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Pinball Construction Set
''Pinball Construction Set'' is a video game by Bill Budge written for the 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 Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64. 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. 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, began de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the designers and programmers responsible for its games as "software artists." EA published numerous games and some productivity software for personal computers, all of which were developed by external individuals or groups until 1987's '' Skate or Die!''. The company shifted toward internal game studios, often through acquisitions, such as Distinctive Software becoming EA Canada in 1991. Currently, EA develops and publishes games of established franchises, including '' Battlefield'', '' Need for Speed'', '' The Sims'', '' Medal of Honor'', '' Command & Conquer'', '' Dead Space'', '' Mass Effect'', '' Dragon Age'', '' Army of Two'', '' Apex Legends'', and ''Star Wars'', as well as the EA Sports titles '' FIFA'', '' Madden NFL'', '' NBA Liv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Construction Set
''Will Harvey's Music Construction Set'' (''MCS'') is a music composition notation program designed by Will Harvey for the Apple II and published by Electronic Arts in 1983. Harvey wrote the original Apple II version in assembly language when he was 15 and in high school. ''MCS'' was conceived as a tool to add music to his previously published game, an abstract shooter called ''Lancaster'' for the Apple II. ''Music Construction Set'' was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC (as a booter), and the Atari ST. Two years later, in 1986, Will Harvey released a port for the 16-bit Apple IIGS, utilizing its advanced sound. Also that year, a redesigned version for the Amiga and Macintosh was released as '' Deluxe Music Construction Set''. Overview With ''MCS'', a user can create musical composition via a graphical user interface, a novel concept at the time of its release. Users can drag and drop notes right onto the staff, play back their creations through the com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trip Hawkins
William Murray "Trip" Hawkins III (born December 28, 1953) is an American entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company, and Digital Chocolate. Career A fan of the Strat-O-Matic Football pen and paper games, Hawkins started his first business as a teenager trying to create a knockoff version. He borrowed $5,000 from his father to start up the venture and advertised his game in NFL Game Programs, but the business failed. Eventually, he received his first computer and became interested in creating a digital football game, because it would allow players to avoid the challenging math of the game were all handled internally. he designed his own undergraduate major at Harvard University in Strategy and Applied Game Theory.William M. ‘Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Box Art
Video game packaging refers to the physical storage of the contents of a PC or console game, both for safekeeping and shop display. In the past, a number of materials and packaging designs were used, mostly paperboard or plastic. Today, most physical game releases are shipped in ( CD) jewel cases or (DVD) keep cases, with little differences between them. Aside from the actual game, many items may be included inside, such as an instruction booklet, teasers of upcoming games, subscription offers to magazines, other advertisements, or any hardware that may be needed for any extra features of the game. Personal computer packages Early machines such as the Commodore 64 were tape-based, and hence had their games distributed on ordinary cassettes. When more advanced machines moved to floppy disks, the cassette boxes stayed in use for a while (e.g. '' Treasure Island Dizzy'' for the Amiga came on a floppy disk in a cassette box). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, computer games beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BudgeCo
Bill Budge (born August 11, 1954) is a retired American video game programmer and designer. He is best known for the Apple II games ''Raster Blaster'' (1981) and ''Pinball Construction Set'' (1983). Early games Budge says he became interested in computers while obtaining a PhD at UC Berkeley. He purchased an Apple II and began writing games. He enjoyed it so much that he dropped out of school and became a game programmer. Budge's first game was a ''Pong'' clone, called ''Penny Arcade'', which he wrote using his own custom graphics routines. He traded the completed game to Apple Computer for a Centronics printer.An interview with Budge from ''Halcyon Days'' California Pacific published a collecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xerox PARC
PARC (Palo Alto Research Center; formerly Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, the company was originally a division of Xerox, tasked with creating computer technology-related products and hardware systems. Xerox PARC has been at the heart of numerous revolutionary computer developments, including laser printing, Ethernet, the modern personal computer, GUI (graphical user interface) and desktop paradigm, object-oriented programming, ubiquitous computing, electronic paper, a-Si (amorphous silicon) applications, the computer mouse, and VLSI ( very-large-scale integration) for semiconductors. Unlike Xerox's existing research laboratory in Rochester, New York, which focused on refining and expanding the company's copier business, Goldman's “Advanced Scientific & Systems Laboratory” aimed to pioneer new technologies in advanced physics, materials science, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graphic User Interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, instead of text-based UIs, typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of CLIs ( command-line interfaces), which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard. The actions in a GUI are usually performed through direct manipulation of the graphical elements. Beyond computers, GUIs are used in many handheld mobile devices such as MP3 players, portable media players, gaming devices, smartphones and smaller household, office and industrial controls. The term ''GUI'' tends not to be applied to other lower-display resolution types of interfaces, such as video games (where HUD (''head-up display'') is preferred), or not including flat screens like volumetric displays becau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple Lisa
Lisa is a desktop computer developed by Apple, released on January 19, 1983. It is one of the first personal computers to present a graphical user interface (GUI) in a machine aimed at individual business users. Its development began in 1978. It underwent many changes before shipping at with a five-megabyte hard drive. It was affected by its high price, insufficient software, unreliable Apple FileWare floppy disks, and the immediate release of the cheaper and faster Macintosh. Only 10,000 were sold in two years. Considered a commercial failure (albeit one with technical acclaim), Lisa introduced a number of advanced features that reappeared on the Macintosh and eventually IBM PC compatibles. Among them is an operating system with protected memory and a document-oriented workflow. The hardware was more advanced overall than the forthcoming Macintosh 128K; the Lisa included hard disk drive support, capacity for up to 2 megabytes (MB) of random-access memory (RAM), expansio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gottlieb
Gottlieb (formerly D. Gottlieb & Co.) was an American arcade game corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. History The main office and plant was located at 1140-50 N. Kostner Avenue until the early 1970s when a new modern plant and office was located at 165 W. Lake Street in Northlake, IL. A subassembly plant was located in Fargo, ND. The company was established by David Gottlieb in 1927, initially producing pinball machines while later expanding into various other games including pitch-and-bats, bowling games, and eventually video arcade games (notably '' Reactor'' and ''Q*bert ''and, leading to the demise of Mylstar, M*A*C*H*3.) Like other manufacturers, Gottlieb first made mechanical pinball machines, including the first successful coin-operated pinball machine '' Baffle Ball'' in 1931. Electromechanical machines were produced starting in 1935. The 1947 development of player-actuated, solenoid-driven 2-inch bats called "flippers" revolutionized the industry. Players now had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pong
''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney were surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work and decided to manufacture the game. Bushnell based the game's concept on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console. In response, Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement. ''Pong'' was the first commercially successful video game, and it helped to establish the video game industry along with the Magnavox Odyssey. Soon after its release, several companies began producing games that closely mimicked its gameplay. Eventually, Atari's competitors released new types of video games that deviated from ''Pong' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raster Blaster
''Bill Budge's Raster Blaster'' (or ''Rasterblaster'' on the disk label) is a pioneering home computer pinball simulation written by Bill Budge for the Apple II and published in 1981 by Budge's company, BudgeCo. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family. ''Raster Blaster'' resembles the Williams ''Firepower'' table from 1980. While not the first pinball game for home computers, ''Raster Blaster'' set a higher bar for visual fidelity, and the next several years saw a flurry of Apple II pinball titles: ''David's Midnight Magic'' (1982), ''Night Mission Pinball'' (1982), and Budge's own ''Pinball Construction Set'' (1983). Reception Debuting in April 1981, the game sold 25,000 copies by June 1982, tied for fourth on ''Computer Gaming World''s list of top sellers. ''BYTE'' praised the game's realistic physics, writing that "Most microcomputer games that are versions of existing board or equipment games aren't worth the disks they're printed on, but ''Raster Blaster'' does not fall in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinball Construction Set Start Screenshot
Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails called 'pins' and had hollows or pockets which scored points if the ball came to rest in them. Today, pinball is most commonly an arcade game in which the ball is fired into a specially designed cabinet known as a pinball machine, hitting various lights, bumpers, ramps, and other targets depending on its design. The game's object is generally to score as many points as possible by hitting these targets and making various shots with flippers before the ball is lost. Most pinball machines use one ball per turn (except during special multi-ball phases), and the game ends when the ball(s) from the last turn are lost. The biggest pinball machine manufacturers historically include Bally Manufacturing, Gottlieb, Williams Electronics and Stern Pinball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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