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Tod Frye

January 01, 1970

Tod R. Frye (born 1955) is an American computer programmer once employed by Atari, Inc., and is most notable for developing the home adaptation of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 video computer system. Following the collapse of Atari he worked at video game and computer game companies such as 3DO and Pronto Games.

Tod Frye
Born
Tod R. Frye

1955
NationalityAmerican
OccupationComputer programmer
Known forPac-Man

In 2015 he was working as Senior Embedded Software Engineer for the SunPower Corporation, where he worked in the field of IoT, developing hardware and software systems for monitoring solar power systems. His work extended from 'edge' devices, collecting and transmitting device telemetry, to cloud hosted Big Data systems for storing, analyzing, and reporting device data.

Leaving Sunpower in late 2016, Frye joined Bonsai AI, which was developing an artificial intelligence platform, focusing primarily on reinforcement learning.

Atari Pac-Man edit

Frye landed the 2600 Pac-Man project in early 1981. Atari had licensed the arcade games Defender and Pac-Man and while Frye preferred Defender, when fellow programmer Bob Polaro got that assignment, Frye got Pac-Man by default.[1] Frye's landing the high-profile title did not pass without critical comment from fellow developers at Atari, as Frye was a newer employee. One Atari employee wrote "Why Frye?" on the Pac-Man arcade machine contained in Atari's in-office arcade room. In response, Frye drew a horizontal line over the "Why", which means "Why not Frye" in logic notation.[2]

Frye's Pac-Man port was started in May 1981,[citation needed] and was the most anticipated release for 1982, so marketing pressed Frye to produce the game on a very strict timetable (lead times on the cartridge ROMs was several months, so the code needed to be completed in September 1981 to get the product into stores during the first quarter of 1982). Atari corporate management demanded Frye complete the game in the standard 4K ROM, as the 8K ROM form factor was not quite available at the time. Frye made several decisions which later proved controversial. First, he decided that supporting two-player gameplay was important, which meant 25–30 bytes of the 2600's meager 128 byte memory was utilized to store the second player's game state, score, etc. as opposed to using it for game data and features.[3] Second, due to time constraints, he chose to abandon plans for a flicker-management system which would have minimized the flashing of objects. Finally, his game did not conform to the arcade game's color scheme in order to comply with Atari's official home product policy that only space type games should feature black backgrounds. Frye states that there were no negative comments within Atari about these elements, but upon release the title drew criticism for not closely hewing to the specifics of its arcade counterpart.

Pac-Man proved to be a stunning financial coup for Atari, and Frye reportedly received $0.10 in royalties per Pac-Man cartridge.[4] Atari would manufacture 12 million cartridges, making Frye a millionaire in the process.

Notable contributions edit

Frye contributed to the LCD Breakout Atari handheld, the version of Asteroids for the Atari 8-bit computers, the Swordquest series (Earthworld, Fireworld, Waterworld, and the uncompleted Airworld). Unreleased games include Save Mary, Shooting Arcade and Xevious (Atari 2600).

Frye also developed the Red-Blue kernel (frequently misnamed as the Red-vs-Blue kernel) vertical sprite re-use technology used in Realsports Football and several other Atari 2600 products.[5]

After parting ways with Atari, Frye later worked for Axlon (one of the many companies founded by Atari Pioneer Nolan Bushnell) and was hired as a programmer alongside fellow Atari employees Rob Zydbel, Bob Smith, and Howard Scott Warshaw at The 3DO Company.

Frye remains active in video games, making technical contributions to classic compilations such as Midway Arcade Treasures.

References edit

  1. ^ Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt. Atari Inc., Business is Fun. pp. 578–579.
  2. ^ The "Once Upon Atari" video produced by Scott West Productions under Howard Scott Warshaw .
  3. ^ Hans Reutter (2016-10-27), PRGE 2016 - Tod Frye - Portland Retro Gaming Expo (quote at 9:25), retrieved 2016-10-28
  4. ^ "Designer Profile: Chris Crawford (Part 2)". Computer Gaming World. Jan–Feb 1987. pp. 56–59. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  5. ^ Hans Reutter (2016-10-27), PRGE 2016 - Tod Frye - Portland Retro Gaming Expo, retrieved 2016-10-28

External links edit

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Tod Frye.
  • Tod Frye on IMDb
  • Interview

January 01, 1970
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This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia s quality standards You can help The talk page may contain suggestions November 2018 Tod R Frye born 1955 is an American computer programmer once employed by Atari Inc and is most notable for developing the home adaptation of Pac Man for the Atari 2600 video computer system Following the collapse of Atari he worked at video game and computer game companies such as 3DO and Pronto Games Tod FryeBornTod R Frye1955NationalityAmericanOccupationComputer programmerKnown forPac Man In 2015 he was working as Senior Embedded Software Engineer for the SunPower Corporation where he worked in the field of IoT developing hardware and software systems for monitoring solar power systems His work extended from edge devices collecting and transmitting device telemetry to cloud hosted Big Data systems for storing analyzing and reporting device data Leaving Sunpower in late 2016 Frye joined Bonsai AI which was developing an artificial intelligence platform focusing primarily on reinforcement learning Contents 1 Atari Pac Man 2 Notable contributions 3 References 4 External linksAtari Pac Man editFrye landed the 2600 Pac Man project in early 1981 Atari had licensed the arcade games Defender and Pac Man and while Frye preferred Defender when fellow programmer Bob Polaro got that assignment Frye got Pac Man by default 1 Frye s landing the high profile title did not pass without critical comment from fellow developers at Atari as Frye was a newer employee One Atari employee wrote Why Frye on the Pac Man arcade machine contained in Atari s in office arcade room In response Frye drew a horizontal line over the Why which means Why not Frye in logic notation 2 Frye s Pac Man port was started in May 1981 citation needed and was the most anticipated release for 1982 so marketing pressed Frye to produce the game on a very strict timetable lead times on the cartridge ROMs was several months so the code needed to be completed in September 1981 to get the product into stores during the first quarter of 1982 Atari corporate management demanded Frye complete the game in the standard 4K ROM as the 8K ROM form factor was not quite available at the time Frye made several decisions which later proved controversial First he decided that supporting two player gameplay was important which meant 25 30 bytes of the 2600 s meager 128 byte memory was utilized to store the second player s game state score etc as opposed to using it for game data and features 3 Second due to time constraints he chose to abandon plans for a flicker management system which would have minimized the flashing of objects Finally his game did not conform to the arcade game s color scheme in order to comply with Atari s official home product policy that only space type games should feature black backgrounds Frye states that there were no negative comments within Atari about these elements but upon release the title drew criticism for not closely hewing to the specifics of its arcade counterpart Pac Man proved to be a stunning financial coup for Atari and Frye reportedly received 0 10 in royalties per Pac Man cartridge 4 Atari would manufacture 12 million cartridges making Frye a millionaire in the process Notable contributions editFrye contributed to the LCD Breakout Atari handheld the version of Asteroids for the Atari 8 bit computers the Swordquest series Earthworld Fireworld Waterworld and the uncompleted Airworld Unreleased games include Save Mary Shooting Arcade and Xevious Atari 2600 Frye also developed the Red Blue kernel frequently misnamed as the Red vs Blue kernel vertical sprite re use technology used in Realsports Football and several other Atari 2600 products 5 After parting ways with Atari Frye later worked for Axlon one of the many companies founded by Atari Pioneer Nolan Bushnell and was hired as a programmer alongside fellow Atari employees Rob Zydbel Bob Smith and Howard Scott Warshaw at The 3DO Company Frye remains active in video games making technical contributions to classic compilations such as Midway Arcade Treasures References edit Goldberg Marty Vendel Curt Atari Inc Business is Fun pp 578 579 The Once Upon Atari video produced by Scott West Productions under Howard Scott Warshaw Hans Reutter 2016 10 27 PRGE 2016 Tod Frye Portland Retro Gaming Expo quote at 9 25 retrieved 2016 10 28 Designer Profile Chris Crawford Part 2 Computer Gaming World Jan Feb 1987 pp 56 59 Retrieved 1 November 2013 Hans Reutter 2016 10 27 PRGE 2016 Tod Frye Portland Retro Gaming Expo retrieved 2016 10 28External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Tod Frye Tod Frye on IMDb Interview Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tod Frye amp oldid 1224055075, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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