The only thing I remember about this game on the PC was the limited table size on screen and table layouts were not all that great...
From memory it was the first 'construction' set EA put out and quickly followed by a bunch of others was it not?
I remember a very popular shoot em up construction kit on the C64 the only problem was all the games looked / played the same.
-- Stu --
Certainly by the time it came out for the PC, which was 1985, it was already out for three years on the Apple II. It was actually a tiny, 30+K program on the PC, and only required 48K on the Apple II. You have to consider that to have a drag and drop construction set, really the very first of its kind for several years to come, back in 1982 was pretty darn revolutionary. While the table designs were somewhat limited, this was mitigated by the ability to pretty much modify anything, especially when you consider that you could pretty much draw anything. Again, nothing particularly impressive today, but there was nothing quite like it and it truly did allow ANYONE to build a pinball table. Personally I had the most fun with it when I added multiple balls, something that was the usual drag and drop simplicity. The nice thing about table building was that everything was done on the one screen. You could literally drag and drop whatever and then immediately play test. Great, groundbreaking stuff there.
Of course as you say, like with that shoot em up construction kit, there was a certain sameness to the creations, in part due to the simplicity and approachability of the toolset. Of course, over time, there were more and more advanced software tools, with one, Adventure Construction Set, appearing by 1985, that allowed for very sophisticated development, but of course lost some of Pinball Construction Set's approachability.
There were certainly other construction sets and virtual toys, like Designer's Pencil, Gary Kitchen's Gamemaker, Adventure Creator, etc., all with the goal to allow pretty much anyone to create either text adventures, text and graphics adventures, action games, animations, etc. Rudimentary stuff today, but definitely historically important.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
The only thing I remember about this game on the PC was the limited table size on screen and table layouts were not all that great...
From memory it was the first 'construction' set EA put out and quickly followed by a bunch of others was it not?
I remember a very popular shoot em up construction kit on the C64 the only problem was all the games looked / played the same.
-- Stu --
Certainly by the time it came out for the PC, which was 1985, it was already out for three years on the Apple II. It was actually a tiny, 30+K program on the PC, and only required 48K on the Apple II. You have to consider that to have a drag and drop construction set, really the very first of its kind for several years to come, back in 1982 was pretty darn revolutionary. While the table designs were somewhat limited, this was mitigated by the ability to pretty much modify anything, especially when you consider that you could pretty much draw anything. Again, nothing particularly impressive today, but there was nothing quite like it and it truly did allow ANYONE to build a pinball table. Personally I had the most fun with it when I added multiple balls, something that was the usual drag and drop simplicity. The nice thing about table building was that everything was done on the one screen. You could literally drag and drop whatever and then immediately play test. Great, groundbreaking stuff there.
Of course as you say, like with that shoot em up construction kit, there was a certain sameness to the creations, in part due to the simplicity and approachability of the toolset. Of course, over time, there were more and more advanced software tools, with one, Adventure Construction Set, appearing by 1985, that allowed for very sophisticated development, but of course lost some of Pinball Construction Set's approachability.
There were certainly other construction sets and virtual toys, like Designer's Pencil, Gary Kitchen's Gamemaker, Adventure Creator, etc., all with the goal to allow pretty much anyone to create either text adventures, text and graphics adventures, action games, animations, etc. Rudimentary stuff today, but definitely historically important.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.