Summer 2023 Summary and "Cartoony" Game Conclusions

I am happy to say that I was able to wrap up summer with some hands-on research at a terrific pinball parlor and video arcade while on an out-of-state road trip.

The author on a research trip to Spinners Pinball Arcade

I always prefer to experience these works on original hardware and in their proper context, and this location did not disappoint. There was a lot of machines, including many that I've recently been writing about. Also, I got to play some rare finds like Hercules (1979), the largest production-model pinball table and Atari's swan song in the pinball industry. 

This summer, I completed a digital project prototype and researched the evolution of game structures in the 1979-1982 period.

Taxonomy of Virtual Spaces Project

In-browser itch.io link to the prototype here.

I completed a prototype of my project to explore different spatial paradigms seen in digital games (spatial paradigm defined as the visuo-spatial configuration of a virtual space and the player's affordances for navigating that space). My first test paradigm is the "Filmation" paradigm that became popular on the ZX Spectrum in the 1980s and is still used in games to this day (such as in Elephantasy: Flipside). My prototype approximates the environment and navigation of Knight Lore, probably the first game to use this spatial construction.

"Filmation" games use a pixel dimetric method of screen projection, common for "isometric" games of the era (such as Zaxxon and Q*bert). The prototype allows the player to press the "T" key to change projection method to true isometric (like Monument Valley) or pixel trimetric (like Crystal Castles). Some room arrangements become unclear or ambiguous with certain projection methods, making the spaces difficult for the player to comprehend or navigate. This may or may not be intended, as the level designer may use an ambiguous layout to trick the player with an illusion or create a difficult navigational puzzle to solve.

In true isometric projection, my character appears to be in the corner of the room...

...but it turns out that there is space between the top platform and the walls

My development blog posts:

Initial plans and research

New Digital Project Research and Notes

Summer 2023 Plans

Refinement of terms

Axonometry Part One: Defining

Axonometry Part Two: History

Axonometry Part Three: Clarifying

Planar Geometric Projections

Preproduction

Digital Project Plans

Cartesio: A Spatial Tool

The "Filmation" Spatial Paradigm

Production

Towards a Digital Simulacrum of the "Filmation" Spatial Paradigm

Reconstructing the Virtual Spatial Configuration

Incorporating the Player Avatar and Navigation

Conclusions:

I have been able to replicate the "fake 3-D" environment from and older computer game and replicated it fully 3-D, polygonal game data. Reconstructing in this manner allows me to quickly test different projection systems (three options so far) without having to redraw or recalculate all of the art assets needed to display the space.

Next steps:

In the future, I need to expand my project to project other types of spatial constructions and navigation methods. My work on researching a "cartoony" spatial paradigm (see below) gives guidelines for what types of projections, "camera" angles, and types of environments would be best to start with.

The intent is to create a tool for testing and remixing different game qualities on the fly to see how these options change the player's phenomenological experiences of the same virtual spaces (say, playing a 2-D platformer game in first person). The point is not to replicate an entire game experience, but focus on the spatial qualities and navigation affordances. This type of tool is helpful in game development and other forms of research. This will also serve as a "museum piece" of various spatial paradigms in games, not dissimilar to Traversing Virtual Dimensions, my other project presenting the early development of digital avatar navigation.

Toward a "Cartoony" Spatial Paradigm

Pac-Man (Namco, 1980) paragon of cartoony gaming

Additionally, I performed some research on the 1979-1982 game era when what I call "cartoony" graphics developed and became popular both in the USA and Japan.

Part One: Origins (Cutie Q to Pac-Man)

Part Two: Maze Games Beyond Pac-Man

Part Three: Maze Shooters and Maze Looters

Part Four: Early Evolution of Platformers

Part Five: Maze Tunnelers

I see a lot of correlation between the visual techniques of early digital games and traditional cel animation, so I feel there is something to uncover at this point where games started to hew closer to cartoons (and I don't just mean Dragon's Lair). Both forms of media can use similar techniques to create a sense of space and enhance visuals.

Parallax motion conveying deep space in Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

Parallax motion conveying deep space in Moon Patrol (1982)

Both examples above use scrolling graphics on layered planes to create hybrid, yet cohesive, images. In each case, the vehicle appears to move through deep space, yet the two vehicles never change their x positions in the respective images.

Many other techniques are common to both cel animation and game graphics: limited color palettes, simple shapes, repeated animation cycles, characters with big heads to show facial details, etc.

Conclusions:

My research uncovered that there is not one but several "cartoony" spatial paradigms that evolved from one another during this golden era of arcade games with character. These will be directly useful in expanding my own lexicon of paradigm variations and options to incorporate into my digital project.

Also, even though my work specifically does not deal with game genres, I found myself coining new terms to understand these related families of games ("maze looter," "maze tunneler," "ladder/digger platformer").

This work is closer to the diachronic "art history" of evolving aesthetic styles I seek to create and I feel that my taxonomy of virtual spaces successfully conveys the exact spatial changes between game styles. 

How did digital games get a "cartoony" look? Part of the reason is because of technological advancement was required before detailed player avatar graphics and animations (think sprites) could convey a sense of character. ROM chips allowed far more detailed graphics than earlier diode-based images. ROM chips started to be used in arcade games by 1974 but the first "cartoony" game Cutie Q wasn't made until 1979. Toru Iwatani was likely inspired by the immensely popular anime Obake no Q-Tarō that he watched as a kid when he made an aesthetic decision to incorporate big-eyed, round, ghost-like characters in the game (he admits it was his influence for Pac-Man). Note also the similar "Q" designs in the titles of both:

Obake no Q-Tarō title card with upside-down smiling obake "Q" from the 1965 anime series

Japanese Cutie Q arcade instructions with similar "smiling Q" logo at top

It seems clear from my research that platformer games evolved from maze games. This is not surprising as "ladder" games have been considered a type of maze game. What is interesting is that Heiankyo Alien*, a little-known game here in the USA, may have been an influence on the biggest games of 1980 and 1981: Pac-Man and Donkey Kong (through influence on Space Panic).

*Fun fact: I bought my copy of Heiankyo Alien for Game Boy from fellow Drexel instructor and game history researcher Adrian Sandoval.

This section of study ends at 1982, which means there are plenty of other important examples that followed. 1983 would bring Bag Man, Bomberman, Congo Bongo, Crystal Castles, Mappy, Mario Bros., Tapper, Track & Field, and more. All this in the midst of an arcade market slump and an outright crash of the home game market in the USA. I plan to continue developing this series in the future.

Toward a "Cartoony" Spatial Paradigm? pt. 5 (Maze Tunnelers)

Taxonomy of Virtual Spaces

This post continues my exploration toward evaluating a spatial paradigm of "cartoony" digital games, which evolved through the early 1980s. Part one analyzed two important early titles, namely Cutie Q and Pac-Man. Part two looked at some Pac-Man clones and Frogger. Part three analyzed some "maze shooters" and "maze looters." Part four explores how maze games evolved into platform games.

In the change from maze games to platformers, the view of the game environment changed from a plan view (bird's eye view, like a map) to an elevation view (side or front view). A new type of "maze tunneler" game developed that used a platformer-style elevation view that added an important aspect of gravity to the gameplay. Although characters don't fall, certain obstacles can fall toward the bottom of the screen and crush characters in their paths.

These games share some affinity with Frogger, in that they are maze games with dynamic environments. The major difference here is that the player has the power to create the shape of the maze.

The Adventures of Robby Roto! (a.k.a. Roto)

The Adventures of Robby Roto! arcade (1981)

Bally Midway released The Adventures of Robby Roto! (1981), a creation of Jamie Fenton (Datsun 280 ZZZAP, Gorf) and Dave Nutting (Gun Fight, Wizard of Wor).

See some raw footage of Robby Roto exhibited at the 1982 Chicago CES, including "Ron Robot" (a.k.a. Defender and Robotron 2084 designer Eugene Jarvis) trying the game and admitting, "I think it's beyond me."

Robby is a happy red Pac-Man-oid character with a mining helmet and tiny legs. His quest is to find the trapped miners (yellow unhappy faces) and rescue them (turning into happy faces) and lead them to the mine exit. Bally Midway seems to be staying close to cute aesthetic of Pac-Man, which they had license to arcade game for in the USA.

Robby can dig new tunnels in the game environment, but his power is more limited than later examples of this type of game. Robby can only carve out the "soft dirt" blocking the main shape of the maze - the player cannot dig outside of this maze into the "hard rock." Another difference is that there seems to be no sense of gravity in the game. However, this does appear to be the first of the "maze tunneler" type of games. Bally Midway marketing VP Stanley Jarocki described it as "an underground maze game."

The rights to Roto eventually reverted to Jamie Fenton, who has given permission for the game's ROM to be shared and played for non-commercial purposes using a tool like MAME.

Roto Visuo-Spatial Analysis: Just like Pac-Man, except the environment image plane is rendered in an elevation orthographic view.

Dig Dug

Dig Dug arcade game (1982)

Namco launched Dig Dug in Japanese arcades in March 1982 (Agaki, pg. 52) and Namco and Atari brought it to the USA one month later in April (Agaki, pg. 126). Atari boasted it as "a new and exciting type of maze game" where the player avatar (the titular Dig Dug) can tunnel their own mazes anywhere in the earthen strata of the level environment. Two types of enemies must be defeated: the cute, goggle-eyed "Pooka" and the fire-breathing "Fygar." The player can shoot a limited-range pump weapon in order to inflate and destroy enemies or may trap them under falling rocks before they can reach the surface and escape. Enemies prefer to follow the player-dug tunnels but may also freely "phase" through the untunneled earth.

Dig Dug is one of the first games where the player has agency to design the layout of the environment by tunneling. Lady Bug (Universal Co. Ltd., 1981) is an earlier maze game where the player may move gates to change the environment, which I wrote about previously.

Dig Dug Visuo-Spatial Analysis: The game has similar visuo-spatial structure to that of the early platformer game Space Panic. One difference is that Dig Dug has minor background image plane (the flowers at the ground level) using an elevation orthographic projection.

The Pit

The Pit arcade (1982?)

Centuri released The Pit to arcades in the USA in April 1982 (Agaki, pg. 113) after licensing the game from UK company Zilec Electronics. The Stamper Brothers (who I've written about before) were tasked with rewriting the game code to work with the hardware that would be used in USA manufacturing. I am unsure of the UK release date, but it may have predated the Japanese release of Dig Dug.

The player avatar lands on an alien planet in a flying saucer at the top of the screen. They are tasked with retrieving at least one large diamond in the pit at the bottom of the screen and returning to their ship before aggressors can destroy it with their "zonker" tank.

The Pit Visuo-Spatial Analysis: While other games described on this page feature a continuous spatiality, this game is a simple grid of discrete spaces. The characters and falling rocks move one tile at a time. Otherwise, the spatial structure is much like Space Panic.

Mr. Do!

Mr. Do! arcade (1982)

Universal Co. Ltd. released Mr. Do! in Japan in October 1982 (Agaki, pg. 15) and in the USA in February 1983 (Agaki, pg. 139). Depending on your point of view, Mr. Do! may be seen as a crass copy of Dig Dug or as a refined evolution on the Dig Dug formula.

Mr. Do! was designed by Lady Bug designer Kazutoshi Ueda. The player clears a level by collecting all of the cherries on the screen. Huge apples replace Dig Dug's boulders and Mr. Do has the power to push them. Mr. Do can dig tunnels like Dig Dug and is armed with a bouncy super ball that can kill an enemy instantly.

I previously wrote about the sequel, Mr. Do's Castle (1983), an early platformer that has very different gameplay from this game.

Mr. Do! Visuo-Spatial Analysis: This game is very similar to Dig Dug, although the method of projection for the environment is somewhat ambiguous. Some game literature describes Mr. Do as a farmer collecting the cherry harvest from his orchard, implying a plan view of the orchard environment. However, the digging action and gravity towards the bottom of the screen must show the environment in an elevation view.

Boulder Dash

Boulder Dash for Atari 8-bit computers (1984)

Peter Liepa's Boulder Dash (First Star Software, 1984) was first published for Atari's series of 8-bit computers. Exidy bought the rights to create an arcade version in that same year.

Liepa may have been indirectly inspired by The Pit. Liepa was helping fellow computer game programmer Chris Gray refine and develop the physics for Gray's game, which played a lot like The Pit. Liepa instead developed his own game concept of digging for diamonds underground through a series of large, puzzle-like, challenging stages.

1984 is a bit late for the era of games that I've been looking at for this series, but this game has had a long-running impact with countless ports, sequels, and its own clones (I'm looking at you, Crystal Mines). Later maze-tunneler games tend to be influenced by Boulder Dash and tend to be action-puzzle games rather than pure action games.

Boulder Dash Visuo-Spatial Analysis: Boulder Dash uses the same grid-of-discrete spaces, checkerboard of tiles type of world as The Pit, but with huge game levels. The levels can't fit all on one screen, so it uses a smooth-scrolling frame mobility.