''Wizard'' is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

created in 1980 for the

Atari Video Computer System The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

(later renamed the Atari 2600) by Chris Crawford while working for Atari, Inc. The game was not advertised or released by Atari. ''Wizard'' uses a 2K ROM, the last Atari 2600 game developed by Atari with less than 4K.AtariProtos.com - All Your Protos Are Belong To Us!
/ref> ''Wizard'' was eventually released as part of the

Atari Flashback 2 The Atari Flashback is a line of dedicated video game consoles produced since 2004, currently designed, produced, published and marketed by AtGames under license from Atari SA. The Flashback consoles are " plug-and-play" versions of the 1970s ...

package in 2005.

Gameplay

Screenshot The player is a wizard from Irata (Atari spelled backwards) and battles imps in a

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...

. It's not a

symmetric Symmetry () in everyday life refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is invariant under some transformations ...

battle: the player is faster than the enemy, but the enemy can go through walls and fire faster than the player can. There is no need to aim, as the angle of the player's fire is automatically sent in the direction of the enemy. The enemy remains invisible when it is behind a wall. It also has heart beat audio, which becomes louder as the player gets closer to the enemy.

Development

The production of ''Wizard'' is detailed extensively in the book ''

Chris Crawford on Game Design ''Chris Crawford on Game Design'' () is a book about computer and video game design by Chris Crawford. Although initially intended to be the second edition of '' The Art of Computer Game Design'', the publisher decided, because it was a consider ...

''. Crawford wanted to write software for the new

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

, but Atari management required developers to create an Atari VCS game first. ''Wizard'' was never published for the Atari VCS. It was included with the

, 25 years after it was written. Chris Crawford learned about the release in an email from a fan. Crawford's original prototype did not contain a two-player mode, but the game released with the Atari Flashback 2 does.

References

External links

The Wizard Game Manual
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wizard (Video Game) 2005 video games Atari games Cancelled Atari 2600 games Atari 2600 games Maze games Chris Crawford (game designer) games Video games developed in the United States