The Lords of Midnight
Encyclopedia
The Lords of Midnight is a video game, written by Mike Singleton
Mike Singleton
Mike Singleton is a British author and video game developer who wrote various well-regarded titles for the ZX Spectrum during the 1980s. His titles include The Lords of Midnight, Doomdark's Revenge, Throne of Fire, Dark Sceptre and War In Middle Earth. He also wrote a novel, The Eternal Empire,...

, and released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

. Conversions for the Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...

 and Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

 soon followed.

Gameplay

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.

Graphics

The 3D effect used in the game was achieved by "billboarding" (see sprite
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...

) 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" 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
Doomdark's Revenge
Doomdark's Revenge is the sequel to the seminal ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC game The Lords of Midnight by Mike Singleton. It has similar game mechanics to Lords, but adds more detail and complexity with the number of characters and locations increased.-Background:After Doomdark's...

, but did not see significant further use in games.

Reception

CRASH
CRASH (magazine)
Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...

 awarded Lords of Midnight 10 out of 10, highlighting the panoramic views, detailed units and "wonderfully coherent" storyline. The ZX Spectrum version was voted the 7th best game of all time in a special issue of Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...

magazine in 2004.

Sequels

There was a sequel called Doomdark's Revenge
Doomdark's Revenge
Doomdark's Revenge is the sequel to the seminal ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC game The Lords of Midnight by Mike Singleton. It has similar game mechanics to Lords, but adds more detail and complexity with the number of characters and locations increased.-Background:After Doomdark's...

, 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
Lords of Midnight : The Citadel
Lords of Midnight: The Citadel is the second and final sequel to the classic ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC game The Lords of Midnight by Mike Singleton....

was released for the PC platform much later, but didn't repeat the success of the earlier games.

Novelization

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. In the end, however, no publisher was interested in publishing what they deemed a fringe publication, and the offered prize was forfeit.

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.

See also

  • Doomdark's Revenge
    Doomdark's Revenge
    Doomdark's Revenge is the sequel to the seminal ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC game The Lords of Midnight by Mike Singleton. It has similar game mechanics to Lords, but adds more detail and complexity with the number of characters and locations increased.-Background:After Doomdark's...

    , second part from The Lords of Midnight trilogy.
  • Lords of Midnight : The Citadel
    Lords of Midnight : The Citadel
    Lords of Midnight: The Citadel is the second and final sequel to the classic ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC game The Lords of Midnight by Mike Singleton....

    , third and last part from The Lords of Midnight trilogy.

External links

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