Editing Pinball Construction Set (section)

==Development==
[[File:Pinball_Construction_Set_Title_Screenshot.png|thumb|left|Title screen on an IBM PC]]
[[File:Pinball_Construction_Set_Start_Screenshot.png|thumb|left|A blank pinball machine with the user interface visible using 4 color CGA graphics.]]

[[Bill Budge]], author of the ''[[Raster Blaster]]'' pinball game for the [[Apple II]],{{r|maher20130201}} began developing ''Pinball Construction Set'' in July 1982. He did not want to write another game ("all the current (arcade) games are either maze games or ''[[Pong]]''; I didn't want any part of that"), but began experimenting with game and graphical tools he had written. As part of the development process he purchased and disassembled an old [[Gottlieb]] ''Target Alpha'' pinball machine, so his new project could accurately depict its components.<ref name="softline198211">{{cite news | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1982&pub=6&id=8 | title=Things to Come: The Pinball Construction Set | work=Softline | date=November 1982 | accessdate=27 July 2014 | pages=8}}</ref> Budge does not enjoy playing video games, and described having to play pinball for months while developing ''Pinball Construction Set'' as "sheer torture".<ref name="darling1982">{{cite news | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue57/computer_game.html | title=Birth of a Computer Game | work=Compute! | date=February 1985 | accessdate=6 October 2013 | author=Darling, Sharon | pages=48}}</ref>

The project was ambitious given the Apple's limited memory and graphics capabilities. While Budge did not work on the [[Apple Lisa]] project as an Apple employee from 1980 to 1981 he was aware of it and the [[Graphic User Interface]] research at [[Xerox PARC]], and gave ''Pinball Construction Set'' a Lisa-like user interface. He originally published and distributed the game via his publishing company [[BudgeCo]] in late 1982; the [[box art]] was a photograph of the parts of the disassembled pinball machine. It did not sell well, however, as BudgeCo did not have the distribution network that other, larger companies did. Budge agreed to have EA to publish his game when [[Trip Hawkins]] approached him in 1983. ''Raster Blaster'' and other projects had already made Budge a celebrity among Apple II owners, and his name was much larger than the name of the software on EA's ''Pinball Construction Set'' box art.{{r|maher20130201}}