Editing Pitfall! (section)

==Development==
''Pitfall!'' was developed by [[David Crane (programmer)|David Crane]] for [[Activision]].{{sfn|Activision|1982|ref=manual}} Crane had worked at [[Atari, Inc.]] in the late 1970s, developing games for the [[Atari Video Computer System]].{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=99}} The system became known as the Atari 2600 after the release of the [[Atari 5200]] in 1982.{{sfn|Montfort|2006}} After discovering the high profits Atari had made from games he developed, including ''[[Outlaw (1978 video game)|Outlaw]]'', ''[[Canyon Bomber]]'' and ''[[Slot Machine (video game)|Slot Machine]]'', he asked the president of Atari, [[Ray Kassar]], for recognition on these titles and better pay.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|pp=99-100}} When he was turned down, Crane and other Atari programmers left the company to form Activision in 1979.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=100}} Crane was the senior designer at Activision and created ''[[Dragster (video game)|Dragster]]'', ''[[Fishing Derby]]'', ''[[Laser Blast]]'', ''[[Freeway (video game)|Freeway]]'', and ''[[Grand Prix (video game)|Grand Prix]]'' for the company prior to the release of ''Pitfall!''{{sfn|Activision|1982|ref=manual}}

Crane stated his game design philosophy involved making the Atari 2600 do new and unexpected things. Crane said he "used this technique to lead me in a new direction of game design, and some of the tricks were to me as much as an accomplishment as solving the [[Rubik's Cube]] the first time".{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=105}} Early development of ''Pitfall!'' started with Crane trying to create realistically animated graphics on the Atari 2600.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=107}} This led to developing a moving man (which became the basis of Pitfall Harry) and, later, the scorpions and snake obstacles.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=108}} For three years, Crane experimented using the running-man character in different scenarios, such as a [[Tag (game)|cops and robbers]] game, but could not find a proper situation for it.{{sfn|Edge|2009|p=1}} Crane began implementing it into a game in 1982.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=108}} Crane stated having the running man animation led to putting him on a path, which led to placing the path in a jungle and giving the man a reason to run in order to hunt treasures and avoid enemies.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|pp=108-109}} The jungle setting of the game was influenced by the 1981 film ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]''.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=109}}

Other influences came from [[Heckle and Jeckle]] cartoons, where two magpies outwit their enemies, including having the magpies run across the heads of crocodiles and just escaping their snapping jaws.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=109}} This led to the ability of Pitfall Harry being able to cross ponds infested with crocodiles if their jaws were closed.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=110}} Initially, to jump from one alligator head to another, the player had to move the joystick and jump at exactly the same time which Crane described as being "almost impossible to play. So I changed the code to allow you to direct Harry’s jump to the side, if you moved the joystick within a small instant from the time you pressed the button to jump. From a programming standpoint this was a tiny change, but it changed the gameplay from nearly impossible to an easily learned skill."{{sfn|Edge|2009|p=1}} Crane tried to make the sprite artwork for obstacles and the environment recognizable to players, despite the limitations of the Atari 2600. The process involved what Crane said was "a lot of [[trial-and-error]]".{{sfn|Edge2|2009|p=2}} When asked if the arcade game ''[[Donkey Kong (arcade game)|Donkey Kong]]'' (1981) had inspired his game, Crane responded he did not draw any parallels to ''Pitfall!'' at the time and had already developed elements in his game that were present in both games, such as a human character, paths, and ladders.{{sfn|Hunt|2012|p=83}}

Crane commented that "The entire [game design] process took about 10 minutes. About 1000 hours of programming later the game was complete."{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|pp=108-109}} Much of Crane's time was spent optimizing and compressing the code so that it would fit into a four-[[kilobyte]] [[ROM cartridge]].{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=116}} Unlike ''[[Haunted House (video game)|Haunted House]]'' (1982) or ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark (video game)|Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' (1982), where the environments were hard-coded into the game, ''Pitfall!'' was generated constantly by code.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=110}} The game generates each screen based on a counter that could run either backwards or forwards depending which direction the player moved from screen to screen.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=111}} The 8 [[bit]]s in the counter were used to determine certain details such as the background, trees, ground and object patterns, allowing 255 screens to occupy fewer than 50 bytes of ROM.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|pp=111-112}} Activision had created design centers for their games, which were small, close-knit teams of four to five people.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=103}} These teams encouraged [[peer review]]s and shared [[prototype]]s of games. In ''Pitfall!'', Crane's team changed the initial number of lives in the game from one to three during the final week of development.{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=104}} Crane said that "my buddies practically tied me to my chair until I put in extra lives and I'm glad they did".{{sfn|Montfort|Bogost|2009|p=104}}