from a chimney. Odie must
trick the Burglar into coming out of the shanty, so that Garfield can go
inside and rescue Pooky. Many things can go wrong, and probably will. The
scene ends with Garfield clutching Pooky, and thinking some prosaic
thought. 

"The Twilite Zone"

This could be an addon scenerio to make a connection between the last
scenerio and the first scenerio.  As Garfield grabs Pooky, the display
"pops" as though from a dream.  We see Garfield laying in his box, with
Pooky by his side.  He comments about the wierd dream, and then falls
asleep.  Shortly after, a shadow moves over Garfield, and a hand reaches
down to pluck Pooky.  The game starts over again with the first scenerio.
Comments: 

The Garfield game is inspired by the comic strip of the same name,
drawn by Jim Davis.  The presentation of the game to the player is hoped
to be similar to that of an animated comic strip, complete with the
simplistic, yet stylized, characters and backgrounds.
The characters utilized for this game will be Garfield, Odie, Jon,
and of course, Pooky.

This game is intended to be a showcase of animation.  To achieve this, the
game will utilize a 10Mbyte Winchester disk drive to store graphics
material for the display.  It is anticipated that the drive can
store up to 200 backgrounds for playfields, or up to 1000 pictures for
motion objects (or some combination of the two).  In addition, the drive
could be used to store program code and data (wave tables, characters and
backgrounds data base) to reduce the memory requirements for the game,
replace non-volatile ROM for high-scores, options, and histograms, and
collect statistics from play of the game (for field test data).

Illustrations: 

see accompanying illustrations

 

[TheRedEye]

16 minutes ago, Dutchman2000 said:

see accompanying illustrations

Did these survive???

[Magmavision2000]

This is cool and all, but nobody's going to talk about the fact there was a group of people at Atari called the Garfield Development Team?

[Dutchman2000]

1 hour ago, TheRedEye said:

Did these survive???

Not that I have seen

[Dutchman2000]

		GARFIELD
				--------

			  HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
			  --------------------


- T-11 Microprocessor with 32K bytes of program ROM/RAM, 4K bytes RAM  (main)
- 6502 Microprocessor with 48K bytes of program ROM    , 2K bytes RAM  (aux)


  GRAPHICS MEMORY
  ---------------
- 128K bytes of DRAM
- Shared by Motion Objects and Playfield
- Holds 1024  16 x 16 stamp pictures (any MO/PF mix)
- Loaded directly from Winchester Disk


  PLAYFIELD
  ---------
- Scrolling playfield (medium res)
- Displayed playfield  384 x 512  - 24 x 32 stamps (16 x 16)
- Complete playfield  512 x 1024  - 32 x 64 stamps
- 4 bits deep (plus 2 palet, 2 priority)
- H & V reflects on a stamp basis
- Up to 1024 stamp pictures
- Independent H & V scrolling


  MOTION OBJECTS
  --------------
- 41 motion objects (from 256 specifiers)
- 16 x N (programmable height of 16, 32, 48, 64)
- 4 bits deep (plus 2 palet, 2 priority, 8 bit link pointer)
- H & V reflects
- Up to 1024  16 x 16 pictures


  ALPHANUMERICS
  -------------
- 48 x 64 stamps (8 x 8)
- 2 bits deep (plus 2 palet)
- 256 stamp pictures stored in 4K bytes of ROM


  COLOR RAM
  ---------
- 16 bits of color (4 red, 4 green, 4 blue, 4 intensity)
- Playfield     	  4 palets x 16 colors
- Motion Objects	  4 palets x 16 colors
- Alphanumerics 	  4 palets x 4 colors
- Prioritization for playfield and motion objects


  CONTROL RAM
  -----------
- Playfield		16K bytes  (64 x 128 x 2)
- Motion Objects	 2K bytes  (256 x 8)
- Alphanumerics		 6K bytes  (48 x 64 x 2)


  WINCHESTER DISK
  ---------------
- 10M bytes formatted capacity
- DMAs directly into program, PF/MO DRAM
- Maximum transfer rate of 246K bytes/sec (32K byte blocks)
- Error checking and recovery
- Controlled by T-11
- Disk replaces EEROM


  SOUND
  -----
- Quad Pokey (8 channels)

 

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Thanks for sharing this info, it's too bad that there isn't any media/concept art. Where did you find this data?

[Dutchman2000]

1 hour ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

Thanks for sharing this info, it's too bad that there isn't any media/concept art. Where did you find this data?

On a 9-track tape labeled “Garfield”

[Dutchman2000]

	.title Garfield
	.sbttl Hardware Definitions
	.radix 8.
;
; Copyright 1984 ATARI.  Unauthorized reproduction, adaptation, 
; distribution, performance or display of this computer
; program or the associated audiovisual work is strictly prohibited. 
;

;hardware equates
WLOMEM==	000400		;low working memory address
WHIMEM==	007377		;high working memory address
SLOMEM==	007400		;low stack memory address
SHIMEM==	007777		;high stack memory address
BLOMEM==	010000		;low boot memory (R/O) address
BHIMEM==	010077		;high boot memory (R/O) address
CLOMEM==	010000		;low color memory (W/O) address
CHIMEM==	010777		;high color memory (W/O) address
IRQ0CLR==	012000		;irq0 clear address
IRQ1CLR==	012200		;irq1 clear address
IRQ2CLR==	012400		;irq2 clear address
IRQ3CLR==	012600		;irq3 clear address
IRQ0ENB==	013000		;irq0 enable address
IRQ1ENB==	013000		;irq1 enable address
IRQ2ENB==	013000		;irq2 enable address
IRQ3ENB==	013000		;irq3 enable address
OUTPORT==	013200		;output port
HSCREG==	013400		;playfield horizontal scroll register
VSCREG==	013600		;playfield vertical scroll register
INPUT0==	014000		;switch inputs player 1
INPUT1==	014002		;switch inputs player 2
INPORT==	016000		;input port
ALOMEM==	020000		;low alphanumerics memory address
AHIMEM==	033777		;high alphanumerics memory address
MLOMEM==	034000		;low motion objects memory address
MHIMEM==	037777		;high motion objects memory address
PLOMEM==	040000		;low playfield memory address
PHIMEM==	047777		;high playfield memory address
OUTPUT0==	050000		;latch outputs
RLOMEM==	100000		;low program memory address
RHIMEM==	137777		;high program memory address
DLOMEM==	140000		;low data memory address
DHIMEM==	177777		;high data memory address

	.page
	.sbttl Hardware Definitions
;Hardware variables
color==		CLOMEM		;color memory
alpha==		ALOMEM		;alphanumerics memory
mobj==		MLOMEM		;motion object memory
playf==		PLOMEM		;playfield memory
selres==	OUTPUT0		;disk select/reset word

	.page
	.sbttl Software Equates
;Software routines
;PREGAME==	122000		;pregame routine address
;GAME==		124000		;game routine address
;POSTGAME==	127000		;postgame routine address
;OPERATOR==	130000		;operator routine address
;DATA==		140000		;data address

	.page	
	.sbttl PRESET: power-on reset sequence
	.psect RESET
	.globl creset, main

PRESET::
	NOP				;reset vector
	NOP
	mtps	#0340			;restart vector; disable any interrupts

	mov	#SHIMEM+1,sp		;reset the stack

	jsr	pc,creset		;call 'c' reset routines

	mov	#17,IRQ3ENB		;enable interrupts
	mtps	#0			;reset priority to main program
	jmp	main			;and start up the main program

	.page
	.sbttl PIRQ, PXMIT, PXREC, PSCRN: Interrupt Calling routines
	.globl newframe, irq, xmit, xrec, scrn

PIRQ::				;vblank interrupt routine

;check stack pointer and old program counter
	cmp	sp,#SLOMEM	;check lower stack memory fence
	bhis	2$		;ok if at or above
	bpt			;not ok if below
2$:	cmp	sp,#SHIMEM	;check upper stack memory fence
	blos	3$		;ok if at or below
	bpt			;not ok if above
3$:	cmp	(sp),#RLOMEM	;check lower program memory fence
	bhis	4$		;ok if at or above
	bpt			;not ok if below
4$:	cmp	(sp),#RHIMEM	;check upper program memory fence
	blos	5$		;ok if at or below
	bpt			;not ok if above

;ok to process interrupt
5$:	clr	irq3clr		;clear the interrupt
	clr	irq2clr		;clear the screen interrupt too
	mov	r0,-(sp)	;save the low registers
	mov	r1,-(sp)
	jsr	pc,irq		;call the C routine to handle this
	br	1$		;branch around for now
	mtps	#100		;adjust priority
	jsr	pc,newframe	;call the C routine to handle this
1$:	mov	(sp)+,r1	;restore the low registers
	mov	(sp)+,r0
	rti			;beam me out of here

PSCRN::				;screen interrupt routine
	clr	irq2clr		;clear the interrupt
	mov	r0,-(sp)	;save the low registers
	mov	r1,-(sp)
	jsr	pc,scrn		;call the C routine to handle this
	mov	(sp)+,r1	;restore the low registers
	mov	(sp)+,r0
	rti			;all done!

PXMIT::				;transmit interrupt routine
	clr	irq1clr		;clear the interrupt
	mov	r0,-(sp)	;save the low registers
	mov	r1,-(sp)
	jsr	pc,xmit		;call the C routine to handle this
	mov	(sp)+,r1	;restore the low registers
	mov	(sp)+,r0
	rti			;bye bye

PXREC::				;receive interrupt routine
	clr	irq0clr		;clear the interrupt
	mov	r0,-(sp)	;save the low registers
	mov	r1,-(sp)
	jsr	pc,xrec		;call the C routine to handle this
	mov	(sp)+,r1	;restore the low registers
	mov	(sp)+,r0
	rti			;bye bye

	.end

 

[Dutchman2000]

A status report:

 

 
 
 
                          GAME DEVELOPMENT STATUS                       GARFIELD
 
 DATE:   7-SEP-84	  PROJECT LEADER:   DAWE                   PROJECT START:   3-NOV-83
 LAB #:  SS I                        EXT:   X7416                      PROJECT #:   432XX
 									            "RAS"
 |                             |  SCHEDULE or  |    MISSED DATES                            |   
 |                             |  <OCCURANCE>  |                                            |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   PROJECT START:                <3 NOV 83>
   1ST ENG REVIEW:               <6 JUN 84>
   2ND ENG REVIEW:                  SEP 84
   1ST MKT REVIEW:                  OCT 84
   2ND MKT REVIEW:               
   FOCUS GROUP:                     DEC 84
   3RD MKT REVIEW:
   UL/FCC REVIEW: 
   FIELD TEST:                      FEB 85

 1. New this week:
       No progress occurred this week while the programmer was busy making some
       corrections/additions to RPM.  No progress is expected for the next
       two weeks while the programmer is on vacation until 9/7.
 
 2. New Game Wave Structure
    New ROM gameplay has been roughed out.  Waves are:
 
    1)  THE NEIGHBORHOOD
    2)  FANTASY IN THE MARKET
    3)  CLIFF CLIMB
    4)  THE SEARCH FOR POOKIE
    In addition, comic strip interconnects will tie the waves together.
 
    The Underwater Adventure has been eliminated to permit maximum depth in the other waves.  A
    possible bonus wave might be constructed in the future using existing stamps from the above
    four waves.

 

[Jumpman1981]

Gotta say, the "cue-and-response" gameplay style they mentioned really reminded me of Dragon's Lair.  
I wonder if the game can be reconstructed to some degree from the source code fragment above.

[Dutchman2000]

23 hours ago, Jumpman1981 said:

Gotta say, the "cue-and-response" gameplay style they mentioned really reminded me of Dragon's Lair.  
I wonder if the game can be reconstructed to some degree from the source code fragment above.

That wouldn’t be enough, we would need a lot more.  

[Jack the gamer 3]

19 hours ago, Dutchman2000 said:

That wouldn’t be enough, we would need a lot more.  

Question! So was this game gonna be for the Atari system 2 because I heard a rumor in a website

[Dutchman2000]

Yes it was going to be a system 2 game.

[schuwalker]

On 4/10/2020 at 8:10 PM, Dutchman2000 said:

Yes it was going to be a system 2 game.

Insightful information... With the copyright notes dated in '84, you would think it would be in the System 1 queue. The tip off is the med. resolution since System 1 is standard res.

 

I looked on the System 16 page, I wonder if this was going to around the time frame of Gremlins since they had it slated for an '85 release date. 

 

Dawe? I'm assuming Rusty Dawe. I believe he was interviewed on Jeff's old coin op website few years ago. Wonder if there's a transcript out there where he might have let out some intel on this one. I have some digging to do...

[Dutchman2000]

I think Rusty took it over after Babcock, from the look of things he didn’t do much with it and it was not touched until archived onto 9-track tape in April of 1985.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Dutchman2000

[Jack the gamer 3]

On 4/10/2020 at 9:10 PM, Dutchman2000 said:

Yes it was going to be a system 2 game.

Ey you know how them system 2 games got that sound when you insert a coin. DOIIIIIIIIIIIIING lol. Wished the game could have been a thing so I could hear that