Entombed: An archaeological examination of an Atari 2600 game (1811.02035v1)

Abstract: The act and experience of programming is, at its heart, a fundamentally human activity that results in the production of artifacts. When considering programming, therefore, it would be a glaring omission to not involve people who specialize in studying artifacts and the human activity that yields them: archaeologists. Here we consider this with respect to computer games, the focus of archaeology's nascent subarea of archaeogaming. One type of archaeogaming research is digital excavation, a technical examination of the code and techniques used in old games' implementation. We apply that in a case study of Entombed, an Atari 2600 game released in 1982 by US Games. The player in this game is, appropriately, an archaeologist who must make their way through a zombie-infested maze. Maze generation is a fruitful area for comparative retrogame archaeology, because a number of early games on different platforms featured mazes, and their variety of approaches can be compared. The maze in Entombed is particularly interesting: it is shaped in part by the extensive real-time constraints of the Atari 2600 platform, and also had to be generated efficiently and use next to no memory. We reverse engineered key areas of the game's code to uncover its unusual maze-generation algorithm, which we have also built a reconstruction of, and analyzed the mysterious table that drives it. In addition, we discovered what appears to be a 35-year-old bug in the code, as well as direct evidence of code-reuse practices amongst game developers. What further makes this game's development interesting is that, in an era where video games were typically solo projects, a total of five people were involved in various ways with Entombed. We piece together some of the backstory of the game's development and intoxicant-fueled design using interviews to complement our technical work. Finally, we contextualize this example in archaeology and lay the groundwork for a broader interdisciplinary discussion about programming, one that includes both computer scientists and archaeologists.

• The paper reveals how reverse engineering of 'Entombed' uncovers a unique 32-byte lookup table and a buggy pseudo-random number generator in its maze-generation algorithm.
• It highlights the collaborative cultural aspects of early game development, showing that multiple creators and unconventional influences shaped its design.
• The study establishes a digital archaeology framework that bridges computer science and archaeology, offering a new model to preserve historical programming practices.

An Archaeological Perspective on Entombed: Examining Historical Game Development

John Aycock and Tara Copplestone's paper "Entombed: An Archaeological Examination of an Atari 2600 Game" integrates the fields of computer science and archaeology to analyze the Atari 2600 game "Entombed". The paper employs a multidisciplinary approach to uncover technical, cultural, and historical insights associated with the game's development. The paper presents itself as a form of digital archaeology, using techniques of reverse engineering to excavate and understand artifacts of early video game design.

Technical Findings

The focus of the paper revolves around the maze-generation algorithm in "Entombed", a unique procedural content generation challenge that utilized minimal resources on the heavily constrained Atari 2600 platform. The authors reverse engineered the game code to reveal a distinctive 32-byte lookup table used to decide maze structure in real-time. The authors share their findings on the pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) used within the game, noting a specific bug leading to suboptimal randomness over extended runs. The persistence of this particular buggy PRNG across several other games suggests evidence of code reuse, an early instance of software modularization within game development.

Social and Cultural Insights

Beyond the technical unpacking of "Entombed", this work provides a lens into the social aspects of early game development. It was identified that multiple individuals were involved in the game's creation—a divergence from the typical solitary programmer projects of the time. The paper records anecdotal evidence gathered from developers, adding a narrative layer to the technical dissection. The contribution of a broad team, including the intoxication-fueled input from one developer, provides a textured account of the collaborative and sometimes chaotic nature of early video game programming.

Theoretical and Practical Implications

This investigation into "Entombed" extends beyond just artifact analysis to propose a model for how interdisciplinary studies can merge archaeological methods with computer science to interpret the historical and social contexts of digital creations. This paper suggests that digital archaeology can uncover latent structures and themes, such as understanding medium constraints and creative practices in retrogame development.

The work also encourages further examination of historical digital artifacts, suggesting that many coding practices, algorithmic innovations, and collaborative efforts from that period remain underexplored. As digital artifacts age, setting a methodological precedent for their examination becomes increasingly important for ensuring the preservation of knowledge surrounding the nascent days of software development.

Speculative Discussion

The broader discussion opened by the authors encourages speculation on future developments in this hybrid field of paper. As artificial intelligence and procedural content generation grow increasingly sophisticated, understanding foundational techniques from past platforms like the Atari 2600 presents opportunities for insights into controlling complexity with extreme resource efficiency. This can have implications for AI development where similarly constrained environments or tasks are concerned. Furthermore, integrating archaeological precision in documenting such case studies allows researchers to speculate how evolving technologies might carry forward these early behaviors, conscious developments, and inherent constraints.

Conclusion

By uncovering both technical and cultural dimensions of the game "Entombed", this paper contributes to a rich multidisciplinary dialogue on the paper of programming as a human activity. This archeological lens provides a crucial context for understanding the intertwined development of technology and culture, offering a nuanced understanding of the craft of programming within the historical scenario of early retrogames. The paper stands as a testament to the potential richness excavated from digital past practices, waiting to be discovered through reversed engineering and historical contextualization.