''Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers'' is a digital book edited by James Hague and published in 1997.The full HTML ''Halcyon Days'' book
/ref> The book was originally formatted using

HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...

and sold via

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, shipped on a

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by Dadgum Games for

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

$20. In 2002, ''Halcyon Days'' was made freely available on the web. The book continued to be sold by ''

Dr. Dobb's Journal ''Dr. Dobb's Journal'' (often shortened to ''Dr. Dobb's'' or DDJ) was a monthly magazine published in the United States by UBM Technology Group, part of UBM. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. When launched in 1976, DDJ was the fi ...

'', on a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

also containing Susan Lammers's ''Programmers at Work'', until Dr. Dobb's shut down at the end of 2014. The introduction to ''Halcyon Days'' is written by

John Romero Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967) is an American video game developer. He co-founded id Software and designed their early games, including ''Wolfenstein 3D'' (1992), ''Doom (1993 video game), Doom'' (1993), ''Doom II'' (1994), ''Hexen ...

who told

Wired News ''Wired'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. It is published in both print and online editions by Condé Nast. The magazine has been in publication since its l ...

the interviews were "like hearing messages from old gods." ''Halcyon Days'' has since become a common reference for writings on game history, including '' Racing the Beam'' (MIT Press, 2009), and ''Retrogame Archeology'' (Springer, 2016).

Interviewees

* Ed Averett:

Magnavox Odyssey² The Magnavox Odyssey 2 (stylized as Magnavox Odyssey2), also known as Philips Odyssey 2, is a home video game console of the second generation that was released in 1978. It was sold in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil and Peru as ...

games *

Danielle Bunten Berry Danielle Bunten Berry (February 19, 1949 – July 3, 1998), formerly known as Dan Bunten, was an American game designer and programmer, known for the 1983 game '' M.U.L.E.'', one of the first influential multiplayer video games, and 1984's '' ...

: '' M.U.L.E.'', '' The Seven Cities of Gold'' * Stephen C. Biggs * Adam Billyard *

Bill Budge Bill Budge (born August 11, 1954) is a retired American video game programmer and designer. He is best known for the Apple II games ''Raster Blaster'' (1981) and '' Pinball Construction Set'' (1983). Early games Budge says he became interested ...

: '' Raster Blaster'', ''

Pinball Construction Set ''Pinball Construction Set'' is a video game by Bill Budge written for the Apple II. It was originally published in 1982 through Budge's own company, BudgeCo, then was released by Electronic Arts in 1983 along with ports to the Atari 8-bit comput ...

'' * Chris Crawford: '' Eastern Front'', '' Legionnaire'' * Steve DeFrisco * David Fox: ''

Rescue on Fractalus! ''Rescue On Fractalus!'' is a space combat simulator video game created by Lucasfilm Games. It was originally released in 1985 for the Atari 8-bit computers and Atari 5200 console, then ported to the Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, T ...

'' * Jon Freeman &

Anne Westfall Anne Westfall is an American video game programmer and software developer, known for 1983's '' Archon: The Light and the Dark'', originally written for the Atari 8-bit computers. Westfall and her spouse, fellow game developer Jon Freeman, toge ...

* Gary Gilbertson * Marc Goodman: '' The Bilestoad'' * Dan Gorlin: ''

Choplifter ''Choplifter'' (stylized as ''Choplifter!'') is a military-themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers the same year, and also to the VIC-20, C ...

'' * Tom Griner * Steve Hales: '' Fort Apocalypse'' * John Harris *

Eugene Jarvis Eugene Peyton Jarvis is an American game designer and video game programmer, known for producing pinball machines for Williams Electronics and video games for Atari. Most notable among his works are the seminal arcade video games '' Defender'' ...

* David Lubar * Scott Ludwig *

Archer Maclean Archer Donald Maclean (28 January 1962 – 17 December 2022) was a British video game programmer. He was the author of '' Dropzone'' which he developed for the Atari 8-bit computers and was ported to other systems. Maclean also developed the Com ...

Jeff Minter Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games ...

* Brian Moriarty * Doug Neubauer: ''

Star Raiders ''Star Raiders'' is a space combat simulator video game created by Doug Neubauer and published in 1980 by Atari, Inc. Originally released for the Atari 8-bit computers, Atari 400/800 computers, ''Star Raiders'' was later ported to the Atari 2 ...

'', ''

Solaris Solaris is the Latin word for sun. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Sol ...

'' * Philip Price *

Warren Robinett Joseph Warren Robinett Jr. (born December 25, 1951) In the A. Merrill interview, Robinett says he was 26 in November 1977. is an American video game designer. He is most notable as the developer of the Atari 2600's ''Adventure'' and as a founder ...

: ''

Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

'' * Ed Rotberg: '' Battlezone'', '' Blasteroids'', '' S.T.U.N. Runner'' * Warren Schwader: '' Sammy Lightfoot'' * Paul Shirley: '' Spindizzy'' *

Tim Skelly Tim Skelly (February 10, 1951 – death reported March 2, 2020) was a video game designer and game programmer who developed arcade games for Cinematronics from 1978 until 1981. He designed a series of pure action games using black and white vecto ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halcyon Days (Book) Books about video games 1997 non-fiction books Ebooks

Interviewees

See also

References

External links