David Rolfe

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A different person also named David Rolfe is a music record producer.

David Rolfe is a computer programmer who was instrumental in the development of many "golden age" arcade and home video games. He received his BS in Engineering from Caltech in 1977.

[edit] Arcade games

As a developer for Exidy, Rolfe helped design and implement the games Fire One!, Kreepy Krawlers, and most notably Star Fire.

[edit] Home games

Rolfe joined APh, a company that designed game hardware and software for Mattel to release under their own name. Rolfe worked on Football II, one of the early LED-based handheld electronic games, as well as an unreleased pinball handheld. When Mattel, inspired by the success of Atari and their VCS, decided to enter the home console market they chose APh to develop their console, the Intellivision. Rolfe programmed the "exec" software — effectively, the operating system — for the Intellivision, as well as the "PicSe" system software for the barely released (and mythically rare) Intellivision Keyboard Component.

Rolfe developed some of the earliest Intellivision games, including Las Vegas Blackjack & Poker (which was the pack-in game that came with the system, Major League Baseball, and Checkers. He also programmed two of the M-Network Mattel games for the Atari VCS, namely Super Challenge Baseball and Frogs and Flies.

Later, Rolfe helped form a new company, Cheshire Engineering, to develop games for Activision for the Atari, Intellvision, and ColecoVision consoles. Among his Cheshire-era games are Beamrider and the unreleased ColecoVision title Steamroller.