Pitfall! is a video game released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It is one of the best selling games ever made for the Atari 2600, with over 4 million copies sold.[1]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Gameplay
o 1.1 Scoring
* 2 History and development
* 3 Sequels
* 4 Ports
* 5 Television adaptation
* 6 Marketing
* 7 References
* 8 External links
[edit] Gameplay
The player must maneuver a character known as Harry through a maze-like jungle in an attempt to recover 32 treasures in a 20-minute time period. Along the way, he must negotiate numerous hazards, including pits, quicksand, rolling logs, scorpions, and crocodiles. Harry may jump over or otherwise avoid these obstacles by climbing, running, or swinging on a vine to avoid them. Treasure includes gold and silver bars, diamond rings, and bags of money. Under the jungle, Harry can travel through catacombs.
[edit] Scoring
The player starts with 2,000 points and has three lives to complete the course within the 20 minute time limit. Each treasure collected varies in points:
* Money bag: 2,000 points
* Silver bar: 3,000 points
* Gold bar: 4,000 points
* Diamond ring: 5,000 points
There are eight of each treasure. A perfect score by claiming all 32 treasures without losing points is 114,000.
Points are deducted by either falling in a hole (100 points) or coming in contact with either stationary or rolling logs; point loss depends on how long contact is made with the logs.
The player loses a turn if Harry comes in contact with any obstacle (except logs, see above) or falls into a tar pit, quicksand, water hole, or mouth of a crocodile.
The game ends when either all 32 treasures have been collected, all three turns have been lost, or time runs out.
[edit] History and development
Pitfall! was created by David Crane, a programmer who worked for Activision in the early 1980s. In a November 2003 interview with Edge he described how in 1979 he had developed the technology to display a realistic little running man and in 1982 was searching for a suitable game in which to use it:
Screenshot of Pitfall! for the Atari 2600
“ I sat down with a blank sheet of paper and drew a stick figure in the center. I said, “Okay, I have a little running man and let's put him on a path [two more lines drawn on the paper]. Where is the path? Let's put it in a jungle [draw some trees]. Why is he running [draw treasures to collect, enemies to avoid, etc.]?” And Pitfall! was born. This entire process took about ten minutes. About 1,000 hours of programming later, the game was complete. ”
Its technical achievements included non-flickering, multicolored, animated sprites on a system with notoriously primitive graphics hardware. Pitfall! was a massive success for the 2600. Several ports were made for computer systems (such as the Commodore 64, Atari 800, and TRS-80 Color Computer), as well as for home consoles (such as the ColecoVision and the Intellivision). It was also one of the first Platform games ever created.[citation needed]
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Contents
[hide]
* 1 Gameplay
o 1.1 Scoring
* 2 History and development
* 3 Sequels
* 4 Ports
* 5 Television adaptation
* 6 Marketing
* 7 References
* 8 External links
[edit] Gameplay
The player must maneuver a character known as Harry through a maze-like jungle in an attempt to recover 32 treasures in a 20-minute time period. Along the way, he must negotiate numerous hazards, including pits, quicksand, rolling logs, scorpions, and crocodiles. Harry may jump over or otherwise avoid these obstacles by climbing, running, or swinging on a vine to avoid them. Treasure includes gold and silver bars, diamond rings, and bags of money. Under the jungle, Harry can travel through catacombs.
[edit] Scoring
The player starts with 2,000 points and has three lives to complete the course within the 20 minute time limit. Each treasure collected varies in points:
* Money bag: 2,000 points
* Silver bar: 3,000 points
* Gold bar: 4,000 points
* Diamond ring: 5,000 points
There are eight of each treasure. A perfect score by claiming all 32 treasures without losing points is 114,000.
Points are deducted by either falling in a hole (100 points) or coming in contact with either stationary or rolling logs; point loss depends on how long contact is made with the logs.
The player loses a turn if Harry comes in contact with any obstacle (except logs, see above) or falls into a tar pit, quicksand, water hole, or mouth of a crocodile.
The game ends when either all 32 treasures have been collected, all three turns have been lost, or time runs out.
[edit] History and development
Pitfall! was created by David Crane, a programmer who worked for Activision in the early 1980s. In a November 2003 interview with Edge he described how in 1979 he had developed the technology to display a realistic little running man and in 1982 was searching for a suitable game in which to use it:
Screenshot of Pitfall! for the Atari 2600
“ I sat down with a blank sheet of paper and drew a stick figure in the center. I said, “Okay, I have a little running man and let's put him on a path [two more lines drawn on the paper]. Where is the path? Let's put it in a jungle [draw some trees]. Why is he running [draw treasures to collect, enemies to avoid, etc.]?” And Pitfall! was born. This entire process took about ten minutes. About 1,000 hours of programming later, the game was complete. ”
Its technical achievements included non-flickering, multicolored, animated sprites on a system with notoriously primitive graphics hardware. Pitfall! was a massive success for the 2600. Several ports were made for computer systems (such as the Commodore 64, Atari 800, and TRS-80 Color Computer), as well as for home consoles (such as the ColecoVision and the Intellivision). It was also one of the first Platform games ever created.[citation needed]
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