Английская Википедия:Dominos (video game)

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:More citations needed Шаблон:Infobox video game

Atari's Dominos is a one, two or four-player video action game packaged in its own distinctively styled upright cabinet that rest directly on the floor.

Gameplay

Gameplay is a variation of the snake genre, in which players compete by surrounding each other with lines of dominos. Players change direction via a set of four directional buttons representing up, down, right, and left respectively. A player loses when they hit a wall, their own dominos, or their opponent's, at which point all the dominos in their line "fall" down. At the end of each round, a point is awarded to the winner of that round until the end point goal is reached. The point goal can be 3, 4, 5, or 6 points.[1][2]

Development

Dominos was programmed by Dennis Koble.Шаблон:Sfn He had joined Atari in 1976 and was only the fourth programmer at the company. His first project was Sprint 2 (1976) made with Lyle Rains and Dan Van Elderen.Шаблон:Sfn Koble stated that despite being credited as the programmer on Dominos, Rains was "the brains behind the game", stating Rains suggested the concept, drew the graphics and created the AI for the computer controlled player.Шаблон:Sfn

Following the release of Blockade by Gremlin Industries, Atari wanted to make their own version of the game. Koble said the game was not stolen from Blockade, stating that prior to Gremlin's release, he had seen similar snake video games on ARPANET and CompuServe, which made him feel he was not stealing Gremlin's game.Шаблон:Sfn Among the additions made to the game, Koble added a computer-controlled opponent, giving the game a single-player mode.Шаблон:Sfn

Koble claimed it was made in a very short amount of time, estimating about 13 weeks from to complete. He recalled that the game was made when Atari was still a "young company and just trying to survive as they made the transition into using microprocessors. They didn't quite have the standards they developed later."Шаблон:Sfn

Release and reception

Dominos was shipped in January 1977.Шаблон:Sfn Following Dominos, Koble went on to program Avalanche, his final game for Atari.Шаблон:Sfn Atari would shortly release another snake game, Surround for the Atari 2600 on September 1977.Шаблон:Sfn

From retrospective reviews, Bret Alan Weiss wrote in Allgame that Dominos was a simplistic game in terms of both visuals and gameplay and that it was superior as a two-player game, but it was "more fun than it looks, which isn't saying much"Шаблон:Sfn

References

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Sources


Шаблон:1970s Atari arcade games


Шаблон:Arcade-stub