Pinball Construction Set

Pinball Construction Set

Infobox VG
title= Pinball Construction Set


developer= BudgeCo
publisher= BudgeCo, Electronic Arts & Ariolasoft (Europe)
designer= Bill Budge
engine=
released= 1983
genre= Pinball simulation
modes= Single player
ratings=
platforms= Apple II, Atari 800, Commodore 64, Apple Macintosh, DOS (booter)
media= 5¼" disk
requirements=
input=Keyboard and joystick

"Pinball Construction Set" ("PCS") is a computer game by Bill Budge published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the Apple II and Atari 800 in 1983 and was later ported to other platforms, such as the Commodore 64 and DOS (as a booter).

Description

Pinball Construction Set created a new genre of computer games—the "builder" or "construction set" class of games. With PCS, users can construct their own virtual pinball arcade machine, by dropping controls onto a table. Controls included bumpers, flippers, spinners and other standard pinball paraphernalia. Attributes such as gravity and the physics model could also be modified. Users could save their creations and develop custom artwork to go along with them. Tables could be saved on floppy disks and freely traded.

History

Budge originally published and distributed this game via his publishing "company" (really just him and his sister), BudgeCo. In the more competitive publishing era of the 1980s, however, he willingly allowed EA to publish his game when they approached him in 1983, since he didn't really want to be an entrepreneur.

Budge was inspired to program the game after developing "Raster Blaster", the first pinball game for the Apple II. He encountered many hurdles in trying to develop an open-ended pinball development tool, mostly because of the Apple's relatively limited processing power and graphics capabilities.

"Pinball Construction Set" was ported to the numerous home computers of the era, including the Commodore 64 and as a PC booter. "PCS" went on to sell over an astounding 300,000 copies in all platforms. EA followed with "Music Construction Set", "Adventure Construction Set" and "Racing Destruction Set" all from different authors.

Reception

"Computer Gaming World" considered the game quite revolutionary, and easy to understand because of its representative icons and drag-and-drop method of constructing a table. The nine-page manual was considered "overkill", since "Pinball Construction Set" required no programming knowledge; CGW reported that an eight-year-old had no problems creating his own tables. [citation | date = May-June 1983 | last = Besndard | first = John | periodical = Computer Gaming World | title = Pinball Construction Set | year = 1983 | pages = 12, 43]

Legacy

In 1993, Budge went on to port his game to the Sega Genesis under the name "Virtual Pinball".

Awards

"Pinball Construction Set" is an inductee in "GameSpy"'s Hall of Fame. [ [http://archive.gamespy.com/halloffame/september02/pcs/ "GameSpy" Hall of Fame] from "GameSpy"]

In 2008, "Pinball Construction Set" was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for "User Generated Content/Game Modification". Bill Budge accepted the award. [ [http://kotaku.com/342028/2008-tech-emmy-winners 2008 Tech Emmy Winners] from Kotaku.com]

ee also

* "Adventure Construction Set"
* "Music Construction Set"
* "Racing Destruction Set"
* "The Incredible Machine"

References

External links

*moby game|id=/pinball-construction-set|name="Pinball Construction Set"


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