There was an excellent article by Benj Edwards about Computer Space and Dabney's contribution to video game history, including the invention of the "slipping counter" circuit that moved onscren objects on this game and Pong: https://www.technologizer.com/2011/12/11/computer-space-and-...
“Nolan came to me one time and he said, ‘On a TV set, when you turn the vertical hold on the TV, the picture will go up, and if you turn it the other way, it goes down. Why does it do that?’ I explained it to him. It was the difference between the sync and the picture timing. He said, ‘Could we do that with some control?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we probably can, but we’d have to do it digitally, because analog would not be linear.'”
The Atari 2600 has this same kind of circuit for its two 8x1 sprites and two 1x1 missiles, at least for the horizontal motion part (HMOVE). To save silicon, it uses a polynomial counter / LFSR instead of 4-bit counter ICs.
> Although Mr. Dabney was overshadowed within the video game industry by Mr. Bushnell’s charm and business savvy, his legacy is now being revisited.
> “He was the guy that could actually make it work,” said Dustin Hansen, a game developer and the author of a book on video game history called “Game On!” “Where the circuit hits the board, he’s the guy.”
Dabney sounds like Woz to Bushnell's Steve Jobs. As much as I liked reading about Jobs, during his life and after, I never got through his posthumous biography. But I think I finished "iWoz" the day after I bought it.
Well Bushnell was a pretty solid engineer and unlike Jobs gave Dabney a lot if not all the credit for pong. He does a great interview with Gug Raz on How I Built This. Also, Busnell employed both Woz (well by proxy employed Woz) and Jobs and was offered a huge stake in Apple for about 50k which he turned down. The Atari team had a less diversified skillset than Apple, Jobs was great at business, design and Sales and Woz really complimented him with strong engineering. Both companies were amazing and made their mark on history.
I don't know if I agree Dabney was the Woz of Atari if yoh define it as the buisiness/engineering split at Apple. However, Bushnell empowered Dabney a lot in the early days and a case that Pong was Ataris Apple II could be made.
> “A computer was too slow to do anything at video speeds anyway. So once Ted had invented his motion circuit, this trick, you didn’t need the computer anymore.”
I'm surprised to learn that Pong had no computer, no microcontroller, no software! Just analog and digital circuits.
I started learning about digital logic a few years after Pong came out, and hefore microprocessors were affordable.
It didn’t take long to realise that Pong was an insanely clever masterpiece of digital design.
It looks like the simplest thing ever, but it stores and manipulates representations of three objects plus two score fields, composites them into a 2D representation, and converts that representation into two linear video scan signals - all with discrete logic.
> "Atari’s Arcade Pong PCB contained 66 IC’s. Gates and flip flops of every kind, a pair of 555 timer IC’s and a few transistors. It was simply hard wired TTL logic and predates microprocessor and software controlled video games."
In the late 80s, I had gotten hold of a Pong table.
Went to explore it, as it was not working, I was amazed to see no CPU. Inside, there was a C sized paper blueprint of the schematic. Wish I still had it.
Timers, latches, etc... the circuit was the game. Very cool.
There was a Gamers exhibition that went through Melbourne and Wellington where you could play older versions of Pong and Asteroids, among tons and tons of other games old and new.
One of the amazing things about retro arcade games like Asteroids was just how clear and precise all those vector graphics were. When they're being drawn with analog circuitry with those perfect darks and brights, you get a really immersive world from a very simple concept. It was really amazing.
[+] [-] sehugg|7 years ago|reply
“Nolan came to me one time and he said, ‘On a TV set, when you turn the vertical hold on the TV, the picture will go up, and if you turn it the other way, it goes down. Why does it do that?’ I explained it to him. It was the difference between the sync and the picture timing. He said, ‘Could we do that with some control?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we probably can, but we’d have to do it digitally, because analog would not be linear.'”
[+] [-] sehugg|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danso|7 years ago|reply
> “He was the guy that could actually make it work,” said Dustin Hansen, a game developer and the author of a book on video game history called “Game On!” “Where the circuit hits the board, he’s the guy.”
Dabney sounds like Woz to Bushnell's Steve Jobs. As much as I liked reading about Jobs, during his life and after, I never got through his posthumous biography. But I think I finished "iWoz" the day after I bought it.
[+] [-] wand3r|7 years ago|reply
I don't know if I agree Dabney was the Woz of Atari if yoh define it as the buisiness/engineering split at Apple. However, Bushnell empowered Dabney a lot in the early days and a case that Pong was Ataris Apple II could be made.
[+] [-] abritinthebay|7 years ago|reply
Woz’s is easy to read.
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] alister|7 years ago|reply
I'm surprised to learn that Pong had no computer, no microcontroller, no software! Just analog and digital circuits.
[+] [-] TheOtherHobbes|7 years ago|reply
It didn’t take long to realise that Pong was an insanely clever masterpiece of digital design.
It looks like the simplest thing ever, but it stores and manipulates representations of three objects plus two score fields, composites them into a 2D representation, and converts that representation into two linear video scan signals - all with discrete logic.
It’s mindbendingly brilliant.
[+] [-] rounce|7 years ago|reply
Source: http://www.pong-story.com/LAWN_TENNIS.pdf
[+] [-] ddingus|7 years ago|reply
Went to explore it, as it was not working, I was amazed to see no CPU. Inside, there was a C sized paper blueprint of the schematic. Wish I still had it.
Timers, latches, etc... the circuit was the game. Very cool.
[+] [-] djsumdog|7 years ago|reply
One of the amazing things about retro arcade games like Asteroids was just how clear and precise all those vector graphics were. When they're being drawn with analog circuitry with those perfect darks and brights, you get a really immersive world from a very simple concept. It was really amazing.
[+] [-] js2|7 years ago|reply
http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/201...
(29 page PDF.)
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] paugonzalez|7 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] MikkoFinell|7 years ago|reply