With Easter now just a week away, we’re revisiting one of our favorite Easter egg stories. Sadly, you can’t eat this kind of Easter egg and you might not even know you’re looking for it, but they have become a fun, unique way to add to the game.
And their history shows why they are important…
Artists sign their work. The names of authors adorn the front covers of novels. Paintings are identified by the signature in the bottom corner. Musicians are front and center on albums they release. Actors, directors and screenwriters get their recognition in the credits. Why was it different for video game developers?
In the early days of video games, right back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, being a game developer wasn’t well rewarded. Warren Robinett was a prominent such developer, working for the powerhouse Atari at the time. “Disrespect” seems to be the main word he uses to describe it.
When he developed the game Adventure for the Atari 2600, he received no royalties and no recognition. He didn’t even get his name anywhere on the box upon release in 1980. So Robinett came up with a plan. He hid his name within the game, in a secret room that Attari had no idea existed, and was incredibly difficult for players to get to. If they made it, “Created by Warren Robinett” would flash repeatedly on the screen.
The video game Easter egg was born, but nobody really knew it yet. In fact, 200,000 copies of Adventure were shipped before Robinett’s signature was discovered. It was ultimately a 15-year-old from Salt Lake City who alerted the Atari authorities to the matter. He penned a detailed letter explaining exactly how to get into the secret room and what they would find there.
Read More: How a new dam saved the island of Mont-Saint-Michel
Robinett wasn’t worried about what punishment he would face. He had no royalties and he’d already quit the job before Atari found it. He was surprised to find, however, that Steve Wright, Atari’s new lead game designer, was a big fan of the trick. He saw them for what they were – additional layers of the game that added to the experience.
Ensuing Atari games included Easter eggs inspired by Robinett’s first, but it was not enough to save the company that collapsed and imploded soon after.
What about Robinett’s creation? Adventure sold over a million cartridges. It is now a classic game, pioneering in its design and concept. It effectively spawned the since wildly successful genre of action-adventure fantasy games. And there’s no doubt about who created it.
Like learning about the history of games? Read more below!
