The Empire's Computer Games
Lucasfilm and Atari Join Forces
[Appeared in the September 1984 issue of "ENTER"]

        "There's something tremendously exciting about bringing life to a 
new world, and then bringing that world into our own," says Lucasfilm 
designer David Fox.
        Fox isn't talking about movie worlds. He's part of the Lucasfilm
Computer Division Games Group, and the "worlds" he's talking about are 
created in the new Atari/Lucasfilm computer games, Rescue on Fractalus! and 
BalIblazer.
        These two games are the result of 18 months' work by some of the
country's top software designers. They also demonstrate how Ed Catmull's 
Computer Division is changing the games we play and the movies we watch.
        BalIblazer is a split-screen, high-tech handball game. It pits player
against player, player against Droid, and even Droid against Droid. Rescue On 
Fractalus!, an interplanetary rescue mission, has players trying to save 
fellow pilots and avoid enemy Jaggi attacks.
        In creating both games, the Games Group applied techniques perfected 
in Lucasfilm movies like Star Wars. Take, for example, the sound effects in 
Rescue on Fractalus! "Sound [is] used to tell the player about events not 
shown on the screen, like the pilot knocking on the door or the airlock 
opening," says David Fox. "This technique of providing vital information by
sound rather than sight is common in motion pictures, but rare in video
games."
        The Games Group worked hand-in-hand with other Computer Division 
sections. When the Games Group wanted to create a unique environment for the 
planet Fractalus, they called on Loren Carpenter. Officially, Carpenter is a
member of the Computer Division's Graphics Group. But it was his expertise in 
fractals--a kind of geometry that describes the irregular forms found in 
nature--that brought the new planet to life.
        Using fractals, Carpenter and the Games Group created Fractalus's 3-D 
style landscape. "You can go as far as you want in any direction and never go 
off the edge," says David Fox. "The entire landscape of the planet exists in 
the computer's memory." 
        It would have been impossible to create that kind of environment
without Loren Carpenter's help. This team effort is the beauty of working 
with the Computer Division, says Group leader Peter Langston. "lf we have a 
problem in games, we can go to computer graphics and see if they've got an
answer," he explains. "We talk problems over at lunch, and they get solved."
-------------------------
Ballblazer and Rescue On Fractalus! are available from Atari for all Atari 
home computers. Both games will be available in October for Apple, IBM and 
Commodore home computer systems.

[Scanned and edited by Dennis Brown -- dgbrown (at) pixesthesia (dot) com]