Easter eggs are a little bit of video game fun and maybe, it would be sad if it were true, video game history. If you haven't heard the term before, an "easter egg" is a hidden message or function in a video game that serves no other purpose than to be there, and is usually hidden from anyone but those who know about it or accidentally stumble upon it. It is widely believed the first easter egg was hidden in Atari's Adventure, released in 1979, where the creator, Warren Robinett, hid his name as a credit in a room that was only accessible after doing a very specific task. Since then many video games have had hidden messages or in-jokes.

The fun suddenly came to a screeching halt in 2005, after a hack revealed a hidden mini-game in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; a sexually explicit mini-game that was never meant to be included in the final game, but instead of removing the source they simply hid its functionality. This, of course, wasn't an easter egg, but the rabid media hype machine squarely blamed Rockstar and accused them of trying to surreptitiously squeeze sexually explicit content past the censors and into the fragile young mind of our nation's youthes. Bunkum it was, of course, but it had somewhat of a backlash in the industry. Suddenly publishers became very paranoid and demanded to see all source code, just to make sure some bored programmer didn't leave explicit comments in the code or some artist left some rude imagery lying about. And this was probably with good cause - in those days this was fairly common practice. Players never get to see the code comments, for example, but programmers communicate best in four letter words.

And so the whole easter egg thing became something of the past, mostly. They are still around, of course, but seemingly less prominently so. I myself have secretly held up the tradition and tried to leave a "mark" in many games I worked on. My method of virtual tagging was something much more innocent though, innocent enough even that when I told colleagues, my boss even, they were totally fine with it - or rather they just chalked it up to more foreign proclivities they'd never understand.

My tag was the Hardy–Ramanujan number, "1729". It's a little mathematical oddity and one that others too, in other media, have referenced just for fun. Futurama's Bender character, for example, was the 1729th unit built by his assembly robot. The whole series, in fact, references the number several times. For me it was a tip of the hat to mathematics, as well as a less arrogant and self-obsessed way of leaving a personal signature in my work.


Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (Wii) left, and Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (Wii) right

In both Harvest Moon titles for the Nintendo Wii on which I worked in the past, for example, did I plant the number, though you'd need a good eye to see them. In The Tree of Tranquility the boat that brings you to the island, which I modeled and textured, has it stamped on its side (only really visible in the opening sequence) and in Animal Parade the second floor in the Photography shop has toy blocks arranged to spell out 1729. Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Dream Hyper Battle!, for the Wii and Playstation 2 has the number as graffiti under an overpass in one of the arenas I modeled and textured. One of our upcoming games too features the number, though you need a pretty sharp eye to catch it.


Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Dream Hyper Battle! (Wii/PS2) left, Flock It! (iPhone/iPod Touch) right

In Flock It! we hid two easter eggs, though nothing to do with "1729", and to encourage people to look for them we made unlocking them worthy of a special medal in the achievements menu. Check the menu and see the "?????" behind two of the awards? Those are the easter eggs. We personally think they're pretty funny and just about accessible enough that you might stumble across them by accident as you play the game.

Did you find the two hidden awards in Flock It?

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