David's Midnight Magic

This article is about the Broderbund game. For the Atari 2600 game, see Midnight Magic (Atari 2600).
David's Midnight Magic
DeveloperBroderbund
PublishersBroderbund
Ariolasoft (EU)
Atari Corporation (cartridge)
ProgrammersDavid Snider[2]
Martin Kahn (C64)[1]
PlatformsApple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64
Release1982: Apple, Atari 8-bit
1983: C64[1]
1987: Atari 8-bit cartridge
GenrePinball
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

David's Midnight Magic is a pinball simulation video game written by David Snider for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982.[2] The game was published in Europe by Ariolasoft. A port to Atari 8-bit computers was released the same year, then the Commodore 64 in 1983. In 1987, Atari Corporation published a cartridge version in the styling of the then-new Atari XEGS.

Gameplay

David's Midnight Magic is closely modeled after the real-life pinball table Black Knight, released by Williams in 1980.[3]

Players begin a game with five balls, and can earn extra balls. The game has magna-save near the top of the outlanes.[4] The game can be played by up to four players. The bonus score is multiplied by a bonus multiplier.[5] Balls could be trapped in a collector in the upper playfield, which released after collecting three balls, hitting an arrow, or draining down an outlane on the last ball.[6]

In the Apple II version, high scores could be saved to the disk. The sound could be run through the cassette player.[7]

Development

Seeing Raster Blaster inspired David Snider to create a pinball video game. By September 1981 the game was half-way to being completed when Snider attended a computer conference and had a serendipitous meeting with Doug Carlston and agreed to become a developer for Broderbund.[8]

The 1982 Atari version has four colours, reduced from the six colours in the Apple II version.[8] The bumper cap has an apple on it in most versions,[9] but this is changed to the Atari logo on the Atari versions.

Reception

Softline stated that David's Midnight Magic "ratifies Bill Budge's extraordinary program as a programming tour de force", as it was only equal to Budge's Raster Blaster despite being released nine months later. The magazine concluded that "the fact that [David is] second should not dull the glitter of this effort".[6] Computer Gaming World stated that Midnight Magic was a better game than Raster Blaster, but lamented the requirement of removing write protection from the floppy, thus voiding the warranty, in order to save high scores.[13] The Commodore 64 Home Companion called the game "extraordinarily realistic ... complete with all the features that make pinball so seductive".[14]

David's Midnight Magic won "Computer Game of the Year" at the 4th annual Arkie Awards,[15] where judges described it as "a program that is both an exciting video game and a fairly faithful evocation of pinball mystique".[16]: 32 

Another reviewer was disappointed with the Atari-800 version, finding nudge not to work, and more difficult to control with paddles than the Apple II version.[17]

Legacy

Atari Corporation released a pinball game called Midnight Magic for the Atari 2600 that plays differently from the similarly named David's Midnight Magic.

Doug Carlston of Broderbund said in 1983 that Snider earned "somewhere in the six figures" in royalties from David's Midnight Magic.[18] David Snider's brother Eric later similarly used his first name in the titles of the game Eric's Ultimate Solitaire and the screensaver Eric's Cascade.[19]

In 2005, a Visual Pinball recreation of David's Midnight Magic was created called David's Midnight Magic 2005 which is rendered with 3D graphics.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b David's Midnight Magic at Lemon 64
  2. ^ a b Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  3. ^ "Pinball Wizard". Computer+Videogiochi (in Italian). No. 7. 1991. p. 87.
  4. ^ Atari Game Manual: David's Midnight Magic. 1987.
  5. ^ Teverbaugh, Rick (November 1983). "Video Pinball flips out". Electronic Games. Vol. 2, no. 9. pp. 49–50.
  6. ^ a b Tommervik, Al (January 1982). "David's Midnight Magic". Softline. Vol. 1, no. 3. p. 32.
  7. ^ Alden, John (March 1982). "The reviews". Washington Apple Pi Journal. Vol. 4, no. 3. p. 13.
  8. ^ a b Davidson, Steve (July 1983). "Meet David Snider: The Magical Midnight Man". Electronic Games. Vol. 1, no. 17. pp. 62, 67.
  9. ^ a b Laflamme, Shawn, ed. (January 1984). "Software Gallery". Run Magazine. No. 1. pp. 18, 20.
  10. ^ "Pinball Magic". Home Computing Weekly. No. 96. January 22, 1985. p. 34.
  11. ^ "Le Flip, c'est chic". Tilt (in French). No. 93. July 1985. pp. 81, 87.
  12. ^ "Action Replay". Your 64 Magazine. No. 8. April 1985. p. 46.
  13. ^ Greenlaw, Stanley (March–April 1982), "Pinball Mania", Computer Gaming World, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 35, 38
  14. ^ "Broderbund Software". The Commodore 64 Home Companion. 1984. pp. 166–167. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  15. ^ "Arcade Awards announced". Arcade Express newsletter. Vol. 1, no. 7. November 7, 1982. pp. 1, 4.
  16. ^ Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (March 1983). "Arcade Alley: The Best Computer Games". Video. 6 (12). Reese Communications: 32–33. ISSN 0147-8907.
  17. ^ Backer, Paul (June 1983). "David's Midnight Magic". Electronic Fun with Computers & Games. Vol. 1, no. 8. p. 64.
  18. ^ Barry, David (October 1983). "Profiles: The Carlston Trio". Antic. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  19. ^ "Eric's Cascade: A Review". Washington Apple Pi Journal. Vol. 20, no. 3. May–June 1998. pp. 28–29.
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