The Lords of Midnight

The Lords of Midnight
Cover art
Developer(s)	Mike Singleton
Publisher(s)	Beyond Software
Platform(s)	ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC
Release date(s)	NA 1984 EU 1984
Genre(s)	Adventure, Strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	N/A
Media/distribution	Cassette

The Lords of Midnight is a video game, written by Mike Singleton, and released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum. Conversions for the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 soon followed.

Gameplay

The Lords of Midnight is a wargame/adventure game. The player starts with four characters (Luxor the Moonprince, Rorthron the Wise, Corleth the Fey, and Morkin), and then has the option to recruit up to twenty eight further Lords (Ithrorn, The Utarg of Utarg, Blood, Xajorkith, Shadows, and so on) to the cause in the quest to destroy Doomdark, the Witchking of Midnight.

The game can be played in three ways; firstly, as a straight adventure game, where the focus is on Morkin's quest to destroy the Ice Crown, the source of Doomdark's power, then secondly as a wargame, where the focus is on recruiting lords and troops to defeat Doomdark's armies. The third variation, described in the manual as the 'Epic', required the player to complete the game in both ways simultaneously.

The human player has the advantage in that only one of two objectives is required to defeat Doomdark. If the Ice Crown is destroyed, or Doomdark's home citadel of Ushgarak falls, the game is won. In order for Doomdark to win, he has to complete two objectives; firstly Morkin must be killed, for as long as Morkin is alive the game will continue, and secondly he must subdue the armies of the Free. He can do this by either killing Luxor the Moonprince or conquering Xajorkith, the capital citadel of the Free lands.

The game featured a groundbreaking technique called landscaping to depict the lands of Midnight from a first-person perspective,

At the time of its release, the game creator Mike Singleton thought there was no way to defeat Doomdark before Xajorkith fell.^{[citation needed]} Gamers proved him wrong, and to this day the various internet groups devoted to the game continue to refine strategies to defeat Doomdark^[1].

Graphics

The 3D effect used in the game was achieved by "billboarding" (see sprite) pre-scaled images of mountains, forests, buildings, etc. to create the impression of a perspective-correct landscape scene, available from a viewpoint of 8 points of the compass - the technique was self-described as "landscaping"^[2] The techique created a strong impression at the time, and the game received praise for its graphics; "landscaping" was also used in the sequel Doomdark's Revenge, but did not see significant further use in games.

Reception

CRASH awarded Lords of Midnight 10 out of 10, highlighting the panoramic views, detailed units and "wonderfully coherent" storyline.^[3] The ZX Spectrum version was voted the 7th best game of all time in a special issue of Your Sinclair magazine in 2004.^[4]

Sequels

There was a sequel called Doomdark's Revenge, which took place in a land to the North of Midnight called The Icemark.

The planned final installment of the trilogy The Eye of The Moon was never released.

Lords of Midnight: The Citadel was released for the PC platform much later, but didn't repeat the success of the earlier games.

Remakes

Additionally the original games have been remade by enthusiasts for the PC.^[5]

Novelization

Upon release Beyond Software, the publishers of the game, offered to turn the campaign of the first person who could offer proof of completing the game into a published novel. While there weren't many ways of offering proof that the campaign was completed, many players sent reams of thermal printer paper to Beyond Software, hoping to get their campaign published. The first person to send in their claim to victory did so within two weeks of the game's release^[6]. In the end, however, no publisher was interested in publishing what they deemed a fringe publication, and the offered prize was forfeit^[7].

Tentative discussions were held, where Mike Singleton offered to write the novel himself. Ultimately time constraints and the reluctance on the publisher's part made any and all plans for a novel impossible^[7].

See also

• Doomdark's Revenge, second part from The Lords of Midnight trilogy.
• Lords of Midnight : The Citadel, third and last part from The Lords of Midnight trilogy.

External links

• The Lords of Midnight at World of Spectrum
• The Lords of Midnight: Package and Manual Scans Images of the box, manual and screen shots

References

1. ^ "Lords of Midnight Online Community, at Yahoo! Groups". http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/midnight/. 
2. ^ Your Spectrum, Issue 9, November 1984 - Adventures Web archive of "Your Spectrum" magazine users.globalnet.co.uk
3. ^ Brewster, Derek (August 1984). "Lords of Midnight". CRASH (Newsfield) (7). http://www.crashonline.org.uk/07/midnight.htm. 
4. ^ "Top 50 Games of All Time". Your Sinclair (Imagine Publishing). November 2004. 
5. ^ The Spectrum Game Restorer 15-Aug-2001 computerandvideogames.com
6. ^ "Retro Gamer Issue 4, March 2004 (scan)". http://www.icemark.com/tower/retrogamer/part1_04.jpg. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Mike Singleton, Lord of Midnight : 2nd Sinclair User Annual, 1984". http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/industry/programmers/mikesingleton_sua84.htm.