THE EVOLUTION OF PITFALL!

Prior to the release of Pitfall! in 1982, the vast majority – if not all platform games – had been linear and level-based. David Crane’s platformer, by comparison, was set in a sprawling jungle environment, and as David explains, it really pushed the humble Atari 2600. “Pitfall! was built from the ground up using my newly-created human figure – once I finally achieved a recognisable character using just eight bits,” David sighs. “Then while dreaming up the game I placed the character running on a path, and it was only natural to place that path in a jungle. I didn’t set out to make a jungle adventure, but an adventure game, which ended up in a jungle because it provided an appropriate setting. Raiders Of The Lost Ark had been in theatres, so the idea of setting Pitfall! in a jungle was partially inspired by that.”

With a hero and setting in place, David next populated his platform game with pairs of hazards, carefully gauging their overall threat to test players without frustrating them. “It was important to tweak each interaction to be fun,” David reasons. “You never had to deal with rolling logs while trying to jump the alligators, for example. But it was not unusual to have rolling logs on paths with holes, so you had to be careful where you stood for your jump. Each interaction was such that once a player reached a certain level of a vine.”