An Interview with 80s gaming icon David Fox

If you were playing adventure games in the 80s, you’ve likely seen some of David Fox’s handiwork. Most programmers back then went uncredited, and household names were still a rarity, but the products he put time into spoke volumes. David worked on many of LucasArts’ early smash hits: “Rescue on Fractalus,” “Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders,” “Maniac Mansion” and others.

Geek6 was able to take up some of David’s time to get his thoughts on the past and future of gaming, as well as the changes that have taken place in the industry over 30 years.

You were in on the computer revolution from the get-go. What was the first home machine you owned?

That’s a tough one…. Since Annie (my wife) and I started the Marin Computer Center in 1977, I guess we ‘owned’ a bunch of computers, though we didn’t have one at home for a few more years (no need, since we were always at the Center).

I guess it would have be a Processor Technology Sol 20, since those were our first computers at the Center. Later we added Apple IIs, Atari 400 & 800s, a Commodore Pet and TRS-80.

How did you get involved with LucasArts?

The second book I wrote was Computer Animation Primer (co-authored with Mitch Waite). My part of the book had a series of tutorials on the Atari 800, but I also wanted to show what the state of the art was at the time (1981). I spent some time with the fledgling Lucasfilm Computer Division.

That was great! They gave me several photos to use in the book, and Alvy Ray Smith (one of the founders of the Computer Division and its Director of Computer Graphics Research) even offered to read our sections on high-end computer animation for accuracy. I also spent some time with Loren Carpenter, one of their programmers, who first animated fractal landscapes in Vol Libre, and then at Lucasfilm with the terraforming scene of the Genesis Planet in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”

A year later, I heard from one of our regular Computer Center visitors (who also happened to work at ILM), that Lucasfilm was starting a new games group. I called Ed Catmul, head of the Computer Division, and got an interview set up.

I was the first person Peter Langston, head of the new games group, hired, and I got to share an office with Loren Carpenter! Out of that office sharing arrangement came the first game I worked on, “Rescue on Fractalus.” I’m still amazed out how serendipitous it all was.

What was it like working for LucasArts in the early days?

It was great! Being a part of the Computer Division at first meant we had a very research oriented focus. Our first two games were intended as “throw away” experiments. Only if we thought they were good would we show them to Atari. A few years later, we became much more of a production-focused organization, but we never lost that “research” heritage while I was there.

You actually worked at the Skywalker Ranch, right?

Yes, we were there for 4 years, from 1985 to 1989. We started there with 15 people, and gradually grew to about 65, outgrowing the space.

I loved working there! Amazing scenery, a fireplace right outside my office in the common area, a brook running by outside my office window, amazing meals. On the other hand, when I was crunching on a game, it was hard to enjoy the environment — I probably could have been in a closet and wouldn’t have noticed.

Making games in the 80s was a hugely different affair than it is today. What were the big differences?

Teams were much smaller, and development cycles quite a bit shorter. For example, Zak McKracken took 9 months from concept to completion, with 2 full-time SCUMM scriptors (Matthew Kane and myself), part time support from Ron Gilbert on the SCUMM engine, two artists, plus a team of playtesters.

Many of us did double-duty, taking on roles that might now be shared by multiple people. For example, Matthew also composed all the music, and I also was the project leader/designer. So basically a team of 5-8 people.

Did that make it harder or easier?

I liked having a small team, and having everyone jump in to do whatever it took to complete the game. On the other hand, that also meant I had to do things I really disliked (like scheduling, budgeting, etc.).

I also think that with Facebook games and mobile games, the teams tend to be a lot smaller again, very much like it was in the 80s.

Who do you think had it right, in terms of game development throughout the 80s? Were there any companies that hit it out of the park?

Of course, I’m prejudiced, but I think we did!

One of our favorite tidbits of early gaming was the schwag that accompanied the software. Zak came with a clue-laden tabloid newspaper, among other things. How did that come about?

It served several purposes… to enrich the gaming experience, provide all those clues so you could more easily make it through the game, and to make it less attractive to pirate the game (since it wouldn’t be as easy to duplicate the newspaper).

Speaking of piracy… Zak’s copy protection was a sheet of codes printed in black ink on dark brown paper that was famously hard to read. I’ve got at least 20 years in optometry bills to forward your way. Was piracy a big problem, even in pre-bittorrent days?

Hah! Sorry about those bills… Yes, absolutely. Even though we didn’t yet have pirate Web sites, we had pirate bulletin board systems. Soon after a game was released, someone would crack whatever copy protection was included and upload the game. They were also traded within some user groups and passed among friends. Unfortunately, I feel we were inconveniencing the honest purchasers of the game by forcing them to enter secret codes while the crackers were able to play through without dealing with them.

We also had a very bad first experience with piracy. A week after we gave beta copies of “Rescue on Fractalus!” and “Ballblazer” to Atari’s marketing department for review, both games were being distributed on those pirate BBSes.

We never found out who did it, and we were naive enough to release those disks without any unique identifying features or copy protection. So by the time the games were actually released, they were already old news, having been played by thousands of people. To this day, people refer to the games by their beta names (Behind Jaggi Lines or Rescue Mission, and Ballblaster).

There were many versions of Zak released for different systems, and all felt a little different — which one, in your mind, is the REAL experience?

The real one is the original, of course! Commodore 64 version.

A-ha! I knew I chose wisely!

Actually, all of the versions were essentially the same except for graphics and better sound and music. Interestingly, even with the better graphics, we really didn’t add any additional animation, or change the cutscenes. So, the basic experience of playing the game should be the same. I’d recommend the FM-Towns version, which had 256 color images. Check out zak-site.com for some great comparisons of the versions.

Toward the end of your time with LucasArts, you worked on a project called Mirage… what was that about? Why didn’t it take off?

From the time I first started working at Lucasfilm, I really wanted to be doing Location Based Entertainment — essentially interactive Disneyland-type experiences. I was told to hang on, we’d get to it eventually. So in 1990, that time had finally arrived and we created a new, small division called Rebel Arts and Technology.

It wasn’t really part of LucasArts. We partnered with Hughes Simulation to create an immersive multiplayer gaming simulator. RAT was responsible for the creative — game design, sound and music, and the design of the actual 2-person pods — and Hughes would build the imaging system and write the software.

We ended up with an amazing prototype and a kick-ass game, essentially “Rescue on Fractalus!” meets “Star Wars.” You would fly your X-wing (or TIE fighter) through narrow canyons, fight each other, and take on various missions.

It never made it to the public because of the cost of the final systems in the early 90s.

Editor’s note: There’s also Virtual World Entertainment, who made the immersive Tesla Pods for Battletech that I’ve enthused about before.

Do you still play any games today, or have you sworn off of them?

Occasionally I play. Part of the issue for me is I know if I find a great game, my productivity will be shot — I can be compulsive about finishing games and have been known to pull all-nighters. So mostly I stay away from them.

The last one I loved playing was Portal. I tended to get motion sick while playing so I didn’t finish!

Gaming has evolved a lot in the 30 years it’s been around. Have those changes been for the better or worse? If you could take a hatchet and remove one major aspect of today’s gaming experience, what would it be?

All flash and no substance. Not to say that all games are like that, but I think too many resort to better and flashier graphics rather than focusing on great story and gameplay. I just watched “Inglourious Basterds” on DVD and was blown away by its freshness. So given that the film industry is far older than the game industry, I’m truly optimistic that there will always be room for brilliance in games, just as there is in films.

Thirty years is still very young for an entertainment medium, and I know there’s a lot to look forward to.

What have you been up to since your days as a game designer?

I’ve been working on NewsTrust.net for the past 5 years. It’s a social media site where we rate news stories based on their journalistic quality. Very cool non-profit project. I support my wife, Annie, in her work with kids, parents and educators (Web site, podcats, etc. at http://www.AnnieFox.com).

I’ve also gotten to do some game designs for Disney theme parks, so I’m not totally out of the game industry. And who knows what I might get to work on tomorrow!