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Introducing Ballblazer & Rescue on Fractalus! 09 Jul, 2005 / Comments: 9


David Fox, creator of Zak McKraken, lead on Labyrinth and other very early LucasFilm Games has posted some interesting archival video clips (quicktime) on his website.

The video was first shown at the Lucasfilm Games press conference on May 9, 1984 to introduce their first two games, Rescue on Fractalus! and Ballblazer.
About the Video
At the press conference in 1984 where this video was first shown, the idea was to present only imagery captured directly from the game. We felt our first two games were breakthrough enough that we didn't need any special effects, and indeed, we were concerned that if anything on the screen was created outside the game, people might think everything was. That's why we chose to show a blank screen for the first minute and twenty seconds rather than creating any non-game imagery.
To prepare this video, first a script was written with all the dialog and scene descriptions. Dialog was recorded at Robert Berke Sound in San Francisco using professional voice-over actors. Then the video was captured to tape directly from an Atari 800 computer. The video and the voice were then edited together, and a few video transitions added between scenes. The only part of the video that was not from the Atari is the end sequence.
Click here for Rescue on Fractalus and here for Ballblazer.

There's more information on these two games and the early LucasFilm Games setup at this webpage by former employee Peter Langston, including some rather wonderful magazine & newspaper scans from 20+ years ago.

Update: I'm having problems playing the video clips in Explorer, though they launch and play OK in Opera. David Fox himself has stopped by and commented below.

Source: Electric Eggplant

9

9 Comments

  • ThunderPeel2001 on 12 Jul, 2005, 19:38…
    Holy Sh*t! I had no idea Rescue on Fractulus was so advanced for it's time! WOW!

    Ballblazer wasn't too shabby either. The voice overs added a really nice touch, I'll bet these videos really went down a storm!

    (It all works fine on my PC BTW - using Firefox)
  • netmonkey on 11 Jul, 2005, 16:32…
    I love that picture of the LucasFilm Games team, specially that guy wearing the "REVENGE of the Jedi" t-shirt.
  • QueZTone on 10 Jul, 2005, 20:57…
    i just got back from the cinemas, i recommend this Back to the Future movie to all of you! It's pretty cool!
  • Shmargin on 10 Jul, 2005, 05:12…
    Wow, video from back when Lucas was still original and ground breaking...I guess they released this just to show how un-amazing the company has become with time.

    Pumping out licensed software as fast as they can rather than releasing well designed fun stuff.
  • DavidFox on 09 Jul, 2005, 23:07…
    Hi! The video files should play fine. If not, please go to my website (http://www.electriceggplant.com) and send me a message telling me which platform (PC/Mac), which OS, and which version of QuickTime you have. It works fine with QuickTime 6.5.2. Make sure you have your connection speed entered under QuickTime preferences to watch the best quality version. Enjoy!!
  • jp-30 on 10 Jul, 2005, 01:03…
    Hi David,

    Thank you so much for swinging by here to comment!

    The two screenshots below show what happens - if I click the link from your pages I get the 'file not found' dialoge box. If I download the .qtl and run it it launches Quicktime (6.5.2, PC) but nothing ever plays.

    #1.

    @2.

    Hopefully it's just some issue with my PC and it works for the other mojo readers... ???
  • jp-30 on 10 Jul, 2005, 01:22…
    Hmmm. They stream fine using Opera, it's just in Internet Explorer that I'm having issues.
  • DavidFox on 10 Jul, 2005, 03:33…
    Glad you found a browser that it works in. No idea why it won't work in IE for you -- I was able to get it to run fine in IE on XP. Probably not worth worrying about, as long as there's a solution that works.
  • bgbennyboy on 09 Jul, 2005, 19:52…
    This scares me.