Vid Kidz gives Jarvis the opportunity to successfully implement his ideas - without interference.  Three qualities appear to dominate a Jarvis game.  Those qualities are 1) ambitiousness of design, 2) aggressiveness of game play, and 3) satisfying interaction of all game elements.

The games have always been ambitious.  When asked what ideas led to the birth of Defender, Jarvis said: "Steve Ritchie and myself were sitting in a room toying with concepts and game ideas.  Steve said: 'Wouldn't it be neat if you were flying over a planet on a screen.'  And we tried to figure out what to do with it.  You could be flying over the planet, you could go up or down in any direction you want...I eventually said: 'We can't do that yet, but what we can do is fly left and right and so on."

Defender was Williams' and Jarvis' first video-game.   And it was the biggest success of 1981, Robotron - Vid Kidz first game - was even more ambitious in concept.  "Robotron as originally conceived," said Jarvis, "put you in a large world of futuristic underground civilization where there were corridors and a central controlling station - a whole elaborate scenario.

Robotron: "It's the dog salivating, you know. You hear the bell and your starting to sweat."

Defender: "I'm an action player.  I like to be aggressive.  I don't like to be on the run."

One final note concerns Jarvis' dedication to the player.  He wants to keep you going - if you deserve it.  "Games like Defender, Robotron, and Asteroids give and extra ship every 10,000, 25,000, or what have you.   You never feel like you're out of the game.  Even if you have the most miserable start, you can always redeem yourself."

Jarvis is in the inevitable position of creating the games he wants and knowing that people will see them and play them.  "I have my message to deliver and I'm communicating.  I think I'll do what I feel like doing and hope someone likes it."