The very first pong games were done using opamps and timers. Two voltage ramps, a slow one for vertical and a faster one for horizontal were generated and these were used to generate all the timing signals. The pots for the bats were compared to the vertical ramp and the output triggered a timer to switch on the bat, this signal was anded with a fixed horizontal time to display the bat. The ball was two slower reversible ramps. Collision was done by anding the bat and ball signals.
I read a long article on this sometime in the early seventies and was in awe at the complexity of the circuits. Image my confusion when space invaders came out!! How on earth did they do that with opamps.
I found an interesting article that was probably written about the same time as I read about it. clicky.
I read a long article on this sometime in the early seventies and was in awe at the complexity of the circuits. Image my confusion when space invaders came out!! How on earth did they do that with opamps.
I'm pretty sure (certain) that space invaders used a microprocessor but when I first saw it I was trying to work out how on earth they did it having just read the analogue pong article.
I'm pretty sure (certain) that space invaders used a microprocessor but when I first saw it I was trying to work out how on earth they did it having just read the analogue pong article.