{{Short description|American video game programmer and designer}} {{Infobox person | name = Bill Budge | image = Bill Budge - Jason Scott interview (6936539687).jpg | alt = Budge in 2012 | caption = Budge in 2012 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|08|11}}<ref name="tower">{{cite web|url=http://www.pcpinball.com/news/interviews/bill_budge.html |title=Interview with Budge from ''The Tower of Pin'' |accessdate=2009-02-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223015331/http://www.pcpinball.com/news/interviews/bill_budge.html |archivedate=2009-02-23 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.apl2bits.net/2011/08/11/woz-budge-birthdays/ Happy birthday to Steve Wozniak and Bill Budge], by Ken Gagne, 2011-08-11, Apple II Bits, ''Bill Budge is nonetheless an important person in the computer industry and its history, and I'm glad he's still around to celebrate his 57th birthday.''</ref><!-- for living people. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = [[game programmer|video game programmer]], [[game designer|designer]] | years_active = | known_for =''[[Raster Blaster]]'' (1981)<br>''[[Pinball Construction Set]]'' (1983). | notable_works = }}
'''Bill Budge''' (born August 11, 1954<ref name="tower" />) is a retired American [[game programmer|video game programmer]] and [[game designer|designer]]. He is best known for the [[Apple II]] games ''[[Raster Blaster]]'' (1981) and ''[[Pinball Construction Set]]'' (1983).
==Early games== Budge says he became interested in computers while obtaining a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] at [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]]. He purchased an Apple II and began writing games. He enjoyed it so much that he dropped out of school and became a game programmer.<ref name="tower"/> Budge's first game was a ''[[Pong]]'' clone, called ''Penny Arcade'', which he wrote using his own custom graphics routines. He traded the completed game to [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer]] for a [[Centronics]] [[computer printer|printer]].<ref name="halcyon">{{cite book |last=Hague |first=James |date=March 1997 |title=Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers |title-link=Halcyon Days (book) |chapter=Bill Budge |access-date=15 September 2025 |publisher=Dadgum Games |chapter-url=https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/BUDGE.HTM}}</ref> [[California Pacific Computer Company|California Pacific]] published a collection of four of Budge's Apple II games in 1980 as ''[[Bill Budge's Space Album]]''.
An audience applauded with "audible gasps of astonishment" ''Raster Blaster'' and other uses of his [[computer graphics|graphics]] [[library (computing)|libraries]] at the 1981 National Computer Graphics Association conference.<ref name="thomas19810817">{{Cite magazine |last=Thomas |first=Wes |date=1981-08-17 |title=Budge Demonstrates Graphics Programs at NCGA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pD0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT12#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=November 13, 2025 |magazine=InfoWorld |page=11 |volume=3 |issue=16}}</ref> By then Budge's reputation was such that ''[[Byte (magazine)|BYTE]]'' wrote in its review of his ''Tranquility Base'', a [[Lunar Lander (1979 video game)|''Lunar Lander'']] clone, that "Consistently excellent graphics are a trademark of Bill Budge's games",<ref name="moore198105">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-05/1981_05_BYTE_06-05_Software_Piracy#page/n113/mode/2up | title=Tranquility Base | work=BYTE | date=May 1981 | accessdate=18 October 2013 | author=Moore, Robin | pages=112}}</ref> and ''InfoWorld'' described him as "graphics programmer extraordinaire".{{r|thomas19810817}} Budge marketed his games commercially with a [[floppy disk]] drive salesman who traveled from store to store; he and the salesman agreed to split profits of selling his games 50/50. Budge was shocked when he got his first check for [[United States dollar|USD]]$7,000.
Budge does not enjoy playing video games, and described having to play pinball for months while developing ''[[Pinball Construction Set]]'' as "sheer torture."<ref name="darling198502">{{cite news | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue57/computer_game.html | title=Birth of a Computer Game | work=Compute! | date=February 1985 | accessdate=6 October 2013 | author=Darling, Sharon | pages=48}}</ref> He more enjoyed writing fast graphics libraries for game programmers. Budge said "I wasn't that interested in playing or designing games. My real love was in writing fast graphics code. It occurred to me that creating tools for others to make games was a way for me to indulge my interest in programming without having to make games."<ref name="halcyon"/> and "The way I got started was by not trying to do anything original at all. I wanted to learn how to write videogames. I ... just went to arcades and copied the games that I saw."{{r|darling198502}}
He created the ''3-D Game Tool'', a program allowing rudimentary creation of wireframe images on the Apple II for use in games or other applications. It was published in 1981 by [[California Pacific Computer Company|California Pacific]].
==''Raster Blaster'' and BudgeCo== Budge first became interested in writing a [[pinball]] game while working for Apple in 1981. There was a pinball craze among the engineers there and it occurred to him that a pinball game would be a fun programming challenge. At that point he wrote ''Raster Blaster'' for the [[Apple II]]. Things like [[physics]] and collision detection were difficult on the Apple II's 1 [[MHz]] [[MOS Technology 6502|6502]] processor.
Budge formed his own company, BudgeCo to distribute ''Raster Blaster''. He realized he could do what the big distributors were doing: putting the games in packaging— [[Ziploc]] bags—and delivering them to software stores. Budge and his sister, who also handled the [[accounting]], would assemble the game packages in one of the rooms of his house and deliver them to local software stores.<ref name="halcyon" />
==Pinball Construction Set== He followed ''Raster Blaster'' with ''Pinball Construction Set'', a more general tool which allows users to create arbitrary pinball tables, including how the components are wired together. The project required him to write a mini-paint program, a mini sound editor and save/load systems. Some of the components he already had, which he developed for ''Raster Blaster''.
By 1983, however, the computer game publishing arena had become too complex for Budge, who did not really want to be an [[entrepreneurship|entrepreneur]]. When he was approached by [[Electronic Arts]] (EA) founder [[Trip Hawkins]] (whom he had met when they both worked at Apple) to publish his games, he discussed the idea with [[Steve Wozniak]]{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} and signed on. With EA's distribution, ''[[Pinball Construction Set]]'' eventually sold 300,000 copies over all platforms. EA marketed Budge and other early EA developers with publicity photographs by [[Norman Seeff]], an appearance by Budge on ''[[Computer Chronicles]]'' with Hawkins, and author tours to computer and department stores.{{r|maher20130201}}
Shortly after this, Budge disbanded BudgeCo, which he says was something of a relief for him, since he was really just a programmer and was not interested in being an entrepreneur.<ref name="halcyon" />
After ''Pinball Construction Set'', Budge attempted to create a "construction set construction set,"{{r|darling198502}} but abandoned the idea after determining that it was too complex a concept. Royalties meant that he did not have to work, and EA eventually gave up asking Budge for another project.<ref name="maher20130201">{{cite web | url=http://www.filfre.net/2013/02/the-pinball-wizard/ | title=The Pinball Wizard | work=The Digital Antiquarian | date=2013-02-01 | accessdate=10 July 2014 | author=Maher, Jimmy}}</ref>
==''MousePaint''== Budge wrote MousePaint, which was a program for the Apple II similar to the [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]] program [[MacPaint]]. MousePaint was bundled with an [[Apple Mouse#Apple Mouse II (M0100/A2M2050)|Apple Mouse II]] and [[Apple II peripheral cards|interface card]] for the Apple II.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Apple_II_Mouse_Card.txt |title=Apple II Mouse Card |website=Folklore.org}}</ref> Apple Computer released the mouse and software in May 1984.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apple2history.org/history/ah13.html#AppleMouse |title=Peripherals, cont. |website=Apple2History.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207203249/http://apple2history.org/history/ah13.html |archive-date=2009-02-07 }}</ref>
''[[Byte (magazine)|BYTE]]''{{'}}s reviewer stated in December 1984 that he made far fewer errors when using an [[Apple Mouse]] with MousePaint than with a [[KoalaPad]] and its software. He found that MousePaint was easier to use and more efficient, and predicted that the mouse would receive more software support than the pad.<ref name="eldred198412">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1984-12/1984_12_BYTE_09-13_Communications#page/n403/mode/2up | title=Artistic Tools for the Apple II Family | work=BYTE | date=December 1984 | accessdate=23 October 2013 | author=Eldred, Eric | pages=A8}}</ref>
==After EA== Budge ported ''Pinball Construction Set'' to the [[Sega Genesis]], which was published by Electronic Arts in 1993 as ''[[Virtual Pinball]]''. Ten tables can be saved, but they cannot be shared with other players.
Shortly afterward, Budge worked for [[The 3DO Company|3DO]], creating a [[3D computer graphics|3D]] [[game engine|engine]] for ''[[Blade Force]]''. He remained with the company for nine years until its demise in 2003. Budge returned to EA but stayed for less than two years. He joined [[Sony Interactive Entertainment|Sony Computer Entertainment]] in 2004 as Lead Tools Programmer. Budge left Sony after six years for [[Google]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/710402/dice-2011-bill-budge-pioneer-award-panel/ |title=DICE 2011: Bill Budge Pioneer Award Panel |last=Kelly |first=Kevin |work=G4tv.com |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113050951/http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/710402/dice-2011-bill-budge-pioneer-award-panel/ |archivedate=13 January 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Budge retired from Google in January 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/billbudge/|title=Bill Budge - LinkedIn profile [self-published]|accessdate=2022-12-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/BillB/status/1479878151568166915|accessdate=2022-12-23|date=2022-01-08|title=@BillB post on Twitter [self-published]|quote=Yesterday was my last day at Google. Instead of working from home, now retired at home.}}</ref>
==Personal life== Budge and his wife live in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] and have two children, Natalie and Andrew.
==Awards== In 2008, ''Pinball Construction Set'' was honored at the 59th Annual [[Technology & Engineering Emmy Award]]s for "User Generated Content/Game Modification". Budge accepted the award.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080110134558/http://kotaku.com/342028/2008-tech-emmy-winners 2008 Tech Emmy Winners] from Kotaku.com</ref>
On February 10, 2011, Budge was the second recipient of the Pioneer Award from the [[Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences]].<ref name=aias>{{cite web|title=ACADEMY OF INTERACTIVE ARTS & SCIENCES NAMES BILL BUDGE AS ITS SECOND PIONEER AWARD RECIPIENT|url=http://www.interactive.org/images/press_release/AIAS-Pioneer-Bill-Budge-FINAL.pdf|work=January 21, 2011|publisher=Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences|accessdate=29 January 2011}}</ref>
''Pinball Construction Set'' is an inductee in ''[[GameSpy]]'''s Hall of Fame.<ref>[http://archive.gamespy.com/halloffame/september02/pcs/ ''GameSpy'' Hall of Fame] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060316041001/http://archive.gamespy.com/halloffame/september02/pcs/ |date=2006-03-16 }} from ''[[GameSpy]]''</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{moby developer|id=742|name=Bill Budge}} * [https://archive.org/details/Computer1984_4 Budge on a show on video games from 1984] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080510135307/http://www.pcpinball.com/history/apple2.html Excerpts from a Nov 1998 interview, with link to complete text] {{Commons category-inline}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Budge, Bill}} [[Category:Google employees]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American video game designers]] [[Category:American video game programmers]] [[Category:Pinball game designers]] [[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]] [[Category:Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Pioneer Award recipients]] [[Category:1954 births]]