Warren Davis spent two decades in the game industry and he is ready to talk some @!#?@!.
The game developer got his start at Gottlieb in the early 1980s and is best known as the creator of Q*bert. Believe it or not, in a nod to the nonsensical “swearing” uttered by the main character, that oddball arcade game was originally known as @!#?@!.
The story of that name change, and more interesting episodes from Davis’s career, can be found in his new memoir, Creating Q*bert and Other Classic Video Arcade Games, which was published late last year by Santa Monica Press:
Creating Q*bert and Other Classic Video Games takes you inside the video arcade game industry during the pivotal decades of the 1980s and 1990s. Warren Davis, the creator of the groundbreaking Q*bert, worked as a member of the creative teams who developed some of the most popular video games of all time, including Joust 2, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and Revolution X.
In a witty and entertaining narrative, Davis shares insightful stories that offer a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to work as a designer and programmer at the most influential and dominant video arcade game manufacturers of the era, including Gottlieb, Williams/Bally/Midway, and Premiere.
Whether you’re looking for insights into the Golden Age of Arcades, would like to learn how Davis first discovered his design and programming skills as a teenager working with a 1960s computer called a Monrobot XI, or want to get the inside scoop on what it was like to film the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Aerosmith for Revolution X, Davis’s memoir provides a backstage tour of the arcade and video game industry during its most definitive and influential period.
After Gottlieb, Davis spent most of his career at Midway, providing assistance on groundbreaking arcade classics such as Mortal Kombat, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and NBA Jam. Not only did he help make “digitized graphics” a household phrase, but he even got one of his former co-workers, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon, to pen the Foreward for Creating Q*bert.
Creating Q*bert and Other Classic Video Games was released in November and should be available wherever you get your books.