Meet the Unsung Female Programmer Behind Atari’s Centipede
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
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Dona Bailey was the software developer and programmer behind Atari's 1982 shoot' em up game Centipede, and although her name might not immediately ring a bell, her impact on video game culture has. In this episode of "Hello World" Motherboard heads to Arkansas to speak to Bailey about being a video game pioneer and how she came to develop one of the most well known and formative games in history.
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Assembly language programmers were a whole other breed of programmer. Every one that I've worked always stood out from the crowd for right or wrong reasons, and all of them were absolute geniuses. Much respect to this woman!
I had a customer who would come into the office supply store where I worked that was a beta tester for Microsoft. On his not supported anymore Windows XP machine, he would write his own device drivers for any of the latest hardware he wanted to use with it. Much respect.
Low level languages is a lost art. 6502 assembly consumed alot of my time in the early eighties.
She made one of the best arcade games of the 1980s.
100% true!
Centipede was still in arcades long after most others had gone by the wayside... I'm sure that was due to her.
She was far from unsung. As a 12 year old boy in Sweden 1983, I know who Dona Bailey was! She was marketed by Atari as the first female game designer and as a consequence I read about her in Swedish gaming & computer magazines and even in a 1982 book about video games which was translated into Swedish. But I DIDN'T know about Ed Logg who was the main designer of Centipede and many other Atari classics like Asteroids and Gauntlet. I would say almost all game programmers back then were unsung - all BUT Dona Bailey, and perhaps Eugene Jarvis and Jeff Minter too. Right ... I used to read about Carol Shaw back then too...
You are the Original King Geek! Hail to OKG! :-)
"The best thing that ever happened to games is the app." And the worst thing that ever happened to games is the microtransaction.
nah, the glitch
@@ObsidianContraption what did u type this comment on?
@@Grabbalee bacon is the best thing to happen to scallops
Writing a game in assembly is pretty fucking impressive.
***** So it's not easy and it's not some great feat, so could you say it's impressive?
Brock Jones To be fair, though, writing a modern game in C is far more impressive than writing the simplistic games they made in assembly.
It's especially true of Centipede, which was really just a Space Invaders ripoff on better hardware with a trackball. There really wasn't a lot of innovation there.
The truly impressive classic games are the ones that pulled new gameplay mechanics out of thin air: Space Invaders, Jump Bug, etc.
HowAbout NoSon Yes but Assembly just has that macho feeling where even though the scope of the game may be orders of magnitude smaller than some c games, assembly is just plain hard to work in.
Deathbrewer
Yeah pretty much. I mostly work in c++ but I've touched assembly before and it just seems impressive.
+Long Sword All the UK coders used to do it (write in assembler) on the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga in the 80s and 90s. We used to get horrible ports of games from the US written in C, running at 4 seconds per frame (yes, that's right - one frame every four seconds) and it was up to our guys to fix it.
The graphics weren't too great either - I had to fix those.
I recall reading about her in an 80's gaming mag. I recall she said something that she liked pastels for the color palette, or something of that nature. Which is why Centipede is so vibrant in color.
Sadly, this appears to be the one and only released arcade game she ever worked on (she worked on a few prototypes that never made it to production though). She then left video games altogether. It's worth pointing out that Dona co-created _Centipede_ with Ed Logg, a legend in the video game industry who created many classics:
Asteroids (1979)
Othello (1980)
Super Breakout (1981)
Centipede (1981)
Millipede (1982)
Gauntlet (1985)
Gauntlet II (1986)
Xybots (1987)
Tetris (Atari arcade)
Carol Shaw of Atari (3D Tic-Tac-Toe) and Activision (River Raid) is worth mentioning too.
I love this comment section. This is the reason that the social justice types and feminists have made a mistake coming after the tech industry. The fact is nobody gives a single shit about what you've got inbetween your legs or, for that matter, any other piece of personal information about you. It's all about your skills in coding and the quality of your ideas, nothing else, that defines how you will be treated in the tech industry.
DejaVoodooDoll LOL...So you believe women and trans only work in the indie scene ? lol.....keep on fighting for that social justice ROTFL !
DejaVoodooDoll AAA and indie will happily hire anyone that is qualified....FFS they have ball pits in the offices of some AAA producers....try grasping at some other straws to hate men.
DejaVoodooDoll BS utter BS, look at who buys games and who plays them, there is a good reason there are many games for male consumers, but to say they only make for male consumers is easily disproved by talking to a female gamer. You simply put are full of crap. You sound like a recording.
DejaVoodooDoll Shiny new male power fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed your interpretation there.
Anyway, it is ridiculous for anyone to expect games to be representative of anything other than the market. The fact that there are next to no transgender based games is not a testament to discrimination but rather a reality resulting from the fact that the majority of the market, by an extreme margin, is not transgender. Furthermore it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible to incorporate transgender issues into a gameplay focused character.
In places where money is not important and therefore game development is not driven by the market but rather by individual developers interests and ideas, such as the indie market, we tend to find games that engage more with social issues and minority representation. The upshot of this is that if any single game in this environment becomes popular enough the AAA developers will begin to pick up the idea. They do this purely because the concept has demonstrated its appeal to a wide audience and so the company can reasonably assume a high marketability.
This mechanic is massively evident in the evolution of games over the past 20 years and is not likely to abate any time soon, just as the people incessantly whining about a lack of representation of every denomination of human being will continue also.
The fact is the industry at large doesn't care who you are when you are developer as long as you are competent. Although we certainly do see a gap in diversity between AAA development companies and indie dev companies this is surely more representative of the idea that people will, when able, chose to work on things they are passionate about and interested in as opposed to imagined institutional oppression or x-ism/x-phobia.
TL;DR; In short, although AAA will be fully representative that is simply a symptom of the market. And since equal opportunities to develop are offered to all indiscriminately the gap in diversity between AAA and indie is, as I believe you implied, due to individuals choosing to pursue their own interests as they have the freedom to do so. In other words the opposite of oppression, blanket freedom in a meritocratic system feeding of of a capitalist market control.
***** :) I hear ya, I have been pegged an asshole before...lol...Im ok with it.
Co-developer and one of the programmers. The bulk of the game's programming and design was done by project head Ed Logg. Donna was added to the project by him to help with coding the plotted graphics and a few other things.
Martin Goldberg that doesn’t fit he narrative. It’s true what you say but...
I think this is consistent with everything Dona has said in her interview. It’s definitely unfortunate that her efforts, how large or small, are being diminished if not dismissed as trivial some 30 years later.
There ain’t no i in team. If you’re suggesting that Dona’s contribution amounted to nothing more than mere grunt work then shame on you because there was no doubt a glass ceiling for women in this industry at that time. It wouldn’t have been easy for Dona to obtain mentoring to the same extent as her male peers at that time. Nowadays, a lot has changed for women and many companies are quite progressive.
But,, I think it’s a tad disingenuous to disparage a teammate for assisting with a breakthrough and highly successful product some 30 years later.
Edit: 2020:12-26
Furthermore, I just watched an the Atari marketing video from 1982. It’s clear Dona had a significant role in the design of the centipede. In particular, the “cartoonish” and “mischievous” spider. In fact, the 1982 marketing video snippet with Dona is actually incorporated in the video above, but regrettably it’s hard to tell.
@@williamcorcoran8842 She never even mentions Logg. Inexcusable.
@@williamcorcoran8842 It's almost as if they were giving her special attention even back then for being a woman. It was the same "OMG a woman did something mostly guys are interested in" thing you see today. That mentality is far worse now and women are still a small portion of programmers so I'm not buying the gatekeeping narrative. I don't know how much she contributed to the game but considering it was obviously built on the back of Logg's previous work he definitely shouldn't be left out of the conversation.
That woman at retrocade, 'I'm an up and coming female' haha
Centipede is an awesome classic, no matter who programmed it. Thank you Ms. Bailey for helping to create this masterpiece. You were truly a pioneer in this industry!:)
I'm surprised no one mentioned how much more exciting Centipede is from Space Invaders. The trackball controls were amazing. Keeping track of the spider, the centipede, and the obstacles atop the screen made it a very difficult, but exciting game to play. And assembly language is some of the most difficult to program in the world. I didn't know who programmed this, or that it was a woman. This is the point of the video.
This isn't entirely true...Atari had claimed a female made Centipede for a marketing ploy targeting female arcade players as they were for fewer than their male counterparts. Atari thinking if a female made the game would bring more females to the arcades.
"Actually, Ed Logg had a lot more to do with Centipede than Dona Bailey. In an anonymous Atari designers words: "Dona Bailey couldn't program her way out of paper bag..." Remember the famous 8-6-4 GM cadillac engine from 1980-81 that used to catch fire?? Guess who designed this, and used to work at GM before they got 'fired', and ended up working at Atari? I feel it was smart marketing by Ray Kassar and Frank Ballouz to advertise the game as being designed by a woman, but I'd only give her a very slight amount of partial credit for the concept only and no code in Centipede....
And what about Carol Shaw?
Donna was not the developer & coder behind Centipede. She was a helper on the game. Ed Logg was the main developer and coder of the game. Donna only helped out on some parts of the game.
I never bought this story. Where does all the fastness, the sound, the elegance, the brutality comes from - from her? Hahaha. Smart marketing!
@@schnuuuu In the several interviews with her over the years, she mainly mentions working with the colors and sprite work.
I haven't heard of any programmers for Atari. They're all unsung.
RangerAmbient atari in the beginning had a policy of "no credit" for its programmers, as far as upper management was concerned the designers were no more a part of the production in a game than the guy on the assembly line screwing the cartridge shut. that's the reason why companies like electronic arts and activision were formed. they may be soulless shells of their former selves but when they were originally founded they were founded to be places where game programmers could be treated with respect.
maboroshi1986 Interesting. So for Vice to insinuate that this woman was unsung just because she's female is misleading and narrative driven when all programmers were never acknowledged. When I was growing up with Atari, 99% of women/girls showed no interest in video games. If you told a girl you played video games she looked at you as a nerd and couldn't give a damn. Anyone alive during this time would know this. The amount of women in gaming was miniscule because they simply weren't interested.
RangerAmbient
her gender still has a point because she was a genuine rarity, a female programmer (assembly no less) in the 70's-80's. in america there still weren't many prominent female programmers. you had someone like roberta williams say, though i think she was a designer not a programmer.
also the topic of girls and games. were they disinterested because it was video games as a thing? or because the games catered to your demographic and left women in general behind?
also it depends on how old you are. let me assume you were a child in the 80's, yes there were likely more men playing video games than women and gaming was a niche market. today one of the fastest growing markets in gaming IS women. for someone my age (21) and not a piece of shit the idea that a woman likes video games or even >gasp< wants to MAKE some isn't exactly uncommon.
Yes, I am an 80's child and I can tell you for a FACT it was 99% boys playing games, barely any older men were even playing. My arcade at the mall was 100% young male, grammar school through HS kids. Not because there was a "no girls allowed" sign hung out front, but because girls really hated video games and they were more then happy to shop the rest of the mall. Girls back then were >gasp< girls! They had no animosity toward boys playing video games at all and no one was preventing them from playing. Games didn't cater to any demo, female or male, they were just games. No agenda to make them more female friendly or politically correct. It was all completely innocent. I remember clearly going to friends houses to play NES and their sisters would just stand in the doorway just to laugh at us. When we tried to get one of them to play, they would play for 5 minutes stand up and say, "this is stupid" and walk out. Games were just toys for nerdy kids.
I understand that gaming is completely different now. Sure, millions of girls play now and some of them are interested in programming or the like, but I'm not talking about how many girls played LoL, Halo or Candy Crush in 2014.
I know some of this is hard to believe, but I was there and that was what it was like in the 1980s and no one had a problem with it.
RangerAmbient
i'm not saying that it's a bad thing to have macho male power fantasies (i'm a dude, i get it) but so much of gaming back then was a male power fantasy, it doesn't surprise me that there was such a gender imbalance. but to say that there were nearly no women playing is flat out uninformed.
Great story, would like to have heard more.
Yeah, it felt a bit short. I'm excited for more of this series.
Me too!!!!
I never heard of her before today. I'd only been aware of Carol Shaw, the programmer for Activision's hit River Raid.
I think it's awesome she invented Centipede. I love that game. But, I don't really care about what her gender is. I just see a bad ass programmer.
Women have to fight against it instead of doing their work...its called competition and ability.
Throughout this whole biography,
Dona Bailey didn't tell us WTH is that humanoid head from Centipede that is the playable character.
Imo Centipede is one of the greatest coin-ops of it's time.
Back when A1Up first came around and announced their 1st gen line up of cabs and Centipede was one of them...instant pre-order 👍
this is the video that made me subscribe to mothrboard.
I love how humble she is, she truly is a pioneer
I used to play Centipede aaaaallll the time. Though I don't really think being an Atari developer is very impressive at all, now it certainly was back then. So good on you! You have a commercial.
This is cool, inspiring, and empowering on so many levels =D Thanks, Motherboard.
I am a Gen-X 1983 Southeast MA State Champ on 'Centipede' - Dona Bailey a Pioneer? That's an understatement! Dona you changed and influence the world of gaming, you rocked the world! I need to meet you!!!
There is no reason to bring her gender into it. Just celebrate her accomplishments, not her vagina.
She was the only female qualified for the job and she got it. Why are so many people complaining about the low number of women in the gaming industry and why should women just make stupid mobile games like candy crush?Just get as good as the men in the industry and make your own indie game or work for a big company. She is the proof, that no one stops women from from being successful in the industry, they just need skill like everyone else...
Bob the anti semitic Sponge Bad Spongebob! Go back to your cage, I'm not letting you out until your show starts getting better!
Bob the anti semitic Sponge THEN BUY THE MONEY-wait...
I know! How many women do you know that dream of designing games vs men too?
Hoerkelis mainly because the ones complaining don't know anything about gaming culture or gaming history. they just make up their own facts as they go along because the truth doesn't fit their narrative since they have their own agenda anyway, does that make sense?
well women had difficulty getting into the field because socially, not legally, they weren't really included or let in. this is factually speaking, I'm not taking a feminist stance. it's simply the truth.
It would be cool if you guys had asked her more questions about the development and history behind the game.
Its really great that the men at Atari were not sexist and all. But I already assumed that, so its kind of a non story.
I'm not saying its not worth mentioning that women were and still are a minority in the industry, But the work she did is far more interesting to me.
Its like if, for example, you interviewed Warren Spector.
I'd much much rather hear him talk about the development of Deus Ex, System Shock or Ultima Underworld than watch a short 5 minute clip of him talking about how he's Jewish and how no one at Ion storm or Looking Glass was antisemitic.
Cha4k Yeah, this video was really boring because of, other than her being involved with the game and having something to do with the spider, there wasn't much information here other than what was already common knowledge. Did she code the spider herself or did she just come up with the idea? I was hoping for more information on her involvement, but nah instead of talking about that, why don't we go for three minutes about how women are a minority in the video game industry because many of them don't study programming? That's what people want to spend five minutes watching right, right?
I think it would be great if more women were interested in programming games too, but I disagree on her about mobile games being the greatest thing to happen in video games.
When she said she didn't want to program for GM, she wanted to program for Atari, it brought tears to my eyes. I have always loved Atari and I had the pleasure of buying an Arcade1UP arcade Centipede Legacy Edition machine last week that I got at Ross, that was on clearance for $51.99 and it came with the riser!!. I haven't put it together yet but I will soon. The main reason I bought it was, we ll 1 I just wanted an arcade machine, but this particular one has not only Centipede and Millipede, but also has Asteroids which is by far my most favorite classic arcade game and includes Asteroids Deluxe, Tempest, Missile Command and a few others. 14 games in total. Oh and I work at Ross, so I got it 20% off as well. So just over $44 with tax!
There's plenty of girls studying computer science with me at uni
M Dubzem there were a shit load of dudes studying engineering courses with me as well.. doesn't mean they will all become engineers. the failure rate is above 60%.
mmmodafoca I think failure rate is about 40% in my course
M Dubzem This was like 30 years ago man, it was a little bit different.
M Dubzem that's good. what makes her notable is that she was one of the few female programmers at that time, much less making video games. her game came out in 1982, that's 33 years ago, a female programmer was almost impossible to find. that's why i hope more female programmers start making games, we need another roberta williams.
M Dubzem Sweet.
“I guess I was a pioneer,” Dona Bailey says while shrugging.
Read More on MOTHERBOARD: bit.ly/1RlHfkp
***** To MB Can I help shed light on this unsung hero using this "Your" content?
***** wait, did you type this twice, or did she say this twice?
Centiped is the best game of all games today I have so much memory's from my first time playing it =')
She is legend. Centipede came out of the Big Bang of video games.
Thank you for making my youth fun at the arcades. Your talent will not be forgotten. God Bless.
This was my favorite game of all time when growing up. Thanks Dona for creating at all time classic.
Hats off to you, Dona Bailey. Also to Carol Shaw, River Raid, Activision.
awesome!!! as a new developer/engineer glad to see one of the women that created content for an amazing company. although I don't play pc games anymore, that where it all started... wanting to know how to make that for others to enjoy
"I think that the best thing that ever happened to games is the app"
I couldn't disagree more. Smartphone games may be the best thing that ever happened to the video game _industry_ since so many people are willing to pay for useless things in games like Candy Crush Saga. You can make a game by yourself and it certainly doesn't have to be an iPhone or Android app.
Well this is a 50 year old women, so what do you expect her to say? "Cod is the best you nobs! Now get out of the way before you ruin my kill streak!"
Aside from the steering wheel on Pole Position, there weren't a lot of games that didn't use the typical joystick. Games like Centipede, Tempest and Battlezone offered a whole new experience for the player. Loved this game!
come to think of it, Centipede had always had a plus that other video games didn't . Now i understand what. A female programmer. How i am still hooked on this game 40 years later.
I’d heard of her. So she didn’t credit Ed Logg at all in this video. He did half the work. She coded half the game. I hope you edited out her talking about him. Everyone that played back then knew Donna worked on it, or created it as the PR dept said. Her idea to use the track ball because she couldn’t use all the buttons Logg wanted to use and her idea for the colors made the game a classic. But it was a group effort. One of my favorite games and one which my wife loves to play too. Great game but credit where credit is due.
He was also the lead programmer of Centipede. You would think the lead programmer should get some credit for the game.
@@Zeffarian nope doesn’t fit that narrative.
One of my all time favorite games. So addictive. Love it. Thank you.
Great to see her interviewed but that aint Santa Barbara at the start - that's the amusement arcade/carousel building on Santa Monica Pier...
This was cool. Wish it was a little longer though
LMAO why is she crying, wtf..? 2:45
lol
Thank you Dona for making one of the greatest games ever invented. It still challenges me to this day.
I feel like Jade Raymond is doing pretty well in the gaming industry.
The fact that the entire segment doesn’t even mention Ed Logg is inexcusable. She deserves all due credit for her contribution, and I admire her for being a woman in what was essentially a male sphere. Nevertheless, her failure to credit the rest of the team, especially Logg, is a very bad look. Steve Golsen never mentions Ms. Pac-Man without mentioning the entire team of four that worked on it.
I know. Ed Logg was the lead programmer and Dona got all of the credit.
Played it once on gameboy and always thought its weird and wonder who come up with it, now I got my answer, thanks Dona and Motherboard! :D
This is my favourite Atari games ever , played it so much as a kid
Great interview!!
ahhhh video arcades. The ones in Tokyo in the 80's were completely mind blowing.
Thumbs up if you played this game in an arcade during the 80's?
when i was applying for a job someone actually asked the boss "are you sure you wantvto hire a girl?". good thing he said "as long as she knows how to code." :o
it's really troublesome though that there are many people oit there who think you can't code because you're a woman.
Does anyone have any idea how to deactivate the kill screens in the original stand up centipede games? High scores are really limited by how often the game throws kill screens at you in the higher levels.
Hey. You. Person wanting to read the comments.
Scroll back up.
ShermTank7272 I didn't listen. =/
ShermTank7272 I already watched the video though...
I should have listened to you... =__=
ShermTank7272 y r ppl so predictable. not only can u find hate in every comment section, but u can find a comment almost identical to the one above...
This may be the worst comments section.
She's a legend and I wish they would've made this a little less political, it taints this documentary. The reason that even today just 10% of females are in the game industry is because even today just 10% of females choose to do so, whereas the other 90% have different interests. Courses are yours to choose. You can teach yourself anything with internet access. This is not sexism, this is freedom of choice.
I programmed in Assembly, back in the '70s and '80s... but thought it was just too much of a Mind Grind, so I let it go, in favor of the 4th GLs... Like Pascal, COBOL, etc... It's been a long time since I even heard the words "Assembly Language"... :-)
WOW
The trackball wuz & still iz like magic to me for her game. Thank you very much Dona Bailey for your pioneering. Centipede iz so much fun
🐛⚪️🐛⚪️🐛⚪️🐛⚪️🐛⚪️🐛
🎃👾🚀SHMUPZ🤖👾🚀
one of my fav games on the Atari vcs :D
I love that game. I played for hours. All my quarters! Gone. : )
Thank you for creating such a wonderful game for my teenage years. Wish I could play it again! :D
"Programmers mean just as much for us as the workers mounting screws in cartridges"
-Atari
There were sung programmers behind Atari's Centipede? I don't think I've ever heard of any of them.
Dona is the sung programmer. There were lots of articles and interviews about her over the years regarding Centipede. Ed Logg was the unsung programmer of the game.
Anyone else notice the video gets reversed at the 3:05 mark? Trackball is shown on the left instead of the right and the Atari logo is backwards.
thats mirrored perhaps, reversed would be a video playing backwards (Y)
If Dona was so unsung (and I heard all the old stories about Atari and their wild escapades at the office), why was she so recorded in the FUCKING 80's, and WHY DID I KNOW HER NAME 30 YEARS AGO?? Dona had her vision and followed it. Clearly it worked out for her since she DID THE JOB, failed to mention Ed Logg as her partner in the game (he's a man, fuck him), or Carol Shaw. She WAS given ink about it plenty of times, particularly that she was a woman. Maybe she got senile over the years and forgot the articles by Gamasutra, Computer Programming Magazine (in the 80's), etc.
Why aren't more women programmers? Because women don't gravitate towards that education of their own accord. THEY make that trend. That's on NOONE but THEMSELVES, the girls club sub culture women created for themselves and their ROLE MODELS. I have met only two young women who said "I wanna go to school to make GAMES.". Neither did, they got better paying jobs in things such as engineering designing brakes for Mercedes on CAD.
Like the Rangers, there's only so many who WANT to do it. You can't force women to do it just to justify your feminazi world view. That would be human trafficking, which women can only be the victims of from what I hear.
Speaking of sexism, why is it every Human Resources and Payroll office I've ever had to set foot in is 100% female staffed? I've heard more than 1 statement that women have a "natural affinity and people skills that men don't possess".
If feminists are so spun up about being the dominant sex in everything, then why don't more of them stop campaigning and start studying the field? Oh thats right, because claiming you're a feminist doesn't actually require training or effort, and would cost you your soap box.
#ALLHAILTHEPERPETUALGYNARCHY
This is not about video games, this is about gender.
A woman who knows Assembly. I'm impressed.
I appreciate her contribution to the industry. But in the early 80's if you took a survey in the mall - Hey, lady do you like computers? No.
Hi little girl, do like electronics? No.
How about you gals, do you like programming? No.
The lady that is the first woman video game programmer is very impressive, to think that she chose to write Centipede because she didn't care for spiders is remarkable.
The Worst thing to happen to games is the App Store Monopolies, Play and Apple Store, etc. -
where politically motivated corporations can erase top sellers because of their racism and hate.
Gone are the days of writing a program and selling it on cassettes from the back of a magazine ad...
I use to love that game; interesting back story!
you can do feminism in two ways,
the first is at 2:04, where being a woman isn't a restricting factor, in any possible way,
the second is at 2:45 where being a woman is a restricting factor because the industry is "dominated" by males.
-
Dona is an example of feminism done right, she didn't need to 'feel oppressed' by any male to achieve her goals, she stopped programing for Cadillac, to work for Atari, GREAT
with al due respect for womans *be like Dona Bailey*
She complains about the fact, that there are not so many female videogame programmers, but also said that she had little knowledge... I wouldn't hire anyone with little knowledge... SO WHATS THE DEAL?!
Also it is a fact, that most of the males are more interested in videogames than females... *think,think,think*... Oh that's why there are more males *wow I must be a genius *
Walter Spurer
Exactly what I was thinking. And *EVERYONE* starts out with little knowledge in something, and then they work their way up and learn. How was that different from any of the guys on the team?
zz773 #genderdoesntmatter
Walter Spurer lol way to shit on one of the few women pioneers of gaming. She wasnt being pretentious she just accepts that it was a time when not many women were in the buisness.
Walter Spurer Back then, there were very few programmers with knowledge of game design because video games were in their infancy. Anyway, she did have valuable knowledge in programming at a very low hardware level with assembly language, so if you *think,think,think* it should be obvious why they would hire her.
Walter Spurer Dude this was also 30 years ago, being a female in any industry was tough.
Christ, it's amazing how little it takes to get people's knickers in a twist. Most early gaming developments were driven by men so it's nice to hear about a woman who had some sort of a part in it, however big or small. The fact that she is a women is completely relevant to the piece given it's historical context.
Also I think some folks should take a second to appreciate that the mental capacity and functionaity of both men and women's noggins is essentially identical. So given that programing/gaming is a cerebral activity it'd be fair to expect nearly equal involvement from both sexes if the cultural playing field was truly equal.
*****
Well you're wrong because we're going through an indie game renaissance right now so even if it were true that women were being systematically denied entry into the video game industry, which it's not, they can still easily make video games despite it. The tools of the trade have never been easier to afford, acquire, and learn. Not only that, but platforms like Steam and Desura give indie teams legitimate consumer bases and audiences to sell to without having to be a big name AAA title with an advertising budget to match.
There is literally no excuse for women for not entering the games industry beyond sheer lack of interest. Period.
***** the amount of historical ineptness and lack of context shown by so many people here staggers me.
Bluedragon094 I agree that the current state of the gaming world is the best it's ever been and that advances in technology have done a great job at democratizing the whole process, but I should probably clarify what I was talking about.
I think you're right to say that woman are not being systematically denied entry into the video game industry. However early games (70s, 80s) were generally developed by small teams of one or more people with very little expenses in the way of equipment or marketing, so the current state of things is almost a return to that environment. Now less woman made games then and there are still less women doing so now. So if we want to look at why, focusing on the structure of the industry seems like a poor place to start.
I was on a plane flight last year with a father and his young daughter sitting next to me. We got to talking and at one point the girl asks her dad, "Can only boys fly planes?" Now it's not like anyone had been going around telling her what she could or couldn't do but children are perceptive and pick up on the cultural patterns around them, especially since they seek role models with whom they can identity (such as people of the same gender).
What videos like is are great for is to encourage girls to pursue a career in that industry by piquing their interest. What's not great for that are some of the surprisingly derisive comments you'll find underneath it.
If you see young women around you getting involved in computer programming and game design that's fantastic, the world is changing for the better and we should celebrate it! But don't forget that this is a relatively new thing and that changes to our culture (the world's not just the game scene) happen slowly.
*****
I think your anecdote is a poor example because that very well could've been her first flight so it may be that this wasn't her picking up on a cultural trend necessarily and instead she heard the captain over the intercom who just so happened to be a man and was just simply inquisitive thereafter.
Either way, gender roles are a thing and they do have an influence -- I'd be hard pressed to take anyone seriously who stated otherwise, but the problem is that by the time most people have the ability to take classes in programming in an academic setting they're an adult. They have every ability to either go along with societal expectations, go against them, or some middling in between.
To draw from my personal experiences, my mom's a christian and so was I when I was growing up through her influence. I'm now an atheist. My mom hates onions and so did I growing up largely because I thought at 4 years old if my mom hated them they must be bad. I now put onions on my burgers.
We have a choice. It's not even one of those choices with any sort of finality to it either because even I could start using my spare time to learn programming right this instant if I were so inclined and the fact of the matter is that the sweeping vast majority of people make the decision to not become a programmer. Of the miniscule amount of people who do take up the profession, more of them just so happen to be male.
That said, a lot of what you said I do sincerely agree with and you're right: we should celebrate.
Bluedragon094 That's an optimistic view you have there and I really do hope that was the case. Though from what I've heard of the experiences of friends with young girls it can be a struggle to keep them from being discouraged in their interests due to said gender roles. But, going out a limb here, I assume neither of us are parents so we wont really know for sure how significant that is until when or if we are.
The interests you develop as a kid do have a pretty big impact on your chosen career come adulthood. And the reality is that if more girls were interested in computers growing up, we'd get more female programmers. Essentially there's no reason why the miniscule number of boys who want to be programmers should be higher then the miniscule number of girls who want to be programmers, statistically speaking. This doesn't necessarily mean we live in an atmosphere of overt cultural oppression but it does tell us that the world we live in still isn't as elgalitartian as we would like to think it is.
Though I think what you said about self determination in general is true and very important to remember.
Great video
Amazing Story, What an incredible woman.
a lot of the comments are being mad that "female" was added to the title as they believe it's a feminist move to do something like that, when if you actually pay attention to what most women say, they dislike that men are "programmers" and they are "female programmers" they'd rather be called programmers as well. you know... equality
what a legend,
Centipede is awesome
She is an "unsung programmer" but, as far as I can tell, so are the guys that developed this game - I have no fuckin' idea who the guys that made this game are. Then again, I have no idea who just about anyone that's involved with the creation of the games I loved are.
So is this gonna' be a series, 'cuz it's gonna' be a really fuckin' long one. Almost all programmers are "unsung" unless they're loudmouths and/or get themselves involved in controversy. I know the programmers for FEZ, Depression Quest (if that qualifies as a "game"), and God of War - All of these people either did shit they shouldn't be proud of, and/or are obnoxious and loud.
The one exception to this rule is Hideo Kojima - That guy has made a name for himself without being a jackass. Gaming is not a career to pursue for personal notoriety - If you pursue a career in gaming, your main sense of gratitude [should] be from watching others enjoy and appreciate the world you've brought to life for them.
In my opinion, this video does more to belittle the men that worked on this project than it does to celebrate this womans' contributions. I now know of her, but the others on the project - I still have no idea who they are. Then again, I suppose it really doesn't matter. Afterall, there's so many men that contributed to this, why would we want to focus on any of them - It's not like their story or personalities are going to differ much at all anyways, since they're men, right?
Brilliant video,that woman is a true pioneer for female programmers! A very inspiring video to say the least
I stand and bow in front of this video game pioneer.
You too Motherboard? You too?!?
She looks like she'll be a cool mum
If Dona Bailey was born a male would this segment be named "Meet the Unsung Male Programmer Behind Atari’s Centipede" ?
The funny thing is the Ed Logg is the real unsung programmer of Centipede. He was the LEAD PROGRAMMER and Dona got all of the credit.
Love the story! So much respect for her. Also Grace Hopper. I still don't understand why there a not a lot of woman in IT field. It is not a choice for us.
Is the trackball on the right 3:00 or the left 3:06 ?
A true feminist, strong and determined. Saw hurdles in life, not walls.
Respect
One of my favorites
So she develops a game called Centipede, but calls the main enemy a spider, instead of a centipede...
Lol!
***** Please, do go on.
This whole thing feels off since there are several cuts in between that tries to paint a narrative. What irks me more is the insert of that one chick complaining about the industry being dominated by males but that shouldn't matter since this person being showcase got the job at a Atari because she was qualify. I think a better message should be that there should be more interest for females to go into Technology base careers if they truly want to develop and start making the industry more diverse instead bitching and complaining and expecting a job to be handed to them. Overall, I enjoy her commentary about her experience working for Atari on making Centipede. If it makes anybody feel better, a lot of developers never got credited on developing any of this games and sometimes had to insert a cheat code in order to display their names or initials.
hi, I loved your video. do you have brain storming videos from Atari or nintendo from 70s or 80s ? thanks
hate to say this but ok most people dont care who makes the games but if the game is good or not
She admitted to being ignorant. Thirty years later she's kicking around the idea of making an app....uhhhh.. what?
used to be top of the line played it a lot
The programmers behind other great Atari games are also unsung. Like Warren Robinett who made Adventure, or Toru Iwatani who made Pac-Man. Why don't you do a video on them? Ohh, you won't do them because they are male? Make sense.
The girl acts like she has to defend being a programmer 🤷♂️
Only 5 minutes?
Not to be rude, but what exactly was the purpose of this video? I understand Dona Bailey is suppose to be a programmer and all, however the only thing this video accomplished was stating Bailey is a female, which can be very easily researched, and that she feels programming app games "would be a lot more fun because a woman could get really good at that, and not have to involve a whole lot of other people." If you really wanted to spread this message that there needs to be more female workers in the gaming industry, then why did you not get other female programmers or other female employees in this video alongside Bailey? All-in-all, this seems like the usual videos about women in this industry that have been seen before, instead of actually taking the time to interview Dona about how she went about thinking of the level designs. But instead, you people decided to focus on what was in her pants.