As the TIA's design was refined, Al Alcorn brought in Atari's game developers to provide input on features.[9] There are significant limitations in the 6507, the TIA, and other components, so the programmers creatively optimized their games to maximize the console.[12] The console lacks a framebuffer and requires games to instruct the system to generate graphics in synchronization with the electron gun in the cathode-ray tube (CRT) as it scans across rows on the screen. The programmers found ways to "race the beam" to perform other functions while the electron gun scans outside of the visible screen.[15]
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Activision's success led to the establishment of other third-party VCS game developers following Activision's model in the early 1980s,[33][34][35] including U.S. Games, Telesys, Games by Apollo, Data Age, Zimag, Mystique, and CommaVid. The founding of Imagic included ex-Atari programmers. Mattel and Coleco, each already producing its own more advanced console, created simplified versions of their existing games for the 2600. Mattel used the M Network brand name for its cartridges. Third-party games accounted for half of VCS game sales by 1982.[36]
The system was designed without a frame buffer to avoid the cost of the associated RAM. The background and sprites apply to a single scan line, and as the display is output to the television, the program can change colors, sprite positions, and background settings. The careful timing required to sync the code to the screen on the part of the programmer was labeled "racing the beam"; the actual game logic runs when the television beam is outside of the visible area of the screen.[62][15] Early games for the system use the same visuals for pairs of scan lines, giving a lower vertical resolution, to allow more time for the next row of graphics to be prepared. Later games, such as Pitfall!, change the visuals for each scan line[63] or extend the black areas around the screen to extend the game code's processing time.[59]
Atari determined that box art featuring only descriptions of the game and screenshots would not be sufficient to sell games in retail stores, since most games were based on abstract principles and screenshots give little information. Atari outsourced box art to Cliff Spohn, who created visually interesting artwork with implications of dynamic movement intended to engage the player's imagination while staying true to the gameplay. Spohn's style became a standard for Atari when bringing in assistant artists, including Susan Jaekel, Rick Guidice, John Enright, and Steve Hendricks.[83] Spohn and Hendricks were the largest contributors to the covers in the Atari 2600 library. Ralph McQuarrie, a concept artist on the Star Wars series, was commissioned for one cover, the arcade conversion of Vanguard.[84] These artists generally conferred with the programmer to learn about the game before drawing the art.[83]
Computers are nothing without the people that use them, the common user and the professional. The common user is anyone that uses the computer for general purposes. This includes checking emails, playing computer games, typing up a paper, and the list goes on. What distinguishes a common user from a professional is that a professional works in the field of computer information technology. Examples of professions in this field are a computer programmer, web designer, network administrator, and software engineer. These are but a few of the many jobs involved in the field of computer information technology. These are the people that design the hardware to build computers, they keep business networks secure, they program software to communicate effectively with the user and hardware, and develop the latest and greatest software for the common user to enjoy.
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