Courtesy of the GDC Vault is the fascinating postmortem of Atari hit Marble Madness given at the Game Developers Conference 2011.
Marble Madness designer Mark Cerny went from being a punch card programming hobbyist and master of arcade games to an Atari employee at age 17. He thought the job would provide fame and fortune, but quickly he learned otherwise.
In this postmortem, Cerny explains what really went into and came out of the business and development of the Marble Madness software and hardware. He revisits scrapped plans, such as implementing touchscreen and motorized trackball controls, and discusses how the game's length may have caused declining profits in arcades.
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent GDC events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers. Those who purchased All Access passes to events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC China already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscriptions via a GDC Vault inquiry form.
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Be sure to keep an eye on GDC Vault for even more new content, as GDC organizers will also archive videos, audio, and slides from other events like GDC China and GDC 2013. To stay abreast of all the latest updates to GDC Vault, be sure to check out the news feed on the official GDC website, or subscribe to updates via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS.
I bought a midway classics collection and while a few games like 720 downhill and joust stuck out to me I don't think i enjoyed any game more than marble madness, and this is over 20 years well after the games release. i really enjoyed this talk and am happy to hear what occurred during the development of one of my favorite gems
