| The Lords of Midnight | |
|---|---|
Cover art |
|
| Developer(s) | Mike Singleton |
| Publisher(s) | Beyond Software |
| Platform(s) | ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, Strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | N/A |
| Media/distribution | Cassette |
The Lords of Midnight is a video game, written by Mike Singleton, and released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum. Conversions for the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 soon followed.
Contents |
The Lords of Midnight is a wargame/adventure game. The player starts with four characters (Luxor the Moonprince, Rorthron the Wise, Corleth the Fey, and Morkin), and then has the option to recruit up to twenty eight further Lords (Ithrorn, The Utarg of Utarg, Blood, Xajorkith, Shadows, and so on) to the cause in the quest to destroy Doomdark, the Witchking of Midnight.
The game can be played in three ways; firstly, as a straight adventure game, where the focus is on Morkin's quest to destroy the Ice Crown, the source of Doomdark's power, then secondly as a wargame, where the focus is on recruiting lords and troops to defeat Doomdark's armies. The third variation, described in the manual as the 'Epic', required the player to complete the game in both ways simultaneously.
The human player has the advantage in that only one of two objectives is required to defeat Doomdark. If the Ice Crown is destroyed, or Doomdark's home citadel of Ushgarak falls, the game is won. In order for Doomdark to win, he has to complete two objectives; firstly Morkin must be killed, for as long as Morkin is alive the game will continue, and secondly he must subdue the armies of the Free. He can do this by either killing Luxor the Moonprince or conquering Xajorkith, the capital citadel of the Free lands.
The game featured a groundbreaking technique called landscaping to depict the lands of Midnight from a first-person perspective,
At the time of its release, the game creator Mike Singleton thought there was no way to defeat Doomdark before Xajorkith fell. Gamers proved him wrong, and to this day the various internet groups devoted to the game continue to refine strategies to defeat Doomdark[1].
The 3D effect used in the game was achieved by "billboarding" (see sprite) pre-scaled images of mountains, forests, buildings, etc. to create the impression of a perspective-correct landscape scene, available from a viewpoint of 8 points of the compass - the technique was self-described as "landscaping"[2] The techique created a strong impression at the time, and the game received praise for its graphics; "landscaping" was also used in the sequel Doomdark's Revenge, but did not see significant further use in games.
CRASH awarded Lords of Midnight 10 out of 10, highlighting the panoramic views, detailed units and "wonderfully coherent" storyline.[3] The game won the award for best adventure game of the year according to the Crash readers.[4] The ZX Spectrum version was voted the 7th best game of all time in a special issue of Your Sinclair magazine in 2004.[5]
There was a sequel called Doomdark's Revenge, which took place in a land to the North of Midnight called The Icemark.
The planned final installment of the trilogy The Eye of The Moon was never released.
Lords of Midnight: The Citadel was released for the PC platform much later, but didn't repeat the success of the earlier games.
Additionally the original games have been remade by enthusiasts for the PC.[6]
Upon release Beyond Software, the publishers of the game, offered to turn the campaign of the first person who could offer proof of completing the game into a published novel. While there weren't many ways of offering proof that the campaign was completed, many players sent reams of thermal printer paper to Beyond Software, hoping to get their campaign published. The first person to send in their claim to victory did so within two weeks of the game's release[7]. In the end, however, no publisher was interested in publishing what they deemed a fringe publication, and the offered prize was forfeit[8].
Tentative discussions were held, where Mike Singleton offered to write the novel himself. Ultimately time constraints and the reluctance on the publisher's part made any and all plans for a novel impossible[8].
