Atari 2600 Game Code Visualized

Imagine you could take programming code and turn all the mathematical instructions into a graphical representation. Not only would this look cool but it could actually be useful in visualizing the code and how various elements work with one another. Media artist Ben Fry has done just this -- he took the assembly code of past Atari 2600 games and mapped their execution visually with surprising results.

Ben's transformation from binary code into a visual map is quite interesting. First Ben maps out the binary code of the cartridge itself using a series of numbers for lines of code and orange boxes for bytes of data. Then examines each line the code and the results of all conditional statements (i.e. if x is true, go to y). If the math results in a true statement a curve is drawn from that point to its destination. The end result is a elegant mix of curves and numbers.

What's really interesting to see how the programing varies by game. Extremely simple games, such as Combat, are light and airy. While complex games, such as Pac-Man, are a tangle of lines and curves. Unfortunately he only has six games on the site including Adventure, Air Raid, Combat, Pac-Man, Pitfall, and Q-Bert. But could you imagine what a modern game would look like mapped out using this method? Scary.

Posted by Gaming Steve at 04:00 PM | Comments (3) | Posted to Classic | Random |