''The Arcade Machine'' is a

game creation system AHjbhb job u tv in ubjb, A game creation system (GCS) is a consumer-targeted game engine and a set of specialized design tools (and sometimes a light scripting language), engineered for the rapid iteration of user-derived video games. Examples incl ...

written by Chris Jochumson and

Doug Carlston Douglas Gene Carlston (born April 30, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts) is the founder and current CEO of Tawala Systems based in San Rafael, California. He was previously CEO, chairman, and co-founder of Broderbund Software, a software publishin ...

for the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

and published by

Broderbund Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits ''Choplifter'', ''Lode Runner'', ''Karateka'', and '' ...

in 1982. Louis Ewens ported it to the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

. Broderbund ran a contest from January–June 1984 where the best user-created game was awarded a prize of $1,500 in hardware and software. Jochumson also wrote ''

Track Attack ''Track Attack'' (stylized as ''Track Attack!'') is a train-themed action game written by Chris Jochumson for the Apple II. It was published in 1982 by Broderbund, as was an Atari 8-bit family port by Bill Hooper. ''Track Attack'' contains both ov ...

'' for Broderbund.

Gameplay

The game allows players to create alien attacks like those seen in ''

Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who ...

''. The inbuilt editor allows players to: design/animate enemies, players and explosions; give enemies instructions on moving/firing; drawing backgrounds/title screens, creating sound effects/music, and setting various gameplay rules. Finished games can be saved to a

self-booting disk A self-booting disk is a floppy disk for home or personal computers that loads directly into a standalone application when the system is turned on, bypassing the operating system. This was common, even standard, on some computers in the late 1970 ...

to allow them to run without this program.

Reception

John F. Besnard reviewed the game for ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'', and stated that "The product itself provides a tremendous amount of power to the user. Try a few of the demo games supplied on the back of the disk to see the versatility potential of the product." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the game as a "hierophant" due to giving non-programmers the ability to create games; furthermore, the publication suggested that with a bit of aesthetic improvement, ''The Arcade Machine'' would "be a game one can play almost forever". In 1984, ''

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...

'' deemed it a "fabulous program," and compared it favourably to ''

Pinball Construction Set ''Pinball Construction Set'' is a video game by Bill Budge written for the Apple II series, Apple II. It was originally published in 1982 through Budge's own company, BudgeCo, then was released by Electronic Arts in 1983 along with ports to the At ...

''. Steve Panak of ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

'' wrote, "''The Arcade Machine'' is not for the weak of stomach, nor for the weak of mind. Complexity is a key word here. However, despite its complexity, the program is surprisingly user-friendly, thanks to excellent documentation." In the conclusion he warned, "Many, many, many hours are needed to create and hone your game to perfection-and that's if you're not a perfectionist." The game was "a best seller", according to the September 1984 issue of ''

Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format th ...

''.

References

External links

French review by Jeux

InfoWorld 30 Jan 1984

InfoWorld 4 Apr 1983

InfoWorld 25 Oct 1982

Kiplinger's Personal Finance
1982 video games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Broderbund games Video games developed in the United States Video game engines Video game IDE {{videogame-software-stub