A short entry for a recent recovery from the archives of Paul Allen Newell, where researchers unearthed a lost storybook game that was being created by Centipede creator Dona Bailey and Paul for Activision.
More details can be read about the recovery here, though subscribers will have full access. The game asks you to choose between three different characters, Cathy, Beth and Kent and then goes through like an interactive book, asking you to carry out tasks and interact with other characters.
A recovery and analysis effort was made by Katie Biittner, Carl Therrien, and John Aycock along with Dona and Paul, where the source code was recovered and compiled to run on a virtual Commodore 64 software emulator (VICE 3.7).
A detailed article was then later published on ROMchip in December 2024, where we learn more about the development. It’s a brilliant read! Another paper was created from Paul’s archive of Computer Theater which is worth checking out and talks about the same game from a more technical aspect.
The article talks about how the game was commissioned by Activision in the mid-1980s and aimed to create an interactive image and word entertainment software, which would now be recognized as an early entry into the visual novel genre.
This genre emphasizes social interactions and the exploration of branching narratives, marking initial steps toward hypertext and multiform games. Dona Bailey served as the designer, while Paul Newell handled the programming, working under a series of short-term contracts with Activision from May to December 1984.
Despite the innovative concept and the team’s efforts, “Computer Theater” remained unreleased. The article from ROMchip provides a comprehensive analysis of the prototype, drawing from interviews and a collection of physical and digital artefacts.
Unfortunately, there are no details about future plans for the prototype. However, we’ve spoken with Paul in the past, so once the article has been out for a while – we’ll hopefully learn more from Paul at some point to include on this page and possibly even add a download to check out. For now, here is a short video showing the title screen:
An exciting development, so watch this space!
Contributions: Katie Biittner, Fiery Phoenix, Joshua Dove, Paul Allen Newell
Supporting content
Available downloads
- ComputerTheater_title (mp4)
Gallery
Update history
- 14/01/25 – Further corrections, plus new article linked with more technical detail.
- 09/01/25 – Corrections from Paul added.
- 07/01/25 – Link to published article and more details about the development
