Art of Atari is a great book for getting into this. I love the way the marketers and the artists had to spin up these great stories and art to get people interested in the rudimentary graphics and gameplay that were actually on the screen.
I’m Jason Adam, the book designer who designed Art of Atari! It’s true - the graphics were so basic back then that the art had to do all the heavy lifting.
Thank you for the recommendation! I love art books and atari. And yeah it makes it impossible to know what holds up without digging into gameplay. River Raid is my favorite atari game but I never would have picked it up based on the cover.
Happy to spread the joy. Another book that doesn’t have quite the same focus but I still love is Artcade, which deals with cabinet side art and marquee art from the classic arcade era of the 70s and 80s.
Art of Atari is a great book for getting into this. I love the way the marketers and the artists had to spin up these great stories and art to get people interested in the rudimentary graphics and gameplay that were actually on the screen.
I’m Jason Adam, the book designer who designed Art of Atari! It’s true - the graphics were so basic back then that the art had to do all the heavy lifting.
That’s awesome! Thanks for the great work that you (and Tim) did on that book. It’s one of my fave gaming books.
Thank you for the recommendation! I love art books and atari. And yeah it makes it impossible to know what holds up without digging into gameplay. River Raid is my favorite atari game but I never would have picked it up based on the cover.
Happy to spread the joy. Another book that doesn’t have quite the same focus but I still love is Artcade, which deals with cabinet side art and marquee art from the classic arcade era of the 70s and 80s.