Pipeline (video game)
Action RPG set on a mining platform above Jupiter's moon Io.
Pipeline is a video game for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, originally published by Superior Software in 1988. It is an overhead view action role-playing game set on a mining platform above Io, the sulfur-rich moon of Jupiter. The game is notable for its fast, four-way scrolling gameplay and for being bundled with graphics and level design programs, allowing players to create their own scenarios.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Pipeline
- Publisher
- Superior Software
- Designer
- Ian Holmes / William Reeve
- Released
- 1988: BBC, Electron / 2004: Windows (remake)
- Genre
- Action-adventure
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Windows
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The game was written by Ian Holmes and William Reeve of Cambridge, England and published by Superior Software of Leeds. The original concept, strongly influenced by the earlier game Ravenskull, was of an action RPG set in a medieval fantasy world with the working title GuildMaster. A change in direction was suggested by Richard Hanson, managing director and co-founder of Superior Software, who proposed a contemporary oil platform setting with a red-headed protagonist nicknamed Red O'Hare collecting oil drums and putting out fires (a reference to Red Adair). This plotline was quickly transplanted to a science-fictional setting following the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988. The name Pipeline arose from the gameplay element of fast transport through topologically interwoven pipes, novel to the BBC Micro at the time.
Reader's Guide
Pipeline is significant as a fast, four-way scrolling action-adventure game with a look similar to previous Superior games Repton and Ravenskull, but with a higher frame rate. Its inclusion of graphics and level design programs allowed players to design their own game scenarios incorporating keys and doors, patrolling guards, explosions, throwable objects, moving walls, puzzles in the style of Sokoban, pipes, teleports and other simple puzzle logic. The game was first released in 1988 by Superior Software/Acornsoft, included on the Play It Again Sam 11 compilation in 1989, and re-released in 1991 as part of the Superior/Blue Ribbon budget range. An expanded version for Windows, Pipeline Plus, was published by Superior Interactive in 2004. The game received a maximum score from Electron User with 10/10 for sound, graphics, playability and value for money, being called 'a masterpiece of brain twisting entertainment'.
Did You Know?
- The game's original working title was GuildMaster, set in a medieval fantasy setting.
- The setting was changed to a science-fictional mining platform after the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988.
- The protagonist was originally a red-headed character nicknamed Red O'Hare, a reference to Red Adair.
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