20 (or so) Questions with Chris Oberth
Derek's Basement Arcade: First off Chris, thanks for taking the time to satisfy some of the questions I have been wondering for literally 20 years. Stern meant a lot to me back in the day and really was one of the companies that kept bringing me back to the Arcade. With their first in-house game Astro Invader to the ground breaking Berzerk, I looked forward to any Stern title that came in the door. But I got the feeling that in the day, people noticed the names Atari, Williams and even Nintendo but rarely did anyone say did you see the latest from Stern or Taito? Please tell me, what was the atmosphere like working for Stern in the early days and did you guys ever feel intimidated by the larger companies?
Chris Oberth: I never felt intimidated by our competition, only challenged. The atmosphere was one of excitement and creative freedom. I always felt like I was making the kind of games I would like to be playing.
Derek: By my calculations, The End was the first game that Stern licensed from Konami or at least the first released by Stern. This, I believe was followed up by Turtles, another favorite of mine. Both of these games were changed from the Konami games they were licensed from. Can you tell me anything about the decision to change these games and did you work on any of these conversions?
Chris: I didn't have anything to do with those games, although I remember playing a lot of Turtles during lunch breaks.
Derek: Your first coin op title you were credited with was Armored Car with Gunars Licitis in 1981. I remember this game well and played it often. Can you tell me how you guys split up the programming tasks and how the game came about in the first place?
Chris: Yes, Armored Car was the first game I made for Stern after being hired by Al McNeil (Berserk/Frenzy). I don't recall how we split up the programming tasks, probably just a free for all. Before working for Stern I was at Marvin Glass designing/prototyping handheld electronic games, such as Finger Bowl. I was hired by the programmer of Simon.
Derek: Anything you can tell me about Armored car that would seem interesting? Like how it evolved or did you have a goal in mind and everything went according to plan?
Chris: Armored Car (my personal favorite) was partly inspired by TARG. I remember coming up with the idea for the TNT truck, and thought it worked quite well.
Derek: Did your involvement in a particular game end after the game was finished programmed? I mean did you have any involvement in the design of the look of the game itself. Things like the monitor bezel, control panel etc?
Chris: Yes, only bug fixes after release. As for art, all the on-screen/in-game art was done by me. The bezel, control panel, and cabinet art was done by real artists with me looking over their shoulders making suggestions.
Derek: How did the game creation process work at Stern? Did you come up with the ideas and approached upper management or were you given a game idea and a certain time frame and told to produce something?
Chris: We had complete creative freedom. Even the presentation of the game idea was not formal. We were pretty much left to our own devices. Remember, what we were doing was brand new and no procedures had been put in place yet, we were flying by the seat of pants.
Derek: Most of the coin op games you developed at Stern and Tago used the Konami Scramble board set. What was it like programming for that and were you supplied any editor tools to developed or were you completely on your own?
Chris: The Scramble board set (which I used exclusively for my games) was a Z-80, 8bit, processor based system that we programmed in assembly language. We used a state of the art Hewlett Packard development system. The system was very cool, the monitor and keyboard were one unit, with the top row of function keys ("softkeys") being labeled on the screen. Their functions would change depending on what you were doing.
Derek: On average how much time did they give you to develop a game at Stern? And did this time change over the years as the industry got more crowded and Stern as a video game manufacturer was about to fold?
Chris: About 4 to 6 months. Although I never felt like I was working under a deadline. The length of time didn't change, but the games always needed to be better.
Derek: Minefield and Rescue are both unheralded games in that they are very fun and quite challenging and not very well known. I myself only played Rescue in the Arcade and did not know about Minefield till a few years ago. While both great, they seem a bit unfinished. For example in Rescue, you have a shark in Missions 2&3 and then it never comes back. Was there a reason for this or just that it was overlooked?
Chris: The shark is replaced by an even greater threat, the sub, to have both would be too much. As for their popularity, Rescue did quite well and I believe Minefield was only released in Europe.
Derek: Also on both Rescue and Minefield when the game is over and you sign your initials there is no music and it seems very silent (overly so). Was this again done on purpose or were you under time constraints to get the game into the market?
Chris: I wouldn't say it was done on purpose, I just didn't feel a need for music at that point.
Derek: Is there anything in either game that was taken out or that you wanted to add but had no time? Anything you would change now?
Chris: Yes, I would lower the difficulty a bit. As for adding things, back then, hardware limitations were more restrictive than time limits.
Derek: Part of the cool thing on those games was the scrolling background. Very groundbreaking back them. Did you come up with that yourself?
Chris: Simple scrolling as done in "Scramble", is done by the hardware. I implemented parallax scrolling, which gives a feeling of depth.
Derek: Anything funny you can tell me about Rescue and Minefield?
Chris: Some people thought hitting the paratrooper with the helicopter was too violent. The initial release of Rescue had a bug in it that allowed the player to get unlimited lives. Not funny.
Derek: Ever thought of fixing any of your old creations or just adding to them and releasing new ROMs for the avid fans like myself?
Chris: No, assembly language and the hardware are too restrictive.
Derek: What is your favorite coin-op you created?
Chris: My Top Three: Armored Car, Anteater, Rescue
Derek: What is your favorite coin-op game from the classic period not developed by you and what about it makes it number one in your book?
Chris: Robotron, I still play it every day, gets the adrenaline flowing. The difficulty curve is just right. It takes every bit of your concentration.
Derek: Robotron is a great game, what can you tell me about the game Crypt you were working on? The object and why it was ultimately canned?
Chris: It was a take off on the old computer game Hunt The Wumpus. Travel a maze of rooms, avoiding the Wumpus, in search of treasure and the entrance to the next level. I might do it as a PC shareware game some day.
Derek: Do you by chance have the ROMS for Crypt and have you ever thought of finishing it and publishing it today? If it works on the standard Konami board set, these can be had fairly cheap and I bet a few collectors (myself included) would be willing to buy a unpublished classic gameboard to throw in one of my Stern cabs. Or maybe you could sell the ROMS on your website for $20 or so...?
Chris: Anything that could be done (graphically) by that old board set could be done 100 times better by a PC. And programmed in half the time. As for having Crypt ROMS, I'll look, but it's highly unlikely.
Derek: Any other games that the ideas were shot down that you thought had potential?
Chris: There was one that never got a title. It was about a secret agent sneaking down hallways and dodging bullets, like Mission Impossible.
Derek: What was the deal with Tago and how did it come about that you worked on Anteater for them? Were they a subsidiary of Stern?
Chris: I don't recall knowing anything about Tago until I left Stern. So I never felt I made Anteater for them.
Derek: Did things change in the way games were created at Stern while you were there ort did everything stay n an even keel?
Chris: More and more emphasis was put on getting feedback from the players in the arcade. First, surveys and questionnaires, then we brought them in and had what we called "focus groups".
Derek: Can you tell me what you are working on now?
Chris: I just finished a PC shareware puzzle game called Swopple. It's my take on the swap items to make rows of 3 or more play action (like Bejeweled, etc...). Check it out at www.swopple.com and let me know what you think. I have two more puzzle games and a multiplayer wargame in the pipeline.
Derek: Thanks again Chris. Armored Car, Rescue and Minefield are 3 of my favorite classics from the classic ('80-'83) arcade period. Your creations help define what great gaming was all about and I really appreciate what you (and Stern) have done. Thank you very much for your time and I hope everyone will visit your Swopple page and support what you are doing now.
Chris: It always feels great to be appreciated, thank you for your interest. And as always: "To those who are about to play, I salute you!"
Derek: Take care!