MIDI Maze

MIDI Maze is an early first person shooter maze video game for the Atari ST developed by Xanth Software F/X, published by Hybrid Arts, and released around 1987. It owes a significant debt to what may be the first of its genre, Maze War. The original MIDI Maze team consisted of James Yee as the business manager, Michael Park as the graphics and distributed processing guru, and George Miller writing the AI/drone logic. The game constructed multiplayer networks using the MIDI interface. It is has been suggested that MIDI Maze introduced the concept of deathmatch combat.

Up to 16 computers could be networked in a "MIDI Ring" by connecting one computer's MIDI-OUT port to the next computer's MIDI-IN port. Unless the computers were looped correctly, more than 4 players tended to slow down the game to a crawl and make it unstable.

Graphically the game was very simple with a humorous twist. The game area itself occupied only roughly a quarter of the screen and consisted of a first-person view of a flat-shaded Pac-Man-like maze with a crosshair in the middle. All players were shown as Pac-Man-like smiley avatars in various colors. Bullets were represented as small balls.

The game was started by one designated "master" machine, which set rules, divided players into teams, and selected a maze. A number of mazes were supplied with the game, and additional mazes could be constructed using a simple text-editor or one of various third-party tools. The game was very popular at gatherings of Atari ST users until the end of the Atari ST era, circa 1993.

A prototype of MIDI Maze was found for the Atari 8-bit family. It is possible to connect ST and 8-bit to a network and play together. A three-day all-day MIDI Maze tournament is one popular attraction at Con of the North, a gaming convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota.