British video game developer Mike Singleton passed away in 2012. His interest in development began when he taught himself BASIC programming on a Commodore Pet while working as an English teacher in Ellesmore Port, Cheshire.
In 1980 he produced a series of simple games for the computer with publisher Petsoft - including one titled Space Ace which he wrote entirely in 6502 machine code.
Singleton then moved on to the Sinclair ZX81, for which he produced compilation GamesPack1. This went on to sell around 90,000 copies - a spectacular result given the limited number of computers available at the time.
In 1982, Singleton retired from teaching to become a full-time freelance game designer.
He is perhaps best known for his wor
k with Beyond Software - creating strategy adventure Lords of Midnight (1984) and sequel Doomdark's Revenge (1985) for the ZX Spectrum. The third in the proposed trilogy, Eye of the Moon, was never completed.
In 1987, Singleton's Throne of Fire was published by Melbourne House. Throne was a real time adventure, as opposed to The Lords of Midnight turn-based play.
Later the same year, Dark Sceptre, developed by Singleton's Maelstrom Games team, was published by Firebird. It straddled the area between Lords of Midnight and Throne of Fire - using real time mechanics like the latter, combined with the deeper, more involved adventure style of the former.
In 1989, Melbourne House released Singleton's real time strategy game War In Middle-earth. Based on JRR Tolkien's books, the game simulated battles both on a large map-based numerical scale, and at a more focussed ground level. When at ground level, players could take control of individual characters and control them in a more adventure-style manner.
In the late 1980s, Singleton created Midwinter for the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST computers, through publishers Rainbird. Midwinter presented players with a traditionally epic game world (160,000-square-miles), but this time viewed from an innovative first-person 3D perspective. It was also a clear move on from the medieval fantasy settings of Singleton's previous games to a post-apocalyptic future (the game was set during an Ice Age at the end of the 21st Century.)
In 1991, Midwinter II: Flames of Freedom was published. The game followed on from the story of Midwinter, though this time was set across a series of tropical islands - and featured a greater variety of characters and vehicles.
Singleton went on to use his considerable talents as a consultant and trouble shooter for major international studios - a role which led him to work on games as diverse as GRID, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. His last credited game was AMA Studios' Fighters Uncaged.
Mike Singleton died in Switzerland on October 10th, aged 61, following a battle with cancer.
