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Questions for Alan Murphy (Atari) Chat: Saturday, August 8th

Another great creator chat this time with Alan Murphy, one of the creators of Atari's A.P.B, will be joining us with a live interactive session to talk about the making of the game and anything else related to his career in classic arcade development.

Add your questions for Alan to this thread. The ability to add questions will be cutoff 1/2 hour before the event, at 2:30 EST.

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Permalink Reply by Shane Ritter on July 31, 2009 at 3:10am
Hello Alan and Welcome,
Could you explain to us how the concept of Gauntlet came up ?

And would Gauntlet be considered the first "video" arcade to feature 4 player co-op ? Thanks
Permalink Reply by murfthesurf on August 2, 2009 at 5:33pm
Hi Shane,

As I remember, Ed Logg and Bob Flanagan were both D and D players and they originally wanted to create a game called "Dungeons" that was basically Dungeons and Dragons in real time. At some point during the design phase, marketing and legal decided on the name "Gautlet" probably to avoid legal issues. I have the original "Dungeons" splash screen art somewhere which was ready to go when they changed the name. I have the original game design also called Dungeons that was written just before the name/concept change that has the design in it's released form.

Yes, Gauntlet was the first four player co-op game. The artists for Gauntlet drew straws on who could own the test machine, I won the draw and have the original test unit in my son's bedroom. The story of it's test was similar to pong in that the game "broke" when the coin-drop was stuffed too full of quarters after the first day of testing. I've attached pictures of it
Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Sgt.Bilkothe3rd on August 3, 2009 at 7:06pm
Hi Alan,

Do you recall any concerns from legal about the confession sequence in A.P.B? I'm sure that in today's climate that sequence would get a lot of scrutiny, but I have to say every time I play that part at California Extreme I can hear someone behind me laughing their heads off!

Also, who decided to hide the little extra "power-ups" and other items all over the A.P.B map?, (by that I mean the "off-road" areas). It's fun to take a game on free-play and just roam across the countryside looking and hunting for these little gems!
Permalink Reply by murfthesurf on August 4, 2009 at 10:08pm
Hi, Sargeant,

No I don't recall anyone getting too concerned about the confession scene. Things were a lot more permissive back then.

The power ups were kind of joke. We figured no one would ever be crazy enough to drive "offroad" for long.

Alan

Sgt.Bilkothe3rd said:
Hi Alan,

Do you recall any concerns from legal about the confession sequence in A.P.B? I'm sure that in today's climate that sequence would get a lot of scrutiny, but I have to say every time I play that part at California Extreme I can hear someone behind me laughing their heads off!

Also, who decided to hide the little extra "power-ups" and other items all over the A.P.B map?, (by that I mean the "off-road" areas). It's fun to take a game on free-play and just roam across the countryside looking and hunting for these little gems!
Permalink Reply by Dana E. on August 8, 2009 at 7:32am
Hi Alan,

I have a friend of mine trying to restore one of these cabs and I may be wrong about it but didn't it originally use "Gimbal" style joysticks? If it did, why the choice to use them? Seems they are a bit expensive and prone to breakage.

Thanks!
Permalink Reply by Jeff Simon on August 8, 2009 at 11:15am
Hello Allan,

Ever since it's release I was obsessed with A.P.B. I found it to be the most original and interesting take on the driving genre ever made. I liked it so much that later in life when I had a home of my own, I tracked an arcade cabinet down and couldn't be happier!

My question for you is concerning the lack of an official "ending" to the game. You can catch all of the offenders and the game will continue on forever. Was this decision deliberate to persuade arcade goers to put that last quarter in to see if there actually was an ending? Or something else? It seems a game with such defined personalities for the criminal element would have some kind of conclusion.

Thanks again for all your work throughout the years!
Permalink Reply by Christopher Bedwell on August 8, 2009 at 11:17am
Alan, I've been a huge fan of APB since it was released and have one in my games room that i've owned since 1994..

Are there any hidden levels or anything within the game that's not common knowledge to the general public about the game ? that you are able to share with us ?

Also, can you give us a bit of background on the game - and how it came to be..

What is the most memorable part of this game for you, either in development, code or design.. ( or even game play ).

Regards
- Chris

www.myarcadegames.com
Permalink Reply by Stephen D. Jester on August 8, 2009 at 12:25pm
1. Were there any easter egg's in guantlet? What were they as I know of 1 already.

2. Did you have a say when the 3rd/4th Gauntlet series were created. The game play changed
Permalink Reply by Christopher Schusler on August 8, 2009 at 1:56pm
Hi Alan,

Love Indiana Jones and just wondered what was your involvement in the game? Any Stories?
Permalink Reply by Jeff Rothe on August 8, 2009 at 2:28pm
What can you tell us about the John Palevich lawsuit / contention over who created Gauntlet. Was he a gold digger, trying to attack a big company like Atari?
Permalink Reply by murfthesurf on August 8, 2009 at 2:54pm
Hello?
Permalink Reply by Christopher Bedwell on August 29, 2009 at 6:11am
yeah, i was just thinking the same thing....

murfthesurf said:
Hello?

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