Not strictly a game as such (Although the screenshot you will see depicts a sample game that has been created) – Mr Pixel’s Game Maker is a rather obscure title which seems to have been lost in the midsts of time. A different package from the Activision release of the same name, little is known about Mindscape’s own creation tool.
The advert for the game states:
“Create your own arcade games using if-then statements for rules and adding predrawn or original characters and backgrounds. This program is part of the Mr. Pixel series, so backgrounds from Mr. Pixel’s Programming Paint Set and characters from Mr. Pixel’s Cartoon Kit can be incorporated into games. Game Maker is a creative learning tool that develops logical thinking skills while children play. Available on Apple, Commodore, IBM.”
It seems possible that this package got into problems because Activision had a similiar package and got it patented?
Well, thanks to contributor Zane, we learn from the developer’s website that the package was never released. Developer Richard Blum revealed the following on his website:
“We also developed a video game making programming for children entitled Mr. Pixel’s Game Maker. It used animated players from the Cartoon Kit. Instructions included:
- Animating players on the screen,
- Controlling players with game controllers
- Detecting collisions between players and objects
- Detecting if a player was within a certain range.
- Detecting if a player reached a spot
- Controlling the score.
We made some fun games with the Game Maker. Unfortunately it was never marketed by Mindscape.
The Mr. Pixel Series was developed in the assembly language of the following computers. Apple II, Commodore 64, and IBM PC.”
We are now in touch and Richard hopes to help us find something of the package to preserve in the future. He also confirmed that Game Maker was complete, but Mindscape decided not to publish due to poor sales of the other Mr Pixel releases. At the time, the home computer market was flooded and at the same time the hardware market imploded.
Richard feels it was a big mistake for Mindscape not to publish the package, as it was the best of the three they had produced. There had also been negotiations for a more sophisticated painting program for the PC, but this fell by the wayside pretty quickly.
Contributions: Marco, Zane, Richard Blum
I suspect that Richard Blum may still have the disks? Also note what he says further below in that site
“In addition to the Mr. Pixel Series, we developed an object based paint program with an integrated word processor entitled Masterpiece. Unfortunately it was never marketed.”
Thanks Zane! I’ll reach out to Richard to see if we can learn more and see if anything can be saved! I’ll add you to the contributions list!
The author of this title appears to have a website here
https://www.richblum.net/mr-pixel-series