I Robot: The first 3d game of the history produced by Atari!

Few people know, but the polygonal 3d did not appear with the arrival of the first microcomputers and other game consoles. No, this process happened long before, during a time when the whole industry was about to feel the first financial depression of its sector of activity. We are in 1983 and a game designed and developed by the efforts of one and the same man: Dave Theurer, makes its appearance in the arcades. His name: I Robot.

An experiment

It is rather obscure since it produces only a few copies (the legend claims that it only had 500 made, mainly for the needs of the North American market), I robot is a production far ahead of its time. Even a bit too early, since this one proposed a new gaming experience, based on 3d rendering technique. Several productions of the time have attempted the adventure of the vectorial rendering with more or less success. This process gave the illusion of an essential factor for vision in 3 dimensions: that of depth of field.

Unsustainable in the long run, however, vector graphics have had their day of glory with the commercialization of MB's Vectrex, allowing us to experiment with this technique in our homes. That said, because of the technical limitations of this period, no company has embarked on the 3d experiment. Notably because of a high hardware cost allowing the realization of this technique. However, the arrival of the processors (in fact it is more of integrated chips) called "arithmetic" will change the given, by means of a particular use and reserved for a single type of use.

Handcrafted!

This is where Dave Theurer comes in, who sees the possibility of realizing his project using these arithmetic integrated circuits, built by AMD. The AMD Am2900, created in 1975, has an ALU (arithmetic-logic unit) to calculate, in real time, a polygonal 3d rendering, originally intended for scientific computation. Dave had the brilliant idea to divert the use of these chipsets in order to realize his program and thus propose a playful work on three levels.

Equipped with 4 Am2900 and a Motorola 6809 clocked at 1.5 MHz, as a conductor, I Robot was a technological showcase for the time. Although abstract and atypical, despite undeniable interactive qualities, the game did not meet the expected success. Too avant-garde for its time, I Robot also undergoes the full blow of the famous Krash of 1983, reducing to nothing the ambitions of the great bridges of the market ...

Let's talk about gameplay!

I Robot is a game combining action and reflection, based on gameplay from the no less famous Tempest. Most levels take the form of puzzles. With a dynamic architecture, the robot jumps from one platform to another. Automatically, a new platform appears to unify the structure, which makes it possible to return to the starting point without having to jump and offers new possibilities of jumps to other platforms. The game features an interactive camera system, with twelve viewable angles of view in real time, from the close perception behind the character to the overview in diving. Sega will take up this idea ten years later, for the development of Virtua Racing.

Let us return to Caesar what belongs to Caesar!

A true precursor of the use of this famous technique in a playful way, I Robot is a work that deserves to linger there, only for its technological feat. Certainly, the title does not do in originality, but proposes a tour de force for this period which will engender the whole modern game library, which we know now! Let us therefore honor this unnoticed game !