Warren Davis
Creating Q*bert and Other Classic Video Arcade Games takes you inside the video arcade game industry during the pivotal decades of the 1980s and 1990s. Warren Davis, the creator of the groundbreaking Q*bert, worked as a member of the creative teams who developed some of the most popular video games of all time, including Joust 2, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and Revolution X.
In a witty and entertaining narrative, Davis shares insightful stories that offer a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to work as a designer and programmer at the most influential and dominant video arcade game manufacturers of the era, including Gottlieb, Williams/Bally/Midway, and Premiere.
Likewise, the talented artists, designers, creators, and programmers Davis has collaborated with over the years reads like a who’s who of video gaming history: Eugene Jarvis, Tim Skelly, Ed Boon, Jeff Lee, Dave Thiel, John Newcomer, George Petro, Jack Haeger, and Dennis Nordman, among many others.
The impact Davis has had on the video arcade game industry is deep and varied. At Williams, Davis created and maintained the revolutionary digitizing system that allowed actors and other photo-realistic imagery to be utilized in such games as Mortal Kombat, T2, and NBA Jam. When Davis worked on the fabled Us vs. Them, it was the first time a video game integrated a live action story with arcade-style graphics.
On the one-of-a-kind Exterminator, Davis developed a brand new video game hardware system, and created a unique joystick that sensed both omni-directional movement and rotation, a first at that time. For Revolution X, he created a display system that simulated a pseudo-3D environment on 2D hardware, as well as a tool for artists that facilitated the building of virtual worlds and the seamless integration of the artist’s work into game code.
Whether you’re looking for insights into the Golden Age of Arcades, would like to learn how Davis first discovered his design and programming skills as a teenager working with a 1960's computer called a Monrobot XI, or want to get the inside scoop on what it was like to film the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Aerosmith for Revolution X, Davis’ memoir provides a backstage tour of the arcade and video game industry during its most definitive and influential period.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
LANGUAGE | BINDING | EDITION | ISBN | YEAR | PAGES |
English | Paperback | You Can't Call it @!#?@! | 9781663571045 | 2020 | 278 |
English | Hardcover | Creating Q*Bert | 9781595801050 | 2021 | 280 |
English | eBook | Creating Q*Bert | N/A | 2022 | 280 |
*This was first published in Paperback format by Barnes and Noble under the name "YOU CAN'T CALL IT @!#?@!: STORIES FROM A LIFE MAKING VIDEO GAMES", and was later republished in Hardcover format by Santa Monica Press. Aside from the Foreword and Afterword, the contents of both editions are the same.
OTHER NAMES
YOU CAN'T CALL IT @!#?@!: STORIES FROM A LIFE MAKING VIDEO GAMES
TAGS
Authors: #WarrenDavis
Publishers: #BarnesandNoble (Barnes and Noble) #SantaMonicaPress (Santa Monica Press)
Languages: #English
Format: #eBook #Hardcover #Paperback
Accessibility: #EnhancedTypesetting #ScreenReader #TextToSpeech
Companies:
Public Figures: #EdBoon (Ed Boon)
#WarrenDavis (Warren Davis) #JackHaeger (Jack Haeger) #EugeneJarvis (Eugene Jarvis) #JeffLee (Jeff Lee) #JohnNewcomer (John Newcomer) #DennisNordman (Dennis Nordman) #GeorgePetro (George Petro) #TimSkelly (Tim Skelly) #DaveThiel (Dave Thiel)
Games:
#Joust (Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest) #MortalKombat (Mortal Kombat [1992]) #NBAJam (NBA Jam) #QBert (Q*Bert) #RevolutionX (Revolution X) #Terminator (T2: The Arcade Game)
Misc:
N/A