Eugene Jarvis

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Eugene Jarvis
Eugene Jarvis at CA Extreme 2016.jpg
Jarvis speaks during the Vid Kidz panel at California Extreme 2016
Born (1955-01-27) January 27, 1955 (age 69)
Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Occupation(s) Video game and pinball programmer
Known for Firepower
Defender
Robotron: 2084
Cruis'n
Nex Machina

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 and Robotron: 2084 in the early 1980s, and the Cruis'n series of driving games for Midway Games in the 1990s. He co-founded Vid Kidz in the early 1980s and currently leads his own development studio, Raw Thrills Inc. In 2008, Eugene Jarvis was named the first Game Designer in Residence by DePaul University's Game Development program. His family owns the Jarvis Wines company in Napa, California. [1]

Contents

In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. [2]

Early life and education

Jarvis was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Menlo Park. [3] He has an older sister, Diane, and a younger sister, Helen. His first game was chess, which he played as a young child; he was one of the best players at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. Jarvis's first encounter with computers came while he was in high school attending a one-day course on FORTRAN programming given by IBM. Jarvis originally intended to become a biochemist but decided on studying computers instead. [3] At the University of California, Berkeley, Jarvis did FORTRAN programming on mainframes. At Berkeley he got his first taste of computer gaming, playing Spacewar! in the basement of the physics lab. [4] He received his B.S. in EECS in 1976 from Berkeley. In his last days before graduation, he interviewed with Atari, but did not receive a call back. [3]

Career

Having an interest in natural language processing, Jarvis was hired by Hewlett-Packard to help create a COBOL compiler. He disliked the boring HP culture and quit after only three days into the six-year project. A few days later, three months after his interview, Atari finally called him back, interested in hiring him. [3] He joined them and started programming some of the first pinball games that used microprocessors. "I never quite understood why Atari got into the pinball business. They had this groundbreaking idea in video games, which at the time had far fewer parts and pieces, were far more reliable, and thus much less expensive to produce, yet they were putting time and money into pinball. It was kind of a mess," said Jarvis. [5] Atari's pinball development branch failed a few years later, so he moved to Chicago to continue programming pinball games for Williams Electronics. [6]

Video arcade games

The only legitimate use of a computer is to play games. [7]

— Eugene Jarvis, Supercade

As Jarvis worked on pinball games at Williams in the late 1970s, Space Invaders was released, sparking great interest in microprocessor-based video games. Jarvis wanted to try making a video game. When thinking of design ideas with famed pinball designer Steve Ritchie, they developed the concept for Defender – a side-scroller with the player flying over the surface of a planet. Defender (1980) was Jarvis's first video game and turned out to be a huge hit, becoming one of the highest grossing video games from the golden age of arcade games. [3] Williams expanded greatly with the success of Defender, but Jarvis left to found an independent game development firm called Vid Kidz with Larry DeMar in February 1981. After four months of tag-team programming between DeMar and Jarvis, they produced Vid Kidz's first game: Stargate (1981), an enhanced sequel to Defender that they sold to Williams.

Jarvis's next hit with Vid Kidz was the high-action game Robotron, which was produced by Williams in 1982. It took 6 months to develop. [8] He then designed Blaster , a sort-of Robotron sequel set in 2085 — after the robots destroyed humanity — but with different, 3D gameplay. Though a marvel to look at, Blaster was not quite as successful or remembered as his previous video games. [6] The video game crash of 1983 hit Williams hard, forcing them to cut back and revert to much of their pre-Defender business. Jarvis left Vid Kidz in 1984 to attend Stanford University, where he gained an MBA in 1986. He continued making games, designing Narc (1989) and helping develop Smash TV (1990), which drew comparisons to Robotron.

The next big leap for Jarvis was 3D. He had been interested in virtual reality since attending Berkeley in the 1970s. He and a group of others left Midway (which Williams had purchased in 1988) to experiment with VR, but disappointingly came to the realization that VR headsets were not catching on. They did find potential in multi-screen cockpit simulators though. He helped create 3D texture mapping hardware which ended up being used in his Cruis'n series of games.

Next Generation listed Jarvis in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", both for the massive success of Defender and for Cruis'n USA , which they said is "arguably neck-and-neck with Daytona USA as the most popular driving game of 1994." [9]

He works for his own studio, Raw Thrills Inc., [10] and his more recent work has returned him to the coin-op arcade game world with Target: Terror , a first-person perspective shooting game based on the "war on terror", introduced in spring 2004. The second game from his studio, The Fast and the Furious debuted that fall along with the Target: Terror update kit. Since the release of Target Terror, the company has experienced strong growth, developing or releasing titles including Nicktoons Nitro, [11] Guitar Hero Arcade, [12] H2Overdrive, [13] the Big Buck series of games [14] and Jurassic Park Arcade [15] among others.

In 2006, Raw Thrills purchased game developer Play Mechanix which is led by his friend George Petro. [16] Together the two companies have developed arcade and video redemption games for ICE and Bandai Namco Amusements America. [17]

In 2008, Jarvis was named DePaul University's first Game Designer in Residence. [4] His involvement at DePaul's Game Development program includes lectures, supervision of game projects, and input on curriculum. He was recognized as the NY-AMOA Man of the Year in 2009 [18] and he received the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Pioneer Award in 2013. [19]

Jarvis is the only video game designer to have his work featured on a U.S. postage stamp — two 1980's era children are depicted playing Defender on the video games stamp for the "Celebrate the Century" series. He also appeared in a cameo on the TV series NewsRadio (in the 3rd-season episode "Arcade") as "Delivery Man #3", a character who delivers a distracting arcade video game machine to the office. That arcade game is his own creation Stargate, which within the episode is called Stargate Defender and is described as being about "saving the humanoids" while avoiding the "Yllabian Space Guppies".

In 2018, Defender was included in the Chicago New Media 1973-1992 exhibition, that was curated by Jon Cates. [20]

In 2022, Jarvis and his wife, Sasha Gerritson, gifted DePaul the university's largest ever gift, in support of the institution's College of Computing and Digital Media. [21] In recognition of the couple's generosity and dedicated leadership, the college has been renamed the Eugene P. Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media.

Games

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included Mortal Kombat, Rampage, Spy Hunter, NBA Jam, Cruis'n and NFL Blitz. Midway also acquired the rights to video games that were originally developed by WMS Industries and Atari Games, such as Defender, Joust, Robotron: 2084, Gauntlet and the Rush series.

<i>Defender</i> (1981 video game) 1981 video game

Defender is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Williams Electronics in 1980 and released as an arcade video game in 1981. The game is set on either an unnamed planet or city where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts. Development was led by Eugene Jarvis, a pinball programmer at Williams; Defender was Jarvis's first video game project and drew inspiration from Space Invaders and Asteroids. Defender was demonstrated in late 1980 and was released in March 1981. It was distributed in Japan by Taito.

<i>Stargate</i> (1981 video game) 1981 video game

Stargate is a horizontally scrolling shooter released as an arcade video game in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it is a sequel to Defender which was released earlier in the year. It was the first of only three productions from Vid Kidz, an independent development house formed by Jarvis and DeMar. Some home ports of Stargate were renamed to Defender II for legal reasons.

<i>Robotron: 2084</i> 1982 video game

Robotron: 2084 is a multidirectional shooter developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar of Vid Kidz and released in arcades by Williams Electronics in 1982. The game is set in the year 2084 in a fictional world where robots have turned against humans in a cybernetic revolt. The aim is to defeat endless waves of robots, rescue surviving humans, and earn as many points as possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WMS Industries</span> Former American gaming and amusement company

WMS Industries, Inc. was an American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Enterprise, Nevada. It was merged into Scientific Games in 2016. WMS's predecessor was the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded in 1943 by Harry E. Williams. However, the company that became WMS Industries was formally founded in 1974 as Williams Electronics, Inc.

<i>Cruisn USA</i> 1994 video game

Cruis'n USA is a racing video game developed by TV Games Inc. and published by Nintendo. It was first released in arcades in 1994 by Midway Games, with a port to the Nintendo 64 developed by Williams Electronics released in 1996. It is the first game in the Cruis'n series and features races set in locations across the continental United States.

<i>Smash TV</i> 1990 video game

Smash TV is a 1990 arcade video game created by Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell for Williams Electronics Games. It is a twin-stick shooter in the same vein as 1982's Robotron: 2084, which was also co-created by Jarvis. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear versions are titled Super Smash TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raw Thrills</span> American arcade game company

Raw Thrills, Inc. is an arcade video game entertainment company based in Skokie, Illinois. It is best known for developing arcade games based on films.

Blaster is a first-person rail shooter released as an arcade video game by Williams Electronics in 1983. It was developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar. A vague sequel to Robotron: 2084, the game is a shoot 'em up set in outer space. The goal is to destroy enemies, avoid obstacles, and rescue astronauts in twenty levels, to reach paradise.

<i>Defender 2000</i> 1996 video game

Defender 2000 is a 1996 scrolling shooter video game developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar. Part of Atari's 2000 series of arcade game revivals, it is an update of Eugene Jarvis' arcade game Defender (1981). The premise takes place in a future where the Alpha Promixian empire attack mining settlements on distant resource planets. Gameplay is divided into three modes, with the player acting as part of the System Defense Team commanding the Threshold ship to defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry DeMar</span> Pinball and video game designer

Lawrence E. "Larry" DeMar is an American video game and pinball designer and software programmer. He is known as co-designer, alongside Eugene Jarvis, of the classic arcade games Defender and Robotron: 2084.

Vid Kidz was an American video game developer formed in 1981 by Defender programmers Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, following their departure from Williams Electronics. Williams contracted with Vid Kidz to design games for them. Vid Kidz was disbanded in 1984.

<i>Cruisn</i> Video game series

Cruis'n is a series of racing video games originally developed by Eugene Jarvis for Midway Games and published by Midway and Nintendo. The series distinguishes itself from other racing games with its over-the-top presentation and fast-paced gameplay, featuring a wide variety of vehicles and tracks based on a number of real world locations. The series debuted in North American and European arcades in 1994 with the release of Cruis'n USA, which, along with Killer Instinct, was advertised as running on Nintendo's Ultra 64 hardware. Two sequels followed, Cruis'n World and Cruis'n Exotica, which featured new vehicles and tracks. All three games were released for the Nintendo 64 as well, with Exotica also being released for the handheld Game Boy Color. The next game in the series, Cruis'n Velocity deviated from the traditional arcade gameplay of the series and was released for the Game Boy Advance.

<i>Cruisn</i> (video game) 2004 video game

Cruis'n is a racing game developed by Just Games Interactive and published by Midway Games for the Wii. It is a modified version of Raw Thrills' The Fast and the Furious which was released in arcades in 2004, based on the Fast & Furious franchise; the Wii version used the Cruis'n brand owned by Nintendo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show</span>

The Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show is an annual pinball and arcade game festival held in Tacoma, Washington, United States.

Mark Ritchie is an American pinball designer and video game producer. He is best known for his successful pinball designs from 1982-1996. He has continued to work in the coin-operated amusement industry, currently serving as production coordinator for Raw Thrills, Inc. / Play Mechanix, Inc. Mark is the younger brother of fellow pinball designer Steve Ritchie.

<i>Mystic Marathon</i> 1984 arcade game

Mystic Marathon is a horizontally scrolling arcade video game released by Williams Electronics in 1984. The game presents a race between horned, shoe-wearing, fantasy creatures called "Benkins" on a course covering small islands and the water between them. It was programmed by Kristina Donofrio (lead) and Ken Graham. Donofrio later worked on Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest.

<i>Nex Machina</i> 2017 video game

Nex Machina is a 2017 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Housemarque. The game was released for PlayStation 4 and Windows on 20 June 2017. It received positive reviews from critics.

<i>Cruisn Blast</i> 2021 video game

Cruis'n Blast is a racing video game developed and published by Raw Thrills. Originally released for arcades in 2017, it is the sixth and latest installment in Nintendo's Cruis'n series. A version for the Nintendo Switch which includes additional modes, cars, and tracks, was released on September 14, 2021.

Twin-stick shooter is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games. It is a multidirectional shooter in which the player character is controlled using two joysticks: the first for movement on a flat plane and the second to shoot in the direction the joystick is pushed. Usually shots are fired as soon as the second joystick is moved, but in some games there is an additional button which must be held. Keyboard and mouse or touch input may supplant one or both joysticks. A few games, such as 1981's Vanguard, don't have a second joystick for shooting, but provide four buttons arranged in a diamond to fire in the cardinal directions.

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome - Jarvis Estate". Jarviswines.com. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  2. ↑ "IGN - 63. Eugene Jarvis". IGN. Archived from the original on 2014-04-20. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Obsessions (2013-12-18). "This Game Industry Pioneer Never Gave Up on the Video Arcade". WIRED. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  4. 1 2 Christopher Borrelli (2012-12-17). "Eugene Jarvis still believes in the arcade video game - Page 2 - tribunedigital-chicagotribune". Articles.chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2012. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  5. ↑ "Atari 50:The Anniversary Celebration".
  6. 1 2 "Eugene Jarvis".
  7. ↑ Burnham, Van (2001). Supercade. Cambridge: MIT Press. p. 14. ISBN   0-262-02492-6.
  8. ↑ "How Eugene Jarvis created arcade masterpiece Robotron 2084". Polygon. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  9. ↑ "75 Power Players". Next Generation (11). Imagine Media: 50–51. November 1995.
  10. ↑ Christopher Borrelli (2012-12-17). "Eugene Jarvis still believes in the arcade video game". Articles.chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2012. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  11. ↑ "Nicktoons Nitro Racing - Raw Thrills, Inc". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  12. ↑ "Guitar Hero™ Arcade - Raw Thrills, Inc". Archived from the original on 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  13. ↑ "H2Overdrive™ - Raw Thrills, Inc". Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-01. Retrieved 2016-03-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ↑ "Q&A On Jurassic Park Arcade With Eugene Jarvis". Arcade Heroes. 2015-02-23. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  16. ↑ "About Us". Play Mechanix. Archived from the original on 2014-03-29. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  17. ↑ "IAAPA 2015: MotoGP, Mario & Sonic Olympics Arcade; World's Largest Pac-Man; Galaga Assault". Arcade Heroes. 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  18. ↑ "Eugene Jarvis named the NY-AMOA Man of the Year 2009". Arcade Heroes. 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  19. ↑ "Robotron: 2084 dev honoured with AIAS Pioneer Award". GamesIndustry.biz. 2013-12-18. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  20. ↑ Cates, Jon (2018). Chicago New Media, 1973-1992. Illinois, United States: University of Illinois. p. 9. ISBN   978-0-252-08407-2.
  21. ↑ Buckley, Madeline (March 28, 2022). "Video game designer and wife give DePaul its largest donation ever for College of Computing and Digital Media". Chicago Tribune .
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