Alan Murphy, Atari Animator

Alan Murphy was Senior Animator at Atari, where we worked from 1980 through 1987. Alan created the graphics for the Atari 8-bit versions of Defender, Xevious, Galaxian, Countermeasure, Pac Man for the Atari 5200, Demons to Diamonds for the 2600, and many other games. He also worked with engineers at Atari Research on research projects and prototyping, and designed specs for game art and animation systems.

This interview took place June 15, 2015.

Teaser quotes:

“So I did these animations of Mr. and Mrs. Pac Man going across the screen and then they came back the other way and there were little babies. Namco came along and said 'uh-uh...that's a little too suggestive.'”

“As far as I know, I think that was the first easter egg by an artist.”

Links:

Countermeasure Easter Egg

Animated Gauntlet Commercial