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Warren Robinett (born circa 1951)[1] is a designer of interactive computer graphics software, notable as the developer of the Atari 2600's Adventure — the first graphical adventure video game — and as a founder of The Learning Company,[1] where he designed Rocky's Boots[2] and Robot Odyssey. More recently he has worked on virtual reality projects.
Robinett graduated in 1974 with a B.A. from Rice University,[1] with a major in "Computer Applications to Language and Art".[1][3] After graduating from Rice University, he was a Fortran programmer for Western Geophysical in Houston, Texas.[3] He received an M.S. from University of California, Berkeley in 1976, and went to work at Atari in November 1977.[1][3]
His first effort at Atari was Slot Racers for the Atari 2600. While he was working on it, he had discovered and played Crowther and Woods' Colossal Cave Adventure at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and decided that a graphical video game version "would be really cool".[3] However, with 128 bytes of RAM and 4096 bytes of ROM, Atari's Adventure was a much simpler program, and with only a joystick for input, the set of "commands" was necessarily brief.[3] Even so, Adventure was a hit upon its 1979 release, and eventually sold a million copies.[2]
Atari designers at the time were not given credit for their games, because Atari feared having to bargain with well-known designers.[2] In response to this, Robinett placed a hidden object in the game that would allow the player to reach a hidden screen which displayed the words "Created by Warren Robinett," hence creating one of the earliest known Easter eggs in a video game, and the first to which the name "Easter egg" was applied.[2][3]
Robinett then wrote the BASIC Programming cartridge, finishing both BASIC Programming and Adventure in June 1979, and quit Atari.[3]
He founded The Learning Company[1] in 1980,[citation needed] and worked on several educational games there, including Rocky's Boots for the Apple II series computer.[2] He has since worked on virtual reality projects for NASA[3] and the University of North Carolina.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Robinett, Warren. Interview with A. Merrill. Warren Robinett Interview: A. Merrill's Talks to the Programmer of "Adventure" for the Atari 2600 (transcript). Authur's Hall. 1998. Retrieved on 2008-10-28. In the A. Miller interview, Robinett says he was 26 in November 1977.
- ^ a b c d e Robinett, Warren. Interview with Joey Connelly. Adventure Adventure: An Interview With Warren Robinett (transcript). The Jaded Gamer. 2003-05-13. Retrieved on 2008-10-28.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hauge, James, ed (June 2002) [1997]. "ROBINETT.HTM". Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Games Programmers (Free web edition ed.). Dadgum Games.
External links
Interviews
- Warren Robinett interview from Halcyon Days — official copy on James Hague website
- Warren Robinett Interview: A. Merrill's Talks to the Programmer of "Adventure" for the Atari 2600 — 1998 interview by A. Merrill
- Adventure: An Interview With Warren Robinett — 2003 interview by Joey Connelly
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