Latest post: PC Games of 1990.

Search String

Midwinter IBM PC Maelstrom Games Mike Singleton


Midwinter 1989-90



Maelstrom Games released Midwinter for Atari ST in 1989 and Amiga and IBM PC MS-DOS in 1990.

Midwinter is set on Earth in 2099 during a new Ice Age. In undertaking the role of Captain John Stark of the Free Villages Peace Force (FVPF) players must defend the only sanctuary left on the planet -- Midwinter Island -- against an invading force led by General Masters, whose headquarters are based in the southeast of the island, at Shining Hollow.

General Masters' objective is to acquire the 18 heat mines that power the islands' settlements whereas Captain Starks' objective is to assemble a team of FVPF officers and launch a counter-attack against Masters' advancing 2000-strong force.

Since Masters has jammed radio-comms on the island Captain Stark is forced to physically travel across the vast landscape of the island in search of FVPF officers and civilians that can assist in the counter-attack effort (and perhaps unjamm the comms). Once recruited, officers and civilians also come under player control. Luckily, various modes of transportation are available to Stark's team: skis, snow buggies, hang-gliders and cable cars. Team members also have access to sniper rifles, grenades, dynamite, missiles and torpedoes.


Midwinter was conceived and designed by Mike Singleton, who also coded the solid 3D graphics engine for the ST version. The ST and Amiga versions were programmed by Dave Gautry and George Williamson whereas the IBM PC version was programmed by Dave Ollman.

Pete Barnett designed the solid objects and map fractals, Chris Pink programmed the solid objects code for the ST version, and Val Franco coded the solid graphics and landscape for the IBM PC version.

Back in 1989 Midwinter allowed you to ski down mountain slopes at high speed and glide over the terrain in a hang-glider; the game's realism and immersion were off the charts.

Those who did not play Midwinter when it came out can never understand what it was like to play games like this in 1989-90. The game, the box, the manual -- Midwinter was such a high-quality product.

Midwinter came out long before its time; it came out a decade before "open-world" became a low-brow game-design cash-cow (Morrowind).

Midwinter Features


  • Flat-shaded real-time 3D graphics in first-person perspective
  • Fractal-generated terrain of plateaus, frozen lakes, valleys and mountain ranges
  • Light-sourced terrain
  • 256-color VGA 320x200
  • 160,000 square-mile open-world landmass to explore
  • Zoomable overworld terrain-map with switchable modes
  • Every two hours a Situation Report keeps track of 7 stats for both FVPF & Enemy
  • Modes of transport: Skiing, hang-gliding, cable car, snow buggy
  • Ground-based vehicles tilt and roll over the terrain; they can also roll over and crash on steep terrain
  • Hang-gliders can bank, dive and climb, take off and land and employ thermal updraughts
  • Sniping, grenade-throwing & sabotage (dynamite)
  • 32 characters / 14 stats each
  • Recruitment of companions
  • Companions have likes and dislikes
  • Eating, resting, sleeping, first aid
  • Refueling, rearming, resupplying, radio messaging
  • 8 different enemy vehicles (6 ground and 2 aircraft)
  • Surface-to-air, air-to-air and ground-to-ground missiles and torpedoes
  • 16 different buildings: hut, church, pylon, cable car, factory, heat mine, warehouse, synthesis plant, headquarters, magazine, settlement bunker, garage, store, radio station, mountain hut, police station
  • Icon-driven user interface

The IBM PC version of Midwinter is the best version of Midwinter. The IBM PC version of Midwinter was distributed on 1x 3.5" 1.44 MB HD diskette or 2x 3.5" 720K DS DD diskettes. The hard disk drive install size is 1.5 megs (174 files). Supports mouse, keyboard or joystick.

Midwinter audio supports AdLib and Roland MT-32.

The Midwinter manual was written by Rob Davies of MicroProse: 192 pages.

Midwinter Amiga 1990



Maelstrom Games ported the original Atari ST version of Midwinter to the Amiga in 1990. Brilliant!

The Atari ST versions was distributed on 2x 3.5" 720kB DD diskettes whereas the Amiga version was distributed on 1x 3.5" 880kB DD diskette. Neither version was installable to hard disk drive.
 
cf.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.