Talk:Night Driver
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[edit] Game Screen shot
Mr.Do!, where did you get that screen shot of the game? In the original version of the arcade the car wasn't actually drawn by the game engine, it was instead a plastic insert. Was there a later release that changed that, and that is where this shot is from? I have no idea where a the graphic you have originated, but it certainly is not from the 1976 release of the game. A screen capture should, as I understand it, look more like this screencap from KLOV. Does anyone else know that screen might be from? -Mee Ronn 29 June 2005 20:30 (UTC)
- I have many old Screenshots, I can no more verify this. But if you find better without Plastic with white square, take him. The truth is often cruel! :) Mr.Do! 30 June 2005 07:55 (UTC)
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- Okay, I'll be on the look out. Thanks for the explaintion :D -Mee Ronn 30 June 2005 08:29 (UTC)
[edit] Midnight Racer
Midnight Racer is a game that Midway bought in January 1976 (before Night Driver came out) and then later released as 280 ZZZAP (after Night Driver came out). 'But, I've read reports that Night Driver was also based on the Midnight Racer game. It's interesting if it's true, but I'm unable to really confirm it. The similarities between Midnight Racer and Night Driver are amazing, but stranger things have happened. Can anyone confirm this? -Mee Ronn 4 July 2005 22:14 (UTC)
- See below Dave Shepperd 01:37, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Night Driver History
In 1976 I was shown a picture of a cabinet with a small portion of the screen visible. On the screen were 3 or 4 little squares that I took to be roadside reflectors. I don't recall if the picture I was shown was on the front of an actual flyer for a game or a Xerox copy of same or it could have even been hand drawn nor do I remember what the name of the game was. I seem to remember somebody telling me it was a German game, but I could easily be wrong about this. In any case, I didn't see any game play and I have no memory of discovering any details from the paper I was shown about how that game played or even if it was anything more than someone's notion of a game. This was likely done on purpose in order to avoid being accused of ripping someone off; not that we'd cared too much about that in 1976 :). My charge was to make a game and Night Driver is the result. The hardware was designed by Terry Fowler and he took what we called MOC-16 hardware (Motion Object Control-16 for 16 individually controllable items) and greatly simplified it because it only had to draw little boxes rather than the more typical graphics. The MOC-16 hardware was designed by the fellows at our Cyan Engineering office in Grass Valley, Ca. I believe the two guys responsible for that hardware were Steve Mayer and Ron Milner. I don't believe it could be said that Night Driver was based on any other game since I hadn't actually seen any similar gameplay. But it could be said that having seen a partial picture of a screen with a few little boxes on it, the idea for Night Driver came to life. Dave Shepperd 01:37, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
