Pinball Construction Set
Pinball Construction Set | |
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Release | 1982: Apple 1983: Apple (EA), Atari, C64 1985: IBM PC November 1985: Macintosh[1] |
Genre(s) | Pinball, game creation system |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Pinball Construction Set is a video game by
The game created a new genre of video games: the construction set. Users can build and play their own virtual pinball machine by dropping bumpers, flippers, spinners, and other parts onto a table. Attributes such as gravity and the physics model can be modified. Tables can be saved to floppy disks and freely traded; Pinball Construction Set is not needed to play them.[3]
Versions were released for the IBM PC (as a self-booting disk) and Macintosh in 1985. EA followed Pinball Construction Set with Music Construction Set, Adventure Construction Set, and Racing Destruction Set all from different authors.
Development
Bill Budge, author of the Raster Blaster pinball game for the Apple II,[4] began developing Pinball Construction Set in July 1982. He did not want to write another game ("all the current (arcade) games are either maze games or Pong; I didn't want any part of that"), but began experimenting with game and graphical tools he had written. As part of the development process he purchased and disassembled an old Gottlieb Target Alpha pinball machine, so his new project could accurately depict its components.[2] Budge does not enjoy playing video games, and described having to play pinball for months while developing Pinball Construction Set as "sheer torture".[5]
The project was ambitious given the Apple's limited memory and graphics capabilities. While Budge did not work on the
Reception
Pinball Construction Set's sales had surpassed 250,000 copies by November 1989,[6] and it ultimately sold over 300,000 copies in all platforms.[citation needed]
Pinball Construction Set's scope and flexibility on a 48K Apple II was impressive.
BYTE found the tool kit as "complete" and praised Budge's "marvelous sense of programming". The magazine reported that "creativity is encouraged. [Users] are gently encouraged and aided. This is valuable for children and inexperienced players and computer users".[9] InfoWorld compared the game's importance to that of Scott Adams's Adventureland, and predicted that it "is sure to have lots of children and grandchildren".[10] Ahoy! called Pinball Construction Set as one of the best home entertainment programs of its era.[3] The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984 gave the "pinball wizard's dream" an overall A+ rating, praising the user interface as "exceptionally human engineered".[11] Compute! listed it in 1988 as one of "Our Favorite Games", calling the game "a programming work of art ... a classic that never seems to grow old".[12] Orson Scott Card said in the magazine in 1989 that the program was so flexible that his son used it as a graphics program.[13]
Awards
In 1984 Pinball Construction Set received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Most Innovative Video Game/Computer Game" at the 5th annual
Legacy
A version for the Coleco Adam combined with Hard Hat Mack under the title The Best of Electronic Arts was completed but not released.[20]
In 1993, Budge wrote a version of Pinball Construction Set for the Sega Genesis with the name Virtual Pinball.
Will Wright cited the game as an inspiration.[21]
In 2013, Budge released the
References
- ^ "1985 Index" (PDF). Computer Entertainer. Vol. 4, no. 10. January 1986. p. 6.
- ^ a b "Things to Come: The Pinball Construction Set". Softline. November 1982. p. 8. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ a b Davies, Lloyd (May 1984). "Pinball Construction Set". Ahoy!. p. 49. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ^ a b c Maher, Jimmy (2013-02-01). "The Pinball Wizard". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ^ Darling, Sharon (February 1985). "Birth of a Computer Game". Compute!. p. 48. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
- ^ Staff (November 1989). "Chart-Busters; SPA Platinum". Game Players (5): 112.
- ^ Besndard, John (May–June 1983), "Pinball Construction Set", Computer Gaming World, pp. 12, 43
- ISSN 0147-8907.
- ^ Holden, Elaine (January 1984). "Pinball Construction Set". BYTE. p. 282. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
- ^ Mace, Scott (9–16 January 1984). "Electronic Antics". InfoWorld. p. 69. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
- ISBN 0-201-16454-X.
- ^ "Our Favorite Games". Compute!. May 1988. p. 12. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^ Card, Orson Scott (January 1989). "Gameplay". Compute!. p. 12. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ISSN 0147-8907.
- ^ "The Best and the Rest". St.Game. Mar–Apr 1984. p. 49. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- ^ Staff (November 1996). "150 Best (and 50 Worst) Games of All Time". Computer Gaming World. No. 148. pp. 63–65, 68, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 84, 88, 90, 94, 98.
- ^ "The 15 Most Innovative Computer Games". Computer Gaming World. November 1996. p. 102. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- ^ GameSpy Hall of Fame Archived 2006-03-16 at the Wayback Machine from GameSpy
- ^ 2008 Tech Emmy Winners from Kotaku.com
- ^ "ADAM Computer Game of the Week #20". AtariAge. May 17, 2011.
- Gamasutra.com
- ^ I just pushed the source for Pinball Construction Set to github (thanks to Scott Cronce at EA) on twitter.com
External links
- Pinball Construction Set at MobyGames
- Pinball Construction Set at Atari Mania
- Source code for the original Apple II version on GitHub
- Source code for the Atari 8-bit port on GitHub
- Pinball Construction Set can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive