Editing Lode Runner (section)

==Development==
Around late 1980, high school student James Bratsanos heard from a friend about a new [[arcade video game]], ''[[Space Panic]]'' by [[Universal Entertainment|Universal]], which involves climbing platforms and ladders while digging holes to trap monsters. Bratsanos was intrigued by his friend's description of the concept, and he wanted to develop it further. He began writing a [[Commodore PET]] program, called ''Suicide'', using simple text-based graphics. Due to his lack of programming experience, there were no pre-programmed levels, but he instead built "an engine that could interpret a game level and then run a processing loop on the monsters". This novel design later evolved into the concept of a level editor.<ref name="Retro">{{cite magazine |last1=Grannell |first1=Craig |title=Lode Runner |magazine=[[Retro Gamer]] |date=January 2013 |issue=111 |pages=20–7 |url=https://issuu.com/michelfranca/docs/retro_gamer____111}}</ref><ref name="Maher">{{cite web |last1=Maher |first1=Jimmy |title=Lode Runner |url=https://www.filfre.net/2020/12/lode-runner/ |website=The Digital Antiquarian |date=December 18, 2020 |access-date=20 April 2021}}</ref>

At the [[University of Washington]] in 1981, Bratsanos met two other students, [[architecture]] student [[Douglas E. Smith]] and Tracy Steinbeck. Following the release of [[Nintendo]]'s arcade platformer ''[[Donkey Kong (1981 video game)|Donkey Kong]]'' that year, the three students began working on a program called ''Kong'', which evolved the concepts of ''Suicide''. Bratsanos later left the project to pursue his studies, and Smith continued to develop ''Kong''<ref name="Maher"/><ref name="Retro"/> into the prototype of what later became ''Lode Runner''.<ref name = "IGN_interview">{{cite news | date =1999-02-17| work= [[IGN]] | title = Lock'n'Lode | url = http://ign64.ign.com/articles/066/066952p1.html}}</ref> ''Kong'' was written for a [[Prime Computer|Prime Computer 550]] [[minicomputer]] limited to one building on the UW campus. ''Kong'' was soon [[porting|ported]] to [[VAX]] minicomputers, which had more terminals available on campus. The game was programmed in [[Fortran]] using [[ASCII art|ASCII character graphics]]. When ''Kong'' was ported to the VAX, some [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] sections were mixed into the original Fortran code.<ref name=Douglas-death>{{cite news|url=https://www.engadget.com/2014/09/13/lode-runner-creator-douglas-e-smith-passes-away/|title=''Lode Runner'' Creator Douglas E. Smith Passes Away|author=Thomas Schulenberg|website=[[Engadget]]|date=13 September 2014|access-date=7 August 2015}}</ref>

Over one weekend in 1982, Smith recreated a crude, playable version in [[MOS Technology 6502|6502]] [[assembly language]] on an [[Apple II Plus]] and renamed the game ''Miner''. Through the end of the year, he refined that version, which was black-and-white with no [[joystick]] support. He submitted a rough version to [[Broderbund]] around October 1982 and received a one-line rejection letter in response to the effect of "Thank you for submitting your game concept. Unfortunately, it does not fit within our product line." Smith borrowed money to purchase a color monitor and joystick and continued to improve the game. Around Christmas of 1982, he submitted the game once more, now renamed ''Lode Runner'', to four [[video game publisher|publishers]] and received offers from all four: [[Sierra Online|Sierra]], [[Sirius Software|Sirius]], [[Eclectic Games|Synergistic]], and Broderbund. He took the deal with Broderbund.<ref name = "IGN_interview" />

Like its text-based ''Kong'' predecessors, the submitted game had only simple animation where characters move across the screen in block increments. It was too primitive for an acceptable commercial product as Broderbund wanted detailed pixel-level movement.<ref name = "Ancient_History_Usenet" >{{cite web| date =1991-04-07| title = Loderunner: Ancient History! (Usenet posting to rec.games.programmer) | url = http://entropymine.com/jason/lr/misc/ldhist.html}}</ref> Smith was given a $10,000 advance by Broderbund to develop the inter-square animation and to provide 150 levels of play.

Smith's new game would be one of the first to include a [[level editor]] for [[user generated content]], allowing players to create [[Level (video gaming)|levels]] for the game.<ref name="Honoring the Code"/> In a 2010 interview, [[game designer]] [[John Romero]] claimed that Smith added the level-editing function at the request of neighborhood kids he had testing the game, and "a ton" of the levels they designed ended up in the final game.<ref name="Honoring the Code">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=opLCzUsjRowC&pg=PA7 | title=Honoring the Code: Conversations with Great Game Designers | publisher=CRC Press | last=Barton |first=Matt | date=2010 | page=7 | isbn=978-1466567535}}</ref>