Asteroids

Asteroids was a game developed in the year 1979 by the company Atari as a Arcade game. it was played by all different kinds of people and age groups but was usually found in Arcade galleries or bars. It boomed in popularity and instantly became a huge hit, eventually becoming one of the most popular games ever made. many different versins of this game have been made over the years even up till today.

Also:

- Published by: Atari
- Developed by: Atari

Designer: Ed Logg
- Platform: Arcade
- Year Released: 1979
Significant Contributors to Game Development: none
Genre: Space Shooter
Other Games in Series: Space Duel, Tempest, Asteroids Deluxe, Blasteroids

History

This game came from both Lyle Rains and Ed Logg as a small side project in Atari and was created at the same time as Lunar Lander. However due to the major success of the testing for Asteroids, Atari abandoned Lunar Lander and sent out Asteroids instead. the first 200 Asteroids games were sent out in Lunar Lander cases. It became the most popular game Atari ever developed and became one of the top 100 most popular games ever made.

Game Design Elements

No story. free roaming. rapid fire when button is held down. asteroids break into small asteroids. to simulate explosion single pixels shoot out in a "star". shooting makes sound. asteroids exploding makes sound. enemy saucer shooting makes sound. enemy saucer makes sounds when it appears. 3 different sized asteroids. asteroids rotate as they move. two different sized Saucer. black and white coloring.

Gameplay

includes vehicles in the form of the players ship and the enemy saucers. the point is to avoid the asteroids and the saucers firing at you while destroying them at the same time. there is a slight "slide" effect to imitate movement in space.

Controls

use the arrows to move up down left or right or move the joystick in the direction you want to move. when you move the ship it slides a bit farther in that direction in order to make it seem slick and feel like space movement might feel.

Plot

there is no narrative. the game is set in space in an asteroid field and the goal is for the player to destroy as many asteroids as they can before getting hit by an asteroid or a saucer or a "missile"

Characters

the player controlled ship looks like a capital "A" while the saucers look like the traditional UFO type design and the asteroids look like random "rocky" designs

Art

Visual

there were not any visually enhanced mechanics or designs used in this game. it was very low graphic and only had black or white and turned pixels on or off.

Sound

there were only 4 sounds used in the game. when a player shoots, an alien shoots, an alien appears, or an alien or asteroid is destroyed. each one makes a different noise. the different sounds enhance the game allowing the player to become more aware of his surroundings or letting him know when he fires or is fired at.

References

- /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroids_(video_game)
- http://www.play.vg/games/4-Asteroids.html