Video: Us Vs. Them and the Laserdisc Debacle

gamedeveloper.com:

In this free GDC Vault video, legendary programmer and designer Warren Davis gives a behind the scenes look at making 1984 Laserdisc-powered FMV shooter Us Vs. Them. He begins the presentation with an engaging history lesson, harkening back to a previous GDC talk digging into his experiences designing and programming Qbert, and the general adventures of the early 80s arcade heyday. The timeline has shifted slightly forward here, to the arcade slumps of 1983 and the short-lived (but explosive) fad of Laserdisc games, made famous by titles like Dragon's Lair, Space Ace and M.A.C.H. 3.

While a few standout titles are remembered today (chiefly Dragon's Lair), the technology just wasn't there for a lasting phase of game development. But that didn't stop Mylstar (formerly Gottlieb Games, creators of Qbert) from throwing heaps of cash at a project in an attempt to cash in on the admittedly stellar graphics of the format: Us vs. Them. Davis amusingly recounts his time as the programmer and video editor on the project, which included multiple aerial film shoots and the construction of custom sets for the game's (charmingly corny) live action scenes.

The project was born out of the cinematic dreams of designer Dennis Nordman, who brought Davis aboard with a wildly ambitious vision:

"Basically, the idea was making an alien science fiction kind of B movie thing," says Davis. "The original concept: [we] wanted to have scenes with live actors and [for] them to play like a movie. So you know, you'd cut from the actors and cut to the fighter jets shooting UFOs and you know, it'd be like you'd see in a movie: change the angles just randomly, willy nilly."

"It was a great idea, but not very practical," he continued, noting how designer