Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Why It Almost Didnt Happen
Rampagecame into existence at thevery tail end of arcade games boom years.
Colin got into video games more or less by accident.
He applied for a job at arcade development giant Bally/Midway, thinking hed be making art for pinball machines.
It was at Bally/Midway that Colin started working with Jeff Nauman, the programmer who would co-createRampagewith him.
We had come back from a trade show, and I was like Hey, why cant I dobigstuff?
So I thought, hey, Ill just do big background characters, and they told me no …
There were so many things we couldnt do.
Jeff Nauman summed up the limitations of animating backgrounds succinctly: Its gotta be a rectangle.
From there, Colin worked backward.
A giant monster would climb the building, punching it to bring it down.
Nauman would test the animation, to see to it it was feasible.
Colin immediately wrote up a design document, dubbingRampagenext years number-one game in his pitch to Bally/Midway executives.
How It Became a Hit
According to Colin, however,Rampages rejection would only be temporary.
And he said go with it.
It wasnt long before Colin was vindicated:Rampagevery quickly became a hit.
And that worked to our advantage too, from an earnings standpoint.
People werent too concerned about getting shot, because you were this big awesome killer monster.
Right before you kick off up a game, a screen briefly flashes.
It was a nice bit of yin and yang for me.
You create these monsters, and well, monsters knock down cities.
Now, it sounds deep.
Really, its just a fun, stupid game.
