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APPLYING THE F8 MICROCOMPUTER FAMILY TO GAMES
RONALD L. BALDRIDGE
Applications Engineer
MOSTEK Corporation
Irvine, California
Game playing computers have been around for a long time but only recently has the phenomenon really fired the imagination of both game manufacturers and the general public. Much of the credit for this must be given to this decade's most revolutionary electronics development: the microcomputer. For the first time cost effective intelligent games can be designed containing the game algorithim in "firmware" within a microcomputer consisting of only a few integrated circuits inside the game apparatus.
Why Use a Microcomputer?
Asking "Why use a microcomputer for games?" is like asking why use transistors instead of tubes for TV's. The answer applies not only to games but to a myriad of other electronics applications from vending machines to consumer appliances formerly using relays and TTL logic. First let's consider the design goals for games summarized in Fig. 1.
Design Goals for Games
A new game must be entertaining to be played or purchased by the consumer. To prevent rapid boredom the game should therefore require a challenging degree of skill and sophistication on the part of the player. The flexibility and power of the microcomputer permits this sophistication to be included within the microcomputer program or firmware.
Secondly, the game needs to be low cost to justify its purchase or play. The bulk of the cost as we will see is the games production cost, and this is where the microcomputer really shines, by lowering the number of IC's required to implement a design. This reduction in components also helps fulfill the other game design goals of increased reliability and ease of manufacture.
One of the most important goals, that of flexibility, is achieved by having the game in firmware. Making design changes or creating new designs then becomes a matter of changing the firmware, usually a ROM or PROM plugged into a socket within the game electronics–the hardware remains the same.
Microcomputer Design Advantages
The advantages of using a microcomputer to achieve these design goals for games are summarized in Fig. 2. As in the case
NBC newscaster Jack Bates interviews Dr. David Chandler and Ron Baldridge.
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