Triple Hunt

OR: Yes. Also, it was expensive as a two piece cabinet, and the game was very simple, so this would let operators change the games easily. Strangely, I saw a few arcades with three of them, one for each setting.

ACAM: Triple Hunt featured sound stored on an 8-track tape player. This was something that had been done previously by a number of mechanical shooting games like Midway’s “Sea Rescue” or Bally’s “Space Flight.” Having that real sound makes a huge difference in the gameplay experience. What was the inspiration for that feature, and what were the challenges in integrating that technology into a video game?

OR: I actually did this on my very first game Cannon Ball. The hardware of the time could not do very good sounds, and I wanted something better. I actually did all the sounds for the tapes as well, recoding them from sound effect samples I obtained, and editing the on two reel to reel tape recorders. Since the sounds were simply background sounds, all the hardware had to do is switch on and off the tape player, no big deal. Originally, I wanted a single tape and the hardware would switch which track played, but that turned out to be a lot harder than we thought, and it was a LOT easier to simply ship tapes you swapped when you changed the game. As it turns out, the bear and raccoons were almost the same sounds, so we only had two tapes in the end.

ACAM: The game utilized a display mechanism involving a mirror. Can you explain how the light gun & display mechanism function? 

OR: Well, it was not actually a light gun. Instead, we had two potentiometers in the base of the gun. During setup, you aligned the gun with the upper left and lower right corners, and the game tracks the movement of the gun. No light reception was necessary. The mirror was a half-silvered mirror that sat in front of the monitor, and let the light of the monitor show through. It also reflected the graphics over the mirror image, and added depth. In the bear game, there was also a display "mask" that let the bear walk in front of some tress, and walk behind others. It was a great, 3D effect. The only real trick was to not hit the bear when he was supposedly behind the tree. If it were a light gun, it would have worked just fine.

ACAM: Were there any features or gameplay elements for Triple Hunt that you had in mind that did not make it into the game?

OR: That is true for just about every game ever made. I wanted more complex game play, objects with different flight patterns, etc, etc. That was a LONG time ago, so specifics would be hard to come by.

OR: Wow, that is a hard question. With Triple Hunt, we had to overcome the problem of light guns for example. In a single cabinet with the gun close, a light gun will work well. But with the gun far away, overhead lights (especially fluorescents) would cause problems. That is why we went with pots on the gun. The sounds on tape is another, given that sound systems of the day could not do that kind of sound, but a tape deck was a simple solution.

ACAM: If you could step in a time machine and revisit the development of Triple Hunt, is there anything you think you would do different, or do better?

OR: Probably not. It was a rush project, and I was still learning how to make games. It was too long ago to really remember.

OR: No way. I probably would have kept more of my games if I had known. I love that new people are still discovering them. That is cool. I guess for many of these old games, the simple game play still works.

ACAM: Looking at some of the games that were being produced while you were at Atari, did you have any favorites....from Atari or other companies?

OR: I really liked Asteroids when it came out. I was a big fan of DigDug (and I have one) and for a long time, played Defender. I liked Donkey Kong too. And as a strange favorite, Sega's original vector Star Trek. Not sure why, but it was a favorite of mine as well.

ACAM: What do you think is the most under-rated coin-op game, and why?

OR: I have to say my own Major Havoc was under rated. It had a LOT of firsts, but because we did it in Vector, a lot of arcades would not buy it, so many never saw it in its original form. The retro kit attached to a monitor that was too slow, so it flickered too much, so it did not look good. It was a great game, and a LOT of depth, one of the first to have a full story behind it, etc. etc. I think had it been done in Raster, it might have done a lot better.

OR: The coin-op side was a bit more serious, but had its own crazy times. But engineers took the work seriously. It was not unusual to arrive around 8AM, and not leave until late at night. Often, to get things done, many of us worked all night long many days.

OR: :-) Good ones! You know, of course, I cannot talk about them until released, but I hope we will not disappoint everyone.

ACAM: Do you have any advice for students looking to pursue game development as a career?

OR: USC is one choice. USC has a game design program, and we have actually hired some of the graduate students from that program. Basically, study hard, become a great programmer, learn as many tricks as you can, and then get some part time work with a game company. Have patience, and work with people who can teach you as much as you can learn. The interns we have hired are soaking this stuff up like a sponge. We will hire some of them, and eventually, they will lead their own game project.