''Pipeline'' is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

for the

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

and

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/ home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a ...

, originally published by

Superior Software Superior Software Ltd (also known as Superior Interactive) is a video game publisher. It was one of the main publishers for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in the 1980s and early 1990s. It currently releases games for Microsoft Windo ...

in 1988. It is an overhead view action role-playing game set on a mining platform. It was remade for Microsoft Windows as ''Pipeline Plus'' (2004).

Gameplay

The game is a fast four-way scrolling

arcade adventure Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games ...

with a look similar to previous Superior hits ''

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...

'' and '' Ravenskull'', but with a higher frame rate. It is set on a mining platform above Io, the sulfur-rich moon of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

. ''Pipeline'' was bundled with graphics and level design programs, allowing players to design their own game scenarios incorporating keys and doors, patrolling guards, explosions, throwable objects, moving walls, puzzles in the style of

Sokoban is a puzzle video game in which the player pushes boxes around in a warehouse, trying to get them to storage locations. The game was designed in 1981 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi, and first published in December 1982. Gameplay The game is played on a ...

, pipes, teleports and other simple kinds of puzzle logic.

Development

The game was written by Ian Holmes and William Reeve of

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

and published by the leading BBC Micro game company of the time,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. The original game concept, strongly influenced by the earlier game '' Ravenskull'', was of an action RPG. By collecting treasure and completing quests, the player would progress through medieval guilds in a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

setting: the working title was ''GuildMaster''. A change in direction was suggested by Richard Hanson (managing director and co-founder of Superior Software). Instead of a medieval city, the game took place on a contemporary oil platform with a red-headed protagonist nicknamed Red O'Hare collecting oil drums and putting out fires (a reference to

Red Adair Paul Neal "Red" Adair (June 18, 1915 – August 7, 2004)Obituary: Red Adair

science-fictional setting, following the

Piper Alpha Piper Alpha was an oil platform located in the North Sea approximately north-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Limited (OPCAL) and began production in 1976, initially as an oil-only platform but la ...

disaster in 1988. The name ''Pipeline'' arose from the gameplay element of fast transport to distant parts of the map through topologically interwoven pipes (novel to the BBC Micro at the time, but see ''

Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game '' Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for ...

'' or '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' for well-known examples).

Release

The game was first released in 1988 by

/ Acornsoft. It was included on the ''Play It Again Sam 11'' compilation in 1989. It was also re-released in 1991 as part of the Superior/

Blue Ribbon The blue ribbon is a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Cordon Bleu, which referred to the blue ribbon w ...

budget range. Although the inlay made no mention of the game editing programs, they were included on the cassette. A new expanded version for Microsoft Windows titled ''Pipeline Plus'' was released by Superior Interactive in 2004.

Reception

The game was given a maximum score by

Electron User ''Electron User'' was a magazine targeted at owners of the Acorn Electron microcomputer. It was published by Database Publications of Stockport, starting in October 1983 and ending after 82 issues in July 1990. Initially it was included as a 1 ...

with 10/10 for sound, graphics, playability and value for money (as well as overall) calling it "a masterpiece of brain twisting entertainment"."Io, Io, It's Off To Work We Go", Jon Revis, Electron User, #5.12, September 1988

References

External links