The eternal EA loading screen for the Commodore 64, 1984

Electronic Arts - Seeing Farther

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Electronic Arts - 1982 to Present

Tripping: Trip Hawkins and Electronic Arts

Trip Hawkins, founder of computer video maker Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, 1983

Video game publisher Electronic Arts started with an obsession. The interaction of people in competition is a compelling one for William “Trip” Hawkins, who played board games religiously as a youth. Predictions, for better or worse, are to be a recurring theme in Hawkins’ life, and he has several early direct hits that would outline the path of his later career. Not only does he graduate with honours from Harvard University, he does so in a field that he himself creates for the school: strategy in applied game theory. A table-top football strategy game he creates in 1973 ends up sold throughout the country. And Hawkins also creates a computer simulation of the 1974 Super Bowl, with the program predicting a Miami win of 23-6. By the time the game was played out in Houston, the end result had Miami winning 24-7.

In 1975, using information such as Intel’s invention of the first microprocessor, and the action forming around Dick and Lois Heiser’s The Computer Store, founded in October of that year in Burlington, MA as the first computer retail store in the US, Hawkings creates another computer model. It informs him that he could feasibly start a home computer games company by 1982.

Ad for The Computer Store, an early home computer retailer

An early “Force” of computer retail, and influence on Trip Hawkins, The Computer Store. Ad for Santa Monica location, CA.

Changing the Game: Making Electronic Arts

In the meantime, Hawkins gets an MBA from Stanford, focusing on finance, marketing, and organizational control. He becomes Apple Employee #68 in 1978, after having seen the debut of the Apple II at the first West Coast Computer Faire in April of 1977. As Manager of Market Planning, his job is to convince the business community of the virtues of the Apple II and subsequent GUI-driven Lisa computer as business tools. When he sees demonstrations of new spreadsheet program VisiCalc designed by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston for Personal Software, he knows he is seeing the future of business software. Apple brass are not so enthusiastic, however, and President A. C. “Mike” Markkula Jr. balks at Personal Software president Dan Fylstra’s demand of $1 million in Apple stock for exclusive rights to the program. Apple, therefore, loses the chance to monopolize the first spreadsheet program for their machine, software that goes on to drive the sales of every home computer of the first wave.

Hawkins leaves Apple in 1982, another fresh millionaire minted from the skyrocketing company, feeling constrained as staff roles explode from the 50 or so when he started to over 4,000. With an initial outlay of $120,000, he starts a new company called Amazin’ Software. Coming over from his role as VisiCorp’s director of marketing, Rich Melmon is the first staff member hired by the new company, becoming executive VP of marketing at Hawkin’s new venture. He is followed later by Tim Mott, Bing Gordon, David Maynard and Joe Ybarra. Late in the year, they get together for a meeting to change the name of the company, after the first choice of “SoftArt” is nixed by Software Arts head Dan Bricklin. Down to the finalists “Electronic Artists” and “Electronic Arts“, the rules are that everyone must agree, and if you go to bed you forfeit your vote. Even though the name Electronic Arts wins out, the company would use the label Amazing Software for its European releases like Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future on the C64.

Dan Dare, a computer game from the Amazing Software label of EA

Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future, from the Amazing Software label of Electronic Arts, 1986

Hawkins is chairman, CEO, and president of EA, as well as the man in charge of talent. Looking for some venture capital, he sets up an office in Don Valentine’s VC company Sequoia Capital. There Hawkins draws up the business plan for a new software company, one that would make a radical departure from the prevalent attitudes of the big game makers like Atari and Mattel, where the people actually designing and programming the games are considered little more than anonymous serfs. Trip head-hunts staff from Apple, as well as Atari and Xerox PARC. Sequoia ponies up $1 million, along with additional investors John Doerr, Ben Rosen and Jerry Moss (The “M” to Herb Alpert’s “A” at A&M records). Valentine and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak join EA’s board of directors.

With $2 million in total capital, a 28-year old Hawkins sets up shop in San Mateo, CA in August of 1982. The first platforms for the new company’s games are the Atari 400/800 and Apple II. Said games found by Hawkins through trade magazines like SoftTalk, as well as direct game submissions from programmers interested in having another entity handle the production and marketing of their wares. Hawkins’ mantra for the product he wants the company to release is “Simple, hot and deep”. Simple, as in gameplay that’s easy to pick up without having to memorize a 100-page manual. Hot, meaning exploitation of the computer medium to generate a lot of action. And deep, so that players continue to discover more and more of the game’s intricacies as they play. Initial releases include Music Construction Set by Will Harvey, and a work by two high-school students: Mike Abbott and Matt Alexander’s platform game Hard Hat Mack. Hawkins also floats the development of a possible “brand new medium” via a partnership between EA and influential artist Gahan Wilson,  Whether this would be a game, or some kind of interactive version of Gahan’s comics, is unknown, as nothing seems to have arisen from it at EA…. although Wilson will eventually design a game for Microsoft, titled Gahan Wilson’s The Ultimate Haunted House.

All the demo music from Will Harvey’s Music Construction Set for the C64, 1984

Sports Score: Taking a Shot with Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One on One

Based on his recollections of televised One-On-One basketball exhibitions in the 60’s sponsored by hair tonic Vitalis, Hawkins comes up with the idea for one of EA’s first big hits.  Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One on One is co-authored by Eric Hammond, whose biggest previous credit is having made Marauder for Sierra On-Line, ne: On-Line Systems. Recommended to EA via local programming legend Jim Nitchals, in late 1982 Hammond is initially offered the chance to do a football game for the company. Telling them he’s really more into basketball, this immediately sparks the interest of EA producer Joe Ybarra, who shares a passion for the sport. Hawkins, who knows a guy, who knows a guy, who knows the agent for hot basketball star Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers, reaches out to him… and nabs Erving at a price of $25,000 for technical consultation and promotion. Via Erving’s agent, Hawkins also brings in Dr. J’s main rival in the sport, Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics for the same terms. Hammond shares author credit with Dr. J and Bird, although it mostly Erving who supplies the majority of the unique game strategies. He spends a day with Hammond, going over strategies he would use playing against Bird, with a thinking towards the one-on-one game format as opposed to full-person team games. Erving promotes such features as the ability to rotate to protect the ball, and the defensive ability to hack away the ball from the opposing player. While both Erving and Bird play ball in front of a camera set up by EA to reference their movements, Larry Bird’s contributions to the game’s design is less prominent than Dr. J’s…. whose court philosophies make such an impact on Trip Hawkins that he incorporates them into his own business behaviours.

Click the button to play Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One on One, for the good old Commodore C64

Along with the two basketball stars’ athletic styles, One on One also sports large, show-stopping sprites of the two stars, along with lovingly crafted details like Hammond’s addition of a foul-mouthed janitor who comes onto the court to sweep up the mess when one of the guys smashes the backboard. To evoke the impromptu feel of a one-on-one basketball game, the cover image for the packaging is shot at a Springfield, Mass. public school playground, causing quite a stir with the local kids. Initially released in 1983 on the Apple II, by mid-1987 the game has sold in the vicinity of 300,000 units across a plethora of computer platforms, marking it as the most successful game by EA up to that point.

Photo of Eric Hammond, programmer of computer video basketball game One on One

One on One co-author Eric Hammond, 1984

Image of Jon Freeman and Ann Westfall, computer video game creators for Electronic Arts

Image of Jon Freeman And Anne Westfall from Softline Free Fall dev company profile, Jan 1983

Free Falling: Computer Game Developer Free Fall Associates

A key team to sign the revolutionary Electronic Arts talent contract in the company’s early days are Jon Freeman and Anne Westfall. A co-founder of Automated Simulations/Epyx, Freeman has found himself chafing against the leadership decisions of partner Jim Connelley, and both are feeling more and more hemmed in by marketing and publishing aspects of the company. Freeman and Westfall leave the company in October of 1980 and found Free Fall Associates in Morgan Hill, CA. in December of 1981. They are joined there from Epyx by Paul Reiche III, who is no neophyte to game design: as a resume of sorts, while applying to RPG powerhouse TSR in 1980, Reiche writes AD&D module Temple of Poseidon. He works for the company for a year before leaving to join Freefall. Operating strictly as a game development house, Reiche and Freeman hash out the design principles of the games they create, with Westfall doing the coding in machine language. Freefall see the 8-bit Atari computers as the best, easiest platform on which to create games, and their first product is Tax Dodge in 1982, published by Island Graphics. In this clever Pac-Man riff, the player must run around a scrolling maze collecting money while avoiding the dreaded IRS agents, spawned from an IRS office in the middle of the maze.

Click the button to play Tax Dodge, first game from EA developer Free Fall Associates, 1982

Inflation, deductions, tax shelters and lawyers all figure into the game. Unfortunately, not enough future chartered accountants buy into the premise, and without the kid vote the game has no chance for a big payday. However, through a profile in industry publication Softline, the fledgling development company is hooked up with EA. On the same day that his company is incorporated, Hawkins contacts FreeFall. Attracted by both the new attitude of the company and its policy of offering upfront advances against royalties, Freeman and Westfall sign the first EA developer contract, operating their development house out of their own house in beautiful Portola Valley, California… just a bit SW of Palo Alto.

Map for 'Temple of Poseidon', 1980 AD&D module by Paul Reiche III

Map for ‘Temple of Poseidon’, 1980 AD&D module by Paul Reiche III


So Mote It Be: Developing Computer Game Archon The Light and the Dark

Snap of Archon: The Light and the Dark, a computer game for the C64 by EA 1983

Facing off in Archon: The Light and the Dark

Screencap from Star Wars, a science fiction film from 1977

Archon inspiration from Star Wars: A New Hope – Let the wookie win

For Free Fall’s first Electronic Arts game, the team is inspired by that greatest of all strategic games: Chess. Blending in a taste of sword and sorcery chess sets and Freeman’s remembrances of participating in large outdoor chess matches with humans as pieces, along with a nod to the holographic chess set featured in Star Wars, they start work on Archon: The Light and the Dark. As part of Electronic Arts’ system of assigning producers to projects, Joe Ybarra helps guide the game’s development, as well as serving as a vehement game tester. The balancing act for the designers is to create a deep strategy game, while still offering enough excitement to appease twitchy action gamers. Archon features 18 fantasy creature pieces to a side, with different real-time attacks and spells available to rain down upon your opponent.

Click the button to play Archon: The Light and the Dark for Atari 8-bit by Free Fall Associates, 1983

The game is originally conceived as a two-player exercise, but near the end of its development, EA requests a one-player mode which extends production time. It is released for the Atari 8-bit computers in May of 1983, with a C64 version by Free Fall following in October. The developer prefers to let EA farm out their game’s conversions to other computer platforms like the IBM PC and Apple II. Archon is a big hit, spending a long time perched in the Top 20 software lists, and Hawkins wants a sequel. But instead of producing a quickie knock-off by simply adding a few new creatures, Free Fall works out a different yet similar concept with an altered game field, more and varied creatures, and new spells and skills. Archon II: Adept is released in 1984 for Electronic Arts, receiving even more acclaim than the original, as well as debuting in the top 10 of Billboard Magazine’s list of best-selling video games.

Click the button to play Archon II: Adept by Free Fall Associates for the C64

Jon Freeman and Anne Westfall of Free Fall Associates, makers of games for EA

Jon Freeman and Anne Westfall play a little Archon, 1984 image

Produced concurrently with the original Archon is Murder on the Zinderneuf, designed by Freeman and Reiche, with Robert Leyland programming. Leyland himself had come from Automated Simulations/Epyx, having made Dragon’s Eye and Alien Garden there. In Zinderneuf, players take the role of one of eight thinly-disguised famous fictional sleuths, with names like Miss Agatha Marbles, Emile Klutizeau and Achille Merlot, and attempt to solve a murder case aboard a giant blimp. They have 12 hours (about 35 real-time minutes) to solve the mystery before the zeppelin lands and the killer revealed by the game. It’s a revolutionary game in that the plot and the sixteen characters you encounter on the blimp are shuffled around every time you play, making for a totally new gaming experience with every reload. Free Fall Associates trods the checkerboard floor again with Archon Ultra for SSi in 1994, adding online play to the mix. They eventually move into playing card games, with a game system titled Thrall. With both solitaire and online multiplayer modes, the games are featured prominently on Prodigy’s GameTV service.

Click the button to play Mail Order Monsters for the good old Commodore 64

As for former Free Fall partner Paul Reiche III, in 1985, eight years before Pokemon is unleashed onto the world, he along with Evan and Nicky Robinson make Mail Order Monsters, where players grow creatures with a wide variety of available skills and physical attributes inside genetic vats, who then battle against each other in different arena environments. Reiche then goes on to found game company Toys for Bob along with Fred Ford, developing the first two hit games in the Star Control series for Accolade.

Going Farther: Electronic Arts Sells Its Vision

"We See Farther" magazine ad for Electronic Arts

One of the famous “We See Farther” ads

EA starts shipping their first games on May 20, 1983. The entire 30-odd staff members including Hawkins go down to the South San Francisco warehouse and hand-package the initial available games, including Archon: The Light and the Dark, M.U.L.E., Pinball Construction Set and Hard Hat Mack . When a retailer comes by to pick up his order, it is personally handed to him by Hawkins. The crew gets a treat for their hard work: Hawkins has rented out an entire theatre, and the gang watches a special showing of Return of the Jedi, which the general public isn’t able to see for another five days. Along with the Atari 8-bit computer systems and the Apple II, the software company creates some of the most popular and ingenious programs for the C64 during its astronomic rise, by some of the most talented designers and programmers around. The new vision of Electronic Arts is heralded by the famous We See Farther magazine ads, with headlines like “Can a computer make you cry?”. These and later magazine ads are lavishly produced, featuring photos of the game designers taken by a rock album cover photographer over the course of an all-day photo shoot in San Francisco. Under the guidance of art director Nancy L. Fong, Electronic Arts revolutionizes the way computer games are packaged, presented in 9″ x 9″ square folded “record albums”, constructed from heavy cardboard with colourful covers and fanciful instruction manuals and liner notes inside. The look of the packaging is not a coincidence; it’s meant to appeal to teenagers, the same demographic that buys a lot of record albums. EA promotes the game developers like rockstars and software “composers”, with extensive author images and bios prominently displayed. The music industry analogy is further continued in  EA’s talent contract, an amalgam of computer and music industry legal boilerplate. It also pioneers the idea of paying video game developers who have proven themselves in the field with advances against future royalties collected through sales of the products they produce. All this in the face of Electronic Art’s first board of directors, who, according to Bing Gordon, in 1983 tell the execs that they should stop striving to establish a brand identity for EA because, “You can’t brand media.”

EA We See Farther ad

Electronic Arts uses the Rock Album metaphor: part of the We See Farther campaign

As well as financial compensation, EA also strives to facilitate easier and quicker design workflow for its software artists by providing technology such as compilers, tools that allow designers to work in a higher-level language which is ultimately converted to the more difficult machine language understood by the computer. Graphic, audio and interface tools are also developed for the use of game designers, in a system that EA dubs the Artist Work Station, or AWS. Some other tools are utilized in the company’s novel stress-release program; employees are issued Nerf guns to take out their frustrations, and offices littered with Nerf balls is a common sight. Michael Kosaka, coming to EA in 1987 after working at Data Age, Atari and Epyx, becomes EA’s first internal game designer, and also creates and heads up EA’s first internal computer graphics art staff.

Video game designer Dan Bunten

Game designer supreme Dan Bunten holds three of his early works for SSi, 1983

A Software Artist: Dan Bunten and Ozark Softscape

In 1974 Dan Bunten is an industrial engineer graduate living in Little Rock, Arkansas, working as a management systems engineer designing mathematical system models under a grant from the National Science Foundation. Having been an avid board game player with his many siblings in his youth, in his off time he designs text-based computer games, the first of which is an Apple II business management game made in 1978 called Wheeler Dealers, with one of the aspects of the game being a 4-player, real-time auction. Canada’s Speakeasy Software, based in Kemptville, Ontario,  publishes the game as a 16K cassette at a then-astronomic price of $54 dollars apiece. It is one of the first software titles that comes packed in a dedicated box, in order to house the included adapter, designed by Bunten, to allow up to 4 players to play on one computer. This at a time when computer games are a solitary affair, come in zip-lock bags and sell for around $15. Only 150 copies of Wheeler Dealers eventually sell, but it manages to attract the attention of Trip Hawkins, a founding board member of SSI. Electronic Arts buys a minority stake in SSi in 1979, with Hawkins’ company gaining the rights to distribute SSi software in the U.S. and Canada. The same year, Bunten makes Computer Quarterback, a text-based football simulation designed for his friends to play and sold to SSI, becoming one of their best-selling games up to that point. Bunten then makes Cartels & Cutthroats for the company, allowing up to 6 players on an Apple IICytron Masters is the final game Bunten does for SSi, released under their RapidFire game line, an attempt to pivot to more action-oriented fare a la Automated Simulations and their Epyx label .

Click the button to play Cytron Masters on Apple IIe

Cytron represents nearly eight months of development time on the Apple II, and is Bunten’s attempt at creating a graphical real-time strategy game that also offers a two-player mode. Released in 1982 for the Apple II and later converted to the Atari 800, Cytron is Bunten’s first game with graphics, and by this time he has gathered a core team of three – brother Bill Bunten, Jim Rushing, and Alan Watson – collectively known as Ozark Softscape. Hawkins, now running Electronic Arts, tries to get the rights to sell Cartels & Cutthroats, but SSI won’t let it go. Bunten convinces Hawkins that he can do a better version of the game for EA, and under the auspices of producer Joe Ybarra, nine months later M.U.L.E. is born for the Atari 8-bit computer line.

Liner notes for M.U.L.E.. L. to R.: Bill Bunten, Jim Rushing, Alan Watson and Dan Bunten

Liner notes for M.U.L.E.. L. to R.: Bill Bunten, Jim Rushing, Alan Watson and Dan Bunten.  Buntens’ sister Theresa far left

44 Acres and a M.U.L.E.

Along with economics of Cartels & Cutthroats, the new game is also heavily influenced by Parker Brothers’ timeless board game MonopolySo much so, in fact, that M.U.L.E. features a “Species Selection” screen, where players can pick their favourite character to play with, akin to choosing a favourite metal token at the start of the famous board game. Bunten and his team have also pinpointed that the real joy in playing Monopoly is the dealing and collusion that goes on between players outside of the game board, and so do their best to program this kind of flexibility into the game. To further the Monopoly analogy: players engage in acquiring land plots (real estate) and are subject to the vagaries of random events (Chance cards). M.U.L.E. computer game play also circles around the real-time auctions that had featured so prominently in Wheeler Dealers. The inspiration for the plot and setting comes from the Robert A. Heinlein novel Time Enough For Love, read by both Bunten brothers, where colonists on another world use bio-engineered mules to settle the landscape and build a functioning economy. In the game these mules become the Multiple Use Labor Elements of the title. their shape is taken from a foot high AT-AT Walker model from The Empire Strikes Back that Alan Watson’s son possesses, with some jovial head-bobbing added to its animation to make it a bit friendlier-looking. The game is initially  referred to internally by Ozark Softscape as Planet Pioneers, but they eventually fall in love (or hate, depending on how they behave out in the field) with the little mules in the game, and so ultimately label the game with the acronym M.U.L.E. Electronic Arts, on the other hand, wants to officially saddle the game with the unfortunate name Moguls from Mars. Ozark’s title thankfully wins out after the developer shows EA management the impressive M.U.L.E. title screen, with the title character ambling across.

Bunten’s history as a systems engineer really comes through in the design of the M.U.L.E. computer game, especially in what’s happening under the hood. As players acquire plots of land on the colony planet of Irata (read that backwards) and start producing commodities to buy and sell in the real-time auctions, a remarkable economic simulation begins to take effect. Real economic theories, such as Scarcity, Supply and Demand, Economies of Scale, Production Learning Curve, Diminishing Returns, The Prisoner’s Dilemma and even Market Collusion all come into play, depending on player actions. Up to four people can crowd around the computer to try and game the Irata economy; this is easily facilitated by the four joystick ports on the Atari 800 home computer, but more cumbersome when attempted with only two joysticks on a system like the later C64 computer version. There, two people have to bunch up at the keyboard and use a group of keys on either side. Of course, this close proximity makes it easier for full-contact responses to any egregious actions by fellow colonists as gameplay unfolds. Players must be careful to avoid cornering the market too much, and not just due to the risk of getting punched by an aggravated co-colonist: following the plotline from Heinlein’s book, a minimum production capacity of the settlement as a whole must be met, or else be considered a fail condition and the whole group refused inclusion in the planetary Federation of the game. For those lacking enough willing human participants, the CPU can take up the slack for any empty player slots.

All the economic chicanery and colonist backbiting is coated by a breezy and accessible art style from Alan Watson. Accompanying this is a jaunty rock theme commissioned from Roy Glover, and which later gives Dan Bunten a slight pause as it becomes the more memorable part of the game for some. It certainly becomes an ear worm for Wil Wright, a fellow game-god who slips the M.U.L.E. theme into the soundtrack of his 2008 epic Spore, where one can hear it in, apropos, the game’s space-faring section as players seek out new worlds to colonize.

Click the button to play the marvellous M.U.L.E. on the Atari 800 computer

Released in 1983, only 30,000 copies of M.U.L.E. are sold, however. This relative lack of sales is not a true symbol of the game’s success, as its market is initially limited to Atari’s 8-bit computers. It also has to be in the top three of the most pirated games in computer history, especially on the C64 computer platform where it becomes a classic piece of gaming software.


Golden: Development of Seven Cities of Gold

After M.U.L.E. Bunten wants to do a computer port of Avalon Hill’s classic board game Civilization, but he is unable to drum up enough enthusiasm with his Ozark colleagues, and they eventually decide on a new-world exploration concept titled The Seven Cities of Gold, with the thrust of the game being three-pronged: the bravery of explorers who set off into uncharted waters to discover a huge new world, the dangers of dealing with a native culture and overcoming the language barrier, and the morality of conquering a populace through force. Seven Cities of Gold also borrows from Bunten’s alarm at getting lost in the woods while backpacking one day. Dan and his brother Bill start off the project with their favourite aspect of the game creation process: absorbing as much info as they can from books,  in this case about the New World explorers and the tools and techniques they utilized, like shipbuilding and sea-going navigation.

Click the button to play The Seven Cities of Gold on the golden Commodore 64

Taking the role of an intrepid explorer out to write his name in the history books, the player can take many paths to glory…they can peacefully explore the new world and trade their way to success, or take a cue from the real conquistadors and subdue the native population and seize their treasures by the sword. Seven Cities of Gold is another astounding production for Ozark Softscape in graphics, play-value, historical context, and countless other areas. While there is a strategy to exploring around the new world while maintaining food stocks for your expedition, the action sequences of dealing with native villages and cities pays tribute to the more arcade-inclined. Just compressing all the data points of all the various terrain squares of the humongous New World (102,400 map points, each with 25 possible attributes, such as plains, rivers and swamps) and creating data handlers to load this info seamlessly on clunky Atari and Commodore disk drives is an amazing achievement for Bunten and Ozark. Released in 1984, Seven Cities of Gold goes on to sell 150,000 copies, 5x as many as M.U.L.E. and becoming Bunten’s best-selling game. It is also his first solo-player program. During a press conference, Hawkins coins the term “edutainment” to describe the Seven Cities of Gold computer game to the media. Almost a decade later, in 1993, Electronic Arts would release a complete remake of the game featuring high-res graphics, titled Seven Cities of Gold: The Commemorative Edition.

Heart and Soul: Exploring the Heart of Africa Computer Game

The original Seven Cities is followed by computer game Heart of Africa in 1985. This is Bunten’s first adventure game and last solo player effort. And with its GUI system, it could also be called the first graphic adventure game with point-and-click control, coming two years before Lucasfilm’s computer adventure game Maniac Mansion. It sees release only on the C64 platform but ultimately sells almost as many units as Seven Cities of Gold.

Click the button to play Heart of Africa on the good old Commodore 64

Bunten leaves Electronic Arts after doing two more games for them: Robot Rascals (1986) is a hybrid computer/card game that requires four humans around the computer to play. With this game, Bunten is trying to replicate the competitive feeling of M.U.L.E. while eschewing the financial calculations present in that effort that might have alienated some gamers. Players in Robot Rascals issue commands to their choice of one of 10 on-screen robots with a joystick, in a scavenger hunt to find the items on the cards they draw from an “Item” deck. An additional “Luck” deck deals out bonuses or penalties that help flatten out the impacts of both luck and skill while playing.

Click the button to play Robot Rascals on the good old Commodore 64

The other game for EA is Modem Wars (1988), the first fully online game produced by a major manufacturer. Bunten’s ultimate departure from Electronic Arts is partly due to a rift over the fact that Hawkins refuses to port M.U.L.E for Nintendo under the guise that his company doesn’t make cartridge games. Mindscape ends up porting a version of M.U.L.E. for Nintendo in 1990. Bunten signs a deal with Microprose and is uncertain what his next game will be. He is torn between adapting two board games, one the port of Civilization, the other Milton Bradley’s Axis and Allies. Fellow Microprosian Sid Meier convinces Bunten to do a WWII game, which becomes Command H.Q., Bunten’s second-best selling game, while Meier tackles Civilization. Command HQ is followed by Global Conquest, the first four-player online game, in 1992.

Title screen for Heart of Africa, a computer game by Ozark Softscape/EA 1995Heart of Africa title screen, C64

In 1992 Bunten transitions to female, or as she puts it, has a “pronoun” change, becoming Danielle Bunten Berry. She is then involved in an attempt by Sega to move the M.U.L.E. concept to their 16-bit Genesis game console, but Son of M.U.L.E. is aborted after Berry refuses to add weapons to the MULEs as per Sega’s request. A planned porting of the original game to the Genesis also falls through, and Ozark Softscape is shuttered soon after.

Bunten Berry then spends a year in Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s think tank Interval, in a project to develop games designed especially for girls. Her last gig is designing Internet games for Mpath Interactive, where her work there culminates in WarSport in 1997, a free online action strategy game.

Online Champion: Dani Bunten Berry

If you could pick out one driving obsession in Berry’s career, it would be using multiplayer games as a device to bring people closer together through a computer conduit. Berry designs more multiplayer games than anyone else in the industry at the time. By the mid-90’s the gaming industry as a whole has finally caught up with Berry’s multiplayer vision, with the option to play online becoming a standard feature in games. Online gaming loses its greatest champion on July 3, 1998, when Danielle Bunten Berry dies of lung cancer. 26 years after her 4-player masterpiece was released, an Internet multiplayer version of M.U.L.E. sanctioned by the remaining Bunten family is released. Called Planet M.U.L.E., it is produced by Blue Systems and developed by Turborilla.

Pinball Wizard: The Balls of Bill Budge

Bill Budge, a computer video game programmer

Bill Budge at California Pacific Computer Co., 1981

In 1970 a curious Bill Budge attends a newly created computer math class at his high school. Using time on an archaic IBM 1401 provided by a local business, Budge writes out his assembler code on sheets which are transferred to punch cards and receives the printed output. Starting with mathematical functions, he moves into Fortran programming and his first finished game is a version of Tic-Tac-Toe. He has discovered his calling. Attending the PhD program at UC Berkeley, he buys an Apple II home computer late in 1978 and starts programming game on it.

Inspired by PONG, he writes a version of the game called Penny Arcade. Watching the phosphor ball move back and forth in his darkened apartment, on an 80 dollar b&w TV set, it’s a kind of epiphany to the young Budge. He continues on to write proficient translations of current vector graphics arcade hits like Lunar Lander, Asteroids and Space Wars. He trades Penny Arcade to Apple Computers for a printer, and in 1981 lands a part-time position at the company as a graphics engineer.

Computer game designer Bill Budge

Bill Budge goes and flies an (Apple) kite in the pages of Japanese computer mag LOGiN, Sept. 1983 issue

He sells his first commercial game, Lunar Lander knock-off Tranquility Base through Stoneware Microcomputer Products, AND he is also a programmer at California Pacific Computer Company, one of a star stable of up-and-coming game creators, which also includes Ultima author Lord British/Richard Garriott. There, Budge creates game compilations such as Trilogy of Games and Space Album; both collections of his arcade-inspired works. An aficionado of the stop-motion FX creations of Ray Harryhausen (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts), as well as Disney films, Budge uses the Apple II to create his own animated style. Even while treading the well-worn ground of video arcade game knock-offs, Budge’s output startles with its touches of fluid animation, especially in the confines of the Apple II.

1980 ad for Tranquility Base, a computer game by Bill Budge

Ad for Tranquility Base, Bill Budge’s first commercial product, 1980

Making Pinball Construction Set

Click the button to Raster Blaster on the Apple II

Although Budge was not previously a pinball fan, Wozniak and the other engineers at Apple are, and their enthusiasm rubs off. During his spare time at Apple he codes Raster Blaster for the Apple II in 1981. It is the first commercial home computer pinball simulation, derived from Budge’s experience with an earlier arcade version. He leaves California Pacific to found BudgeCo. to market the Raster Blaster, which becomes a huge success. He is tired of simply aping the types of games to be found in the arcades, so taking the bitmap graphics editing tools he has created to make Raster Blaster, Budge incorporates them into Pinball Construction Set, and the GUI (graphical user interface) used to place the pieces becomes the first ever incorporated into a computer game. The GUI is inspired by the XeroxPARC Alto, the first computer to use one as its operating system. Budge strives for accuracy in the pieces the users of Pinball Construction Set can move around with the pointing hand icon; during the early stages of development he purchases an old Target Alpha pinball game by Gottlieb and takes it apart, analyzing each component so that their analogs in the game look like reasonably accurate representations.

Click the button to play Pinball Construction Set on the good old Commodore 64

Pinball Construction Set by Bill Budge and EA

Pinball Construction Set as released by EA, PC Booter version 1985

Recommended to Trip Hawkins through his friend Steve Wozniak, Budge joins Electronic Arts  and Pinball Construction Set becomes a big hit as one of the initial offerings by the young games company in 1983, and Budge is sent out on a press tour and signs copies of the game for fans at computer store appearances. He re-writes the program for the Sega Genesis in 1993, under the moniker Virtual Pinball. He later joins Hawkins at 3DO in 1993, as a distinguished engineer.

Click the button to play Pinball Construction Set Sequel Virtual Pinball on Sega Genesis

Electronic Arts ad featuring the Amiga, a home computer by Commodore 1985

Damn you, Commodore!

Electronic Arts: Juggernaut

Such are just a few of the many games, talented designers and programmers in the early years of Electronic Arts. A list of the other games produced during this period reads like a top 100 made for the early computer platforms, including titles like ArcticFox, The Bard’s Tale series, Earth Orbit Station, John Madden Football, Marble Madness, P.H.M. Pegasus, Racing Destruction Set, Realm of Impossibility, SkyFox, Strike Fleet, and Wasteland…to name a few. A move into creative software with the Deluxe series of products like Deluxe Paint, introduced for the Commodore Amiga computer in 1985, further solidifies EA as a software giant. By 1986 Electronic Arts is the biggest consumer software company in the U.S.,  posting sales in excess of $27 million that year, over 84% more than what it had in sales the previous year.

Click the button to play the The Bard’s Tale on the Apple IIgs

EA founder Trip Hawkins begins developing the 3DO gaming hardware project inside EA, and in December of 1990 steps down as CEO and leaves the company he founded to guide this new hardware licensing venture. Mail Order Monsters co-creator Paul Reiche III, co-founding development house Toys for Bob with Fred Ford in 1989, scores with the first two Star Control games for Accolade: Star Control in 1990 and Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters in 1992.  The company is uninvolved with the disastrous 3rd entry, Star Control 3, developed by Legend Entertainment and released in 1996. Toys for Bob also rides the wave of CD-ROM technology in 1994 with FMV extravaganza The Horde, and lands a critical success with Pandemonium!, for most major systems of the era, in 1996.  2005 sees the development house purchased by Activision, and in 2011 Reiche III and Ford meld their love of real toys and video games with stunning success with the first of the Skylanders games. Fellow programmer Robert Leyland is along for the ride, working on both Star Control and Skylanders. Electronic Arts makes a series of acquisitions of other prominent development houses over the intervening years; here is a brief list of some of them and highlights of their releases:

Origin Systems in 1992, disbanded in 2004 (Ultima series: 1981-1999, Wing Commander series: 1990-1997)

Westwood Studios in 1998, disbanded in 2003 (BattleTech series: 1988-1990, Dune series: 1992-2001, Eye of the Beholder I & II: 1990-1991, The Legend of Kyrandia series: 1992-1994, Command & Conquer series: 1995-2002)

Legend of Kyrandia computer game for the Commodore Amiga computer

Maxis in 1997 (SimCity series: 1989-2013, The Sims series: 2000-2012, Spore: 2008)

Jane’s Combat Simulations brand in 1995, disbanded in 2000 (Advanced Tactical Fighters: 1995, AH-64D Longbow: 1996, 688i Hunter/Killer: 1997, F-15: 1998, Fleet Command: 1999)

Bullfrog Productions, Ltd. in 1995, disbanded in 2004 (Populous series: 1989-1998, Powermonger: 1990, Syndicate series: 1993-1996, Magic Carpet and Magic Carpet 2: 1994-1995, Theme Park: 1994, Dungeon Keeper and Dungeon Keeper 2: 1997-1999, Theme Hospital: 1997, Sim Theme Park: 1999, SimCoaster: 2001)

Theme Park game for the 3DO video game console

Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment aka DICE in 2006 (Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies: 1992, Pinball Illusions: 1995, Battlefield series: 2002-2014, Mirror’s Edge: 2008)

Bioware Corp.  in 2007 (Baldur’s Gate series:1998-2016, Mass Effect series: 2007-2021, Dragon Age series: 2009-2014)

Mythic Entertainment in 2009, disbanded 2014 (Dark Age of Camelot: 2001, WarHammer Online series: 2008-2013)

Dark

And so it goes. We remove our baseball caps and salute those development teams that created some great computer games, and were thusly digested in the belly of the beast. Via these myriad acquisitions, Electronic Arts has ended up as one of the largest game companies around; it’s come a long way from Trip Hawkins’ noble dream of being an incubator for “Software Artists”.  logo_stop

Modern logo for EA, a video game company

Modern EA logo, Feb 2006



Sources (Click to view)



Page 1 – Tripping
Intro to Trip Hawkins, EA Founder
1983 image of Trip Hawkins looking to the right from Softline, “New Players: Electronic Arts”, pgs. 52-53, Jul/Aug 1983. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Softline collection, Nov 1 2015.
“Hawkins Appointed Manager of Market Planning for Apple.” Intelligent Machines Journal 17 Jan. 1979: 5. Print. Hawkins is a graduate magna cum laude from Harvard, and holds an MBA from Stanford’s Business School, where his emphasis was on finance, marketing, and organizational control
“Future Computing.” Personal Computing Jan. & feb. 1977: 75-76. Print. When he (Dick Heiser) and his wife, Lois, opened the Computer Store in Santa Monica, Calif. in October 1975, they were pioneers who were venturing into the unknown.
 
Page 1 – Changing the Game
Creating Electronic Arts
Tbuteler. “Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future (1986) Commodore 64 Box Cover Art.” MobyGames. Web. 07 May 2021. Image of cover for Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future
Yuen, Matt. “Exec Electronic Arts.” Softtalk Aug. 1984: 36-40. Creative Computing Magazine (March 1984) Volume 10 Number 03. Internet Archive. Web. 02 Mar. 2016. Electronic Arts flew all of its artists (eight at the time) to San Francisco and hired a photographer from the Los Angeles music scene to photograph then for a two-page magazine ad.; On May 20, 1983,…Hawkins took the entire thirty-person company to its South San Francisco warehouse, where the group spend a good part of the day packing and shipping boxes… Later, to celebrate the occasion of getting its products out the door, Hawkins rented an entire theatre for a private screening of Return of the Jedi…; Walking through Electronic Art’s office, it’s hard not to notice the Nerf balls that lie casually in the conference room and on desk tops…they were given to employees as part of a stress-reduction program.; Erving’s philosophies impressed Hawkins so much that he adapted them to his management style.; …Electronic Arts does have a research and development department that devotes its time to working on graphics tools, sound routines, game kernels, user-interface designs, and other resources for artists to use.
Softline, “New Players: Electronic Arts”, pgs. 52-53, Jul/Aug 1983. “…Don Valentine and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak joined the Electronic Arts board of directors.” Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Softline collection, Nov 1 2015.
Image of Bing Gordon, Greg Riker and Joe Ybarra together from MicroTimes, “Electronic Arts, a Different Approach to Software” by Matthew Leeds, pgs. 68-74, April 1986. Photo by Pat Johnson Studios. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, MicroTimes newsletter collection
Image of Bing Gordon from Compute!, “The Future of Computer Games: Ten Industry Leaders Speak Out” by Keith Ferrell, pg. 22, Nov 1987. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Compute! magazine collection
JoyStik, “Electronic Arts: A New Software Breed”, by Danny Goodman, pgs. 40 – 43, Vol. 2 Num. 3, Dec. 1983. Retrieved from bombjack.org, JoyStik magazine archive

 
Page 1 – Sports Score
Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One on One
Goodman, Danny. “Electronic Arts: A New Software Breed.” Joystik Dec. 1983: 40-43. Internet Archive. Scott. Web. 10 Sept. 2021. One hand-eye coordination game is called hard Hat Mack, designed by two high school students, Mike Abbot and Matt Alexander, for the Apple IIe. ;Also in the works is EA software developed by Gahan Wilson. ;…his contribution will be that of a professional artists who has been given the tools for creating in a brand new medium.
Delson, James. “Will Harvey and His Music Construction Set.” Editorial. K-Power Mar. 1984: 35. K-Power Magazine Issue 2. Internet Archive. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. Image of Will Harvey and his Atari 800. Photo by Rick Browne
“Moments of Truth.” Next Generation, Nov. 1998, p. 116. So Hawkins asks Irving’s [sic] agent if his client would be willing to let EA use his name and likeness in a computer basketball game. Electronic Arts paid Irving a $25,000 fee for his name and image.”Anyway, he agreed to do it, making it possible for us to have Dr. J’s agent ask Larry Bird’s agent. “Why don’t you do it, and on the same terms [as Dr. J]?” says Hawkins.
Fields, Gary V. “Real Life in a Box.” Commodore July 1987: 70+. Print. Electronic Arts was founded in 1982. In Hawkins’ words, “I got some people together in August of 1982 and we brought our first product to market on May 18, 1983. It was a sort of unusual thing to do at Harvard at the time, but I created a special field of concentration called ‘strategy in applied game theory.’ …consider our all-time bestseller program, One-On-One Basketball. We probably sold 300,000 copies of that program…
Videogaming Illustrated, “Eye On: The Digital Dr. J”, pg. 79, Sep 1983. “Thus, he [Trip Hawkins] is investing in software tool technologies such as the compiler…” Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Videogaming Illustrated collection, Sep 17 2015.

Image of Eric Hammond on the basketball court, along with other information from Yuen, M. (1984, March/April 1). Profiles in Programming: Eric Hammond. Softline , pp. 54-56. “Hammond was introduced to Electronic Arts through fellow programmer Jim Nitchals.” “Electronic Arts asked Hammond in late 1982 if he’d like to do a game for them…” “‘At first, they wanted me to do a football game, but i didn’t think that was too cool, I told them I was more interested in basketball.’ says Hammond. ‘When he mentioned that, our eyes lit up and everything clicked’ says Ybarra, an avid basketball fan. ‘Later (Electronic Arts’s president), Trip Hawkins came up with the idea of getting Julius ”Dr. J” Erving and Larry Bird to spice it up and endorse the game.'” “He (Erving) had some ideas about turning and spinning to face the basket, and a lot of ideas about how the defensive player should be able to block and steal the ball.'” “A different kind of thrill happened in Springfield, Massachusetts, when Electronic Arts’s ad agency went to shoot pictures of Erving and Bird in action for the game’s package.” “…Electronic Arts chose a public school playground as the set for photos.” Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Softline collection, Nov 3 2015
Reifsnyder, Abigail. “Celebrity Software.” Comp. Jason Scott. Family Computing July 1986: 25. Internet Archive. 30 Aug. 2011. Web. 24 Aug. 2020. Images of Julius Erving and Larry Bird from the One-on-One photoshoot. Other information: He [Erving] spent a day with the program designers – brainstorming, explaining how he would play against Bird in a wide variety of circumstances, and how one-onone games differ from full team games. ;Bird, on the other hand, was involved in the design process only minimally. Both played before the company’s cameras so the animation for the program would be realistic.
Hettich, Elizabeth, ed. “Eric’s ‘One on One’ Scores.” Enter Sept. 1984: 20. Internet Archive. 8 Dec. 2018. Web. 22 Jan. 2023. Image of Eric Hammond with an Atari computer next to a basketball hoop. Photo by Scott Dine/Picture Group.
 
Page 1 – Free Falling
Formation of Free Fall Associates by Jon Freeman and Anne WestfallSoftline Free Fall profile image, as well as other information from Softline, “New Players: Free Fall”, pgs. 28-29, Jan 1981. “Free Fall, nestled in the town of Morgan Hill, California…” “Free Fall is still in its formative stages (founded in December 1981…” “Relations with Jim Connelley became increasingly strained over the questions of what direction the company should take and how marketing should be handled.” Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Softline collection, Oct 30 2015.
Delson, James. “Games: Design For Living: The Team Behind Archon, and It’s Strategy for Success.” Comp. Jason Scott. Family Computing Feb. 1985: 22+. Internet Archive. 30 Aug. 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2020. Archon II: Adept… had an early debut on Billboard Magazine’s Top 10 list.
Reiche, Paul. “The Temple of Poseidon.” Dragon, Feb. 1981, pp. 33–46. Image of Temple of Poseidon map
MicroTimes, “Free Fall: The Thinker’s Computer Games” by Mary Eisenhart and Bennett Falk, pgs. 12-13, May 1984. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, MicroTimes newsletter collection

Archon, liner notes, Electronic Arts 1983
Image of Archon cover and author photo from PegaSoft, “History .Archon” -http://www.pegasoft.ca/history/archon.html
 
Page 2 – So Mote It Be
Archon: The Light and the Dark and other FreeFall Associates Games
Electronic Fun With Computers and Games, “Gamemakers: The Freewill Factor”, interview by Phil Wiswell, pgs. 55-57, 102-103, Nov 1983. “JF [Jon Freeman]: Among other things, Paul actually worked at TSR for a year.”. “JF: Joe Ybarra is a producer at Electronic Arts and a hard-core gamer of all sorts of persuasions. He is certainly a top Archon player.”. “EF: Jon, you once played the part of King’s Pawn in a giant game of human chess…” “JF: That’s just one of those things that got stuck in a file in the back of my mind and sat there waiting to be used. After 15 years, it came out as Archon.”. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, EFWCG collection, Sep 9, 2015.
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Yaron. “Commodore 64 3D Boxes Pack (Template Included).” EmuMovies. N.p., 26 July 2019. Web. 19 Aug. 2020. Images of C64 boxes for Archon: The Light and the Dark, Archon II: Adept and Mail Order Monsters
Edgemundo. “Atari ST 3D Boxes Pack.” EmuMovies. N.p., 10 Feb. 2020. Web. 17 Aug. 2020. Game box image for the Atari ST versions of Alien Garden and Murder on the Zinderneuf
“Archon Ultra (1994) DOS Box Cover Art.” MobyGames. Ed. Tomer Gabel. N.p., 19 Mar. 2000. Web. 19 Aug. 2020. Image of Archon Ultra cover art
 
Page 2 – Going Farther
EA Shakes Up the Marketing and Promotion of Computer Games
Gordon, Bing. “Foreword By Bing Gordon.” Foreword. EA: Celebrating 25 Years of Interactive Entertainment. By Joe Funk. Comp. Station01.cebu. Roseville, CA: Prima Games, 2007. 8-9. Internet Archive. Web. 17 June 2021. There were about 20 of us in EA’s first warehouse, where we shipped out our first games in May, 1983 including Archon, Pinball Construction Set, M.U.L.E., and hard Hat Mack.
Gordon, Bing. “Forward.” Foreword. EA: Celebrating 25 Years of Interactive Entertainment. By Joe Funk. Comp. Station01.cebu. Roseville, CA: Prima Games, 2007. 8-9. Internet Archive. Web. 11 Nov. 2022. EA’s founding board of directors told us in 1983, 10 years before EA Sports was launched, to stop trying to create an EA brand because, “You can’t brand media.”
Blakespot‘s Flickr Photostream | We See Farther – www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/3860428163/in/set-72157604317583021/
“Compuzine.” K-Power Feb. 1984: 14. Internet Archive. Web. 4 Feb. 2016. Rich Melman, Electronic Arts’ VP in charge of marketing, explained the company’s record “focus”: “Certain types of software are heavily bought by teenage boys. They’re also the ones who spend money on record albums.”
“Michael Kosaka | LinkedIn.” LinkedIn. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2020. Michael Kosaka Experience: EA Senior Producer / Art Director /Senior Game Designer EA’s first internal Game Designer ;Created and managed EA’s first internal computer graphics art staff
Image of Trip Hawkins and Joel Billings together from Ahoy!, “Scuttlebutt”, pg. 12, Aug 1988, retrieved from the Internet Archive, Ahoy! magazine collection
 
Page 2 – A Software Artist
Dani Bunten Berry and Ozark Softscape
Halcyon Days | Danielle Berry – www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/BERRY.HTM
Speakeasy Software ad for Wheeler Dealers from Byte, pg. 131, June 1979. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Byte magazine collection
1980 SSi ad for Computer Napoleonics and Computer Quarterback from Byte, pg. 223, Oct 1980. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Byte magazine collection
Computer Gaming World, “Cytron Masters for the Atari – Conversion versus Upgrade” by Dan Bunten, pg. 31, Nov/Dec 1982. Retrieved from the Computer Gaming World Museum, magazine archive
 
Page 2 – 44 Acres and a M.U.L.E.
Development of M.U.L.E.
Image of the M.U.L.E. liner notes, and other information from The Digital Antiquarian, “Dan Bunten and M.U.L.E.” by Jimmy Maher, Feb 12, 2013

Computer Gaming World, “Dispatches – M.U.L.E. Designer Notes”, by Dan Bunten, pgs. 17, 42, Apr 1984. Retrieved from the Computer Gaming World Museum, magazine collection

Electronic Games, “Inside Gaming: Software King of the Ozarks” by Tracie Forman, pgs. 68-69, Nov 1984. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Electronic Games magazine collection
 
Page 3 – Golden
Seven Cities of Gold
Bunten, Dan. “Seven Cities of Gold Designer’s Notes.” Comp. Jason Scott. Computer Gaming World Oct. 1984: 20-21. Internet Archive. 18 Mar. 2017. Web. 17 Feb. 2022. To begin the preparation for Seven Cities by [sic] brother Bill and I read almost a dozen books and researched many more. Besides the chronicles of the New World explorers, we investigated many diverse fields that made up the background for the conquistadors. Information about such things as ship design, navigation, native American cultures and even geology was collected to “fill out” our picture of the Age of Exploration. For us this part of game design is the most fun. ;Through a combination of techniques we were able to store 102,400 map points with 25 types of terrain at each point. To allow continuous play while merging new map data from the disk, we modified the disk handlers on the Atari and C-64 to do simultaneous processing.
“Modem Wars (1988).” MobyGames. Ed. Jeff Sinasac and Dietmar Ushkoreit. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2020. Message from Dan Bunten to software pirates, C64 version of Modem Wars. I hear from lots of people how much they played and loved M.U.L.E. (many more than 7 Cities) but the sales don’t reflect it (7 Cities sold 5 time as many copies).
 
Page 3 – Heart and Soul
Development of Heart of Africa
Compute!, “Birth of a Computer Game” by Sharon Daring, pgs. 48-54, Feb 1985. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Compute! magazine collection

Donahue, Jeff, Greg Shakar, and Sasha Petraski. “Dan Bunten Meets the Special Ks.” Comp. Jason Scott. Jan. 1987: 87. Internet Archive. 30 Aug. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2020. Image of Dan Bunten smiling, showing off Robot Rascals. Other information: Dan said he wanted to create a game similar to M.U.L.E. but for a much broader audience.
;Dan tried to eliminate a lot of the numbers and calculations that players have to make playing games like M.U.L.E. and to even out the amount of luck and skill involved.

Yaron. “Commodore 64 3D Boxes Pack (Template Included).” EmuMovies. N.p., 26 July 2019. Web. 19 Aug. 2020. Images of C64 boxes for Heart of Africa and Modem Wars
Cid67. “MS-DOS (ExoDOS) 2D Boxes (Pack 1).” EmuMovies. N.p., 28 Dec. 2017. Web. 20 Aug. 2020. Images of boxes for the MS-DOS versions of Command H.Q. and Global Conquest, orig. images mobygames.com
Scott, Jason, comp. “Special Report: Game Developers’ Conference.” Computer Gaming World Feb. 1989: 16. Internet Archive. 18 Mar. 2017. Web. 27 Jan. 2022. Image of Dan Bunten speaking at the 2nd Game Developers’ Conference.
 
Page 3 – Online Champion
Dani Bunten Berry Pioneers in Online Gaming
Image of Dan Bunten and Alan Watson with robot from Ahoy!, “Scuttlebutt: Game Releases”, pg.8, Jan 1987.  Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Ahoy! magazine collection
 
Page 3 – Pinball Wizard
Pinball Construction Set Author Bill Budge
“Silicon Alley.” Editorial. K-Power Mar. 1984: 12. K-Power Magazine Issue 2. Internet Archive. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. He [Bill Budge] signed up for a computer math course in high school in 1970.
Image of Bill Budge in loud shirt, as well as other information from Softalk, “A Portrait of Bill Budge”, by Robert Koehler, photograph by Kurt A. Wahlner, pgs. 40-42, Feb 1981. “The reason I first bought my Apple was to do Disney-style animation.” “The idea of fantasy with animation was especially spurred by my admiration for Ray Harryhausen.” “The early games were inspired by the vector games I saw in the arcades… I wanted to duplicate that on the Apple, but, frankly, I don’t feel I achieved that.” “The Apple and Budge have more than a one-on-one relationship, however. A couple of days every week, he can be found in Cupertino working on software development for Apple Computer Inc.” Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Softalk collection, Oct 27 2015.
Allbaugh, Dave. “Young Video Game Maker’s Life Rife with Paradoxes.” Dayton Daily News 16 Nov. 1983: 29. Newspapers.com. Web. 17 May 2021. Image of Bill Budge demonstrating Raster Blaster. Photograph by Bill Garlow.
Revenge OFTheHubz, comp. “Introducing Star Game Designer Bill Budge.” LOGiN Sept. 1983: 66-67. Internet Archive. 2 Oct. 2022. Web. 18 Jan. 2023. Image of Bill Budge flying a kite.
Hunter, D. (1982, March 1). Exec Stoneware: They Try Harder. Softalk. “…Stone also obtained the right to Bill Budge’s first game, Tranquility Base.” Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Softalk collection, Nov 3 2015.
Softline, “Things to Come: The Pinball Construction Set”, pgs. 8-9, Nov 1982. “‘Broken down to their basics, all the current (arcade) games are either maze games or Pong: I didn’t want any part of that.'” “In the nascent stages of the Pinball Construction Set’s development, Budge visited a local thrift shop, purchased an obsolete Gottlieb Target Alpha  pinball machine (circa 1977), and took it apart to see what each component looked like in its simplest form. ‘The reason for that was so that when you look at the construction set on the screen, it will look like you actually have the parts sitting in a box for you to pick up and work with.'” Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Softline collection, Oct 30 2015.
Softline, “New Players: Electronic Arts”, pgs. 52-53, Jul/Aug 1983. “‘Sometimes,’ says Hawkins,’ a programmer approaches us with a really good idea. Then there are people we know of like Budge; we approach them to let them know we’d like to work for them and help sell their productions.'” Retrieved from the Internet Archive, Softline collection, Nov 1 2015.
Trixter. “Pinball Construction Set for PC Booter (1985).” MobyGames. 28 Aug. 1999. Web. 17 Jan. 2023. Cover of EA version of Pinball Construction Set
 
Page 3 – Juggernaut
EA Into Modern Times
Scott, Jason, comp. “Electronic Arts – Market Leader.” Commodore Computing International Sept. 1987: 26+. Internet Archive. 30 May 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2021. In 1986, Electronic Arts was the largest US consumer software firm with sales over $27 million. It pushed its sales up by 84% over the previous year… ;On the technical front, EA seems to have led the industry in providing software tools to speed up and improve the process of developing software. It has a system it created itself called “Artist Work Station” (AWS).
Image of Paul Reiche III circa 2008 from Wikimedia Commons, File:Paulreiche.jpg, by Stumpsmash
Wynne, Stuart. “Trip Hawkins: Interactive Messiah?” Comp. Delphinus48. 3DO Magazine Dec. 1994: 11. Internet Archive. 24 Nov. 2020. Web. 15 Apr. 2021. Since stepping down from heading EA in December 1990…

Star Control Manual, Author Biographies, Accolade 1990
Wikipedia, “List of acquisitions by Electronic Arts”, Jun 25 2014

Wikipedia | Civilization (board game) – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_(board_game)

 
Special thanks go to Trip Hawkins and Bill Budge for providing additional information for this article

External Links (Click to view)



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