I, Robot

About I, Robot

I, Robot (1984) is Dave Theurer's arcade game for Atari, the first rendered entirely in real-time 3D polygons and the first with camera controls, in which a robot rebels against Big Brother; a financial flop now prized by collectors.

I, Robot in Depth

The player is "Unhappy Interface Robot #1984", a servant robot that has become self-aware and rebels against Big Brother. To clear each level, the robot must destroy Big Brother's giant blinking eye, first wearing down its shield by moving over red squares to turn them blue, then attacking the eye itself. It can jump, but is destroyed if it jumps while the eye is open, and birds, bombs and flying sharks add to the danger. Some levels end with a maze of gems to collect before facing the eye up close, and between levels the robot flies through space, shooting or dodging "tetras", meteors and a floating head that fires nails. The 26 levels repeat at higher difficulty with new colours, as in Theurer's Tempest, and after 126 the player is sent back to a random earlier level.

Players can move the camera closer to the robot or up for an overhead view; the closer the camera, the higher the score multiplier but the less of the level and Big Brother can be seen. Later "viewer killers" attack the camera directly, forcing a change of angle. A non-game drawing mode, Doodle City, which the game calls an "ungame", lets players move and rotate shapes leaving trails for up to three minutes per credit, at the cost of a life per minute.

Making I, Robot

Earlier 3D games such as Theurer's Tempest used vector graphics, Interstellar used pre-rendered 3D and Cube Quest combined real-time 3D with laserdisc video, so I, Robot was the first arcade game drawn entirely in real-time filled polygons, a milestone recognised by Guinness. It ran on a Motorola 6809 with four POKEY sound chips and a Hall-effect joystick, and borrowed ideas from Galaga and Pac-Man. Technical problems delayed it and sent it back to the lab, and it was not fully released until June 1984. Only about 750 to 1,000 machines were made. Play Meter's Gene Lewin gave the dedicated cabinet 2 out of 10, saying it lacked the excitement of a top earner, while Roger C. Sharpe saw "sleeper" qualities, and Computer and Video Games called it "a cubist's delight". It was a financial flop but has been praised since for its innovation; Guinness's Gamer's Edition ranked it 90th among arcade games for impact. With Return of the Jedi, it was the last arcade game from Atari, Inc. before the company split, and it was first re-released in Atari 50 in 2022.