ComputerSpace the first arcade videogame at 3darcade!

[)p(]

Ok not the game itself but a model by Dan of its very special cabinet. There is not a emulator/simulator of this game yet. Howard and I looked into it but we could not find enough info to make one...



Get it here:
http://3darcade.mameworld.net

[1UP]

According to High Score: the Illustrated History of Electronic  Games, I think Computer Space was based off a game called SpaceWar that ran on a mainframe.  There was a later game called Space Wars (I think) that is basically the same thing, and is emulated by Mame.  Maybe we could run that on that funky cab...    Or if there is at least an animated screen for it, we can use it as an unplayable showpiece?

BTW, when you said that you tried to make an emu for it, does that mean that you have the roms?  Just curious...

[1UP]

AH, there were no roms...  Hmmm....

[)p(]

According to High Score: the Illustrated History of Electronic  Games, I think Computer Space was based off a game called SpaceWar that ran on a mainframe.  There was a later game called Space Wars (I think) that is basically the same thing, and is emulated by Mame.  Maybe we could run that on that funky cab...    Or if there is at least an animated screen for it, we can use it as an unplayable showpiece?

BTW, when you said that you tried to make an emu for it, does that mean that you have the roms?  Just curious...

It is similar to spacewar but not the same...that is from reading the manual...I have never seen one of these babys in action.  And yes we only thought about doing a simulation ;-)

Peter

[1UP]

OK, this is weird...  You can download the original SpaceWar! from a link at http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/spacewar/, then play it thru MESS.  You can also play a java version at http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/projects/spacewar/.  But Computer Space just doesn't exist in any other form.  Guess no one ever wanted to bother building a simulation for it, whereas SpaceWar! always existed as code, which just needs emulation...  

Hey, there's a project: make a SpaceWar! model (the dedicated one they used on campus with the makeshift coin slots, etc...  Technically it was the first coin-op video game, though not really a commercial arcade game....

[Howard_Casto]

Hey >p<! Sorry I left some things up in the air... I got sick at the beginning of the week and I've been in a feverish state so computing has been out of the question.  (Although I slightly remember being online for a few min a few days back.)  

Anyway, I'll look into the simulation a bit more.  I could probably do it if someone could hunt up some video footage of computerspace in action.  

Oh and btw what happened to the strider model I sent you?  

[Howard_Casto]

According to High Score: the Illustrated History of Electronic  Games, I think Computer Space was based off a game called SpaceWar that ran on a mainframe.  There was a later game called Space Wars (I think) that is basically the same thing, and is emulated by Mame.  Maybe we could run that on that funky cab...    Or if there is at least an animated screen for it, we can use it as an unplayable showpiece?

BTW, when you said that you tried to make an emu for it, does that mean that you have the roms?  Just curious...

From what >p< and me found out this is how computer space played, which is different from space war but uses a lot of the same "code" and gameplay.

Computer space is you (a rocket ship) versus two flying saucers.   You have a time limit (I assume about a minute) in which you and the two saucers go at it over and over.  They fire a simple 1 pixel bullet.  You fire a small missle that you can control remotely once it's launched.  Unfortunately you can't control your ship while steering the missle so you are left open to attack. Whoever has killed the other the most times at the end of the limit is the winner.  If you win the screen inverts from black to white and you go into the sudden death round, which apparently is harder.  Unlike space war, the first version of this game was one player and there isn't a black hole pulling you towards the center.  But like space war the game uses standard "asteriod" style controls.  I don't think this ship had a shield though.  There are a ton of asteriod style open source games out there so the physics isn't a problem.  The real problem is neither of us have actually saw the real game, so we don't know what the gameplay is like, the flying/firing patterns of the saucers, or what the sudden death round is like.  I could probably fudge the rest though as atari (well this will become atari) liked to recycle code and thus the physics logic is probably the same that asteriods later used.  

[SirPoonga]

From what >p< and me found out this is how computer space played, which is different from space war but uses a lot of the same "code" and gameplay.

Computer space is you (a rocket ship) versus two flying saucers.   You have a time limit (I assume about a minute) in which you and the two saucers go at it over and over.  They fire a simple 1 pixel bullet.  You fire a small missle that you can control remotely once it's launched.  Unfortunately you can't control your ship while steering the missle so you are left open to attack. Whoever has killed the other the most times at the end of the limit is the winner.  If you win the screen inverts from black to white and you go into the sudden death round, which apparently is harder.  Unlike space war, the first version of this game was one player and there isn't a black hole pulling you towards the center.  But like space war the game uses standard "asteriod" style controls.  I don't think this ship had a shield though.  There are a ton of asteriod style open source games out there so the physics isn't a problem.  The real problem is neither of us have actually saw the real game, so we don't know what the gameplay is like, the flying/firing patterns of the saucers, or what the sudden death round is like.  I could probably fudge the rest though as atari (well this will become atari) liked to recycle code and thus the physics logic is probably the same that asteriods later used.  

Yeah, that'd be cool.  Talk to MASH and see how he got pong into mame.

[1UP]

There was a very short clip of Computer Space in action on the web somewhere, but I don't remember where it was.  It was so short, though, that I doubt it would be any help.  There are a few of the original machines out there, at museums and arcade vendors, so maybe if someone has a chance to visit, bring a camera!!  I'd like to see it myself, since the game was a bit before my time...

BTW, how do you use Pong in Mame?  I've never seen roms for it...  (Was it just hardware too?)

[)p(]

BTW, how do you use Pong in Mame?  I've never seen roms for it...  (Was it just hardware too?)

You just compile the driver in...there are no roms...just run it...
Pong has no cpu or roms...it is completely done with logic boards (ttl). Anly if you would emulate the behaviour of the logic gates you could call it asn emulation. The current driver is a simulation...but a pretty accurate one because the schematics were carefully used to make it...

Peter

[SirPoonga]

www.mameworld.net/mameinfo
Pong is there.

[Howard_Casto]

The early games were quite fascinating.  Pong was created after it's inventor was making a game out of playing with the vertical hold on a tv.  Believe it or not, the way the paddels and other graphics are drawn on the screen and moved around is suprisingly similar.  It's really cool when you think about it.    

[Minwah]

I saw 2 (yellow one and the blue one) Computer Space machines at the GameOn show in London the other week.  I did take a photo or two but they didn't have the game running  

[1UP]

Ah, I found the link!  Go to http://www.elecplay.com/ and do a search for Computer Space.  Scroll down to the pic of the CS cab, click either 100k or 300k, and the video loads in the top window.  Shows a little of the screen, CP lights etc.

[1UP]

Hey, anyone know what this cab is?  

It's from High Score!, but I think they mixed it up with Computer Space (this was the illustration on the page where the origins of CS were recounted.)  My first thought was that it was a prototype design for CS, but then I noticed it has a red LED on the CP that says "race is starting".  So it could be a prototype for Space Race, which was Atari's next game after Pong.  That would make sense because Bushnell might have liked the spacy look of Computer Space and wanted to have a similar design for Space Race, but ended up with a more traditional wooden cab design to cut costs.

Just as a point of trivia, this might actually be the first coin-op video game, even before Computer Space:

This is Galaxy War, a variant of SpaceWar!, that was built into its own housing and appeared at Stanford University during the late 60's / early 70's.  It was a coin-op, though it was not produced by a game company (probably just hardwired by some students), and was never released to the public.  This was also in High Score!  (I love that book!   )