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Pete Cooke
Pete Cooke (born 1956) is a British computer games programmer, best known for his work published in the 1980s for the ZX Spectrum. Career His software often used a point and click GUI. As most Spectrum users did not own a mouse the pointer was manipulated by keyboard or joystick. Cooke's games were often innovative. For example, ''Tau Ceti'' (released 1985) featured a form of solid 3D graphics but was also set on a planet with day and night cycles with dynamically drawn shadows. ''Micronaut One'' (released 1987) was set inside futuristic biocomputers with the player controlling a microscopic craft attempting to clear the tunnels of an insect-like life form called Scrim. This game also used fast-moving 3D graphics as well as featuring an enemy that went through a realistic (if speeded-up) life-cycle, beginning each level as eggs and progressing to larvae and eventually adult Scrim which would then lay more eggs. Even Cooke's more straightforward games, like the 1988 shoot 'em up ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour'' and ''ZX82'', it was launched as the ''ZX Spectrum'' to highlight the machine's colour display, which differed from the black and white display of its predecessor, the ZX81. The Spectrum was released as six different models, ranging from the entry level with 16 Kilobyte, KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 KB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; altogether they sold over 5 million units worldwide (not counting List of ZX Spectrum clones, unofficial clones). The Spectrum was among the first home computers in the United Kingdom aimed at a mainstream audience, and it thus had similar significance to the Commodore 64 in the US and the Thomson MO5 in France. The introduction of the ZX Spect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower Of Babel (computer Game)
''Tower of Babel'' is a video game, computer game for the Amiga, Atari ST and Acorn Archimedes systems programmed by Pete Cooke, developed by Rainbird Software and released by Microprose Software in 1989 in video gaming, 1989. It is a puzzle video game played on a three-dimensional tower-like grid viewed in vector graphics with filled polygons. Background The plot of the game is based on the Holy Bible, biblical story of the Tower of Babel. At the height of the tower's construction, while it failed in its original purpose to directly contact God, it caught the attention of a passing Zandorian extraterrestrial life, alien starship, spaceship. The Zantorians descended and left three spider-like robots to help the Shinarians in constructing the tower. However, distrust broke out among the two species, and the humans betrayed the robots, stealing their energy packs (called "Klondikes"). Playing the robots, it is the player's job to find the energy packs to be able to get back home to Z ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Computer Programmers
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Briton (d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Video Game Designers
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Briton (d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1956 Births
Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are killed for trespassing by the Huaorani people of Ecuador, shortly after making contact with them. * January 16 – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vows to reconquer Palestine (region), Palestine. * January 25–January 26, 26 – Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala, after Soviet Union, Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4. * January 26 – The 1956 Winter Olympics open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. February * February 11 – British Espionage, spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean (spy), Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union, after being missing for 5 years. * February 14–February 25, 25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Mosc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imagine Publishing
Imagine Publishing was a UK-based magazine publisher, which published a number of video games, computing, creative and lifestyle magazines. It was founded on 14 May 2005 with private funds by Damian Butt, Steven Boyd and Mark Kendrick, all were former directors of Paragon Publishing, and launched with a core set of six gaming and creative computing titles in the first 6 months of trading. It was taken over by Future plc on 21 October 2016. In October 2005, it had acquired the only retro games magazine Retro Gamer, after its original publisher, Live Publishing went bankrupt. Early in 2006, it further acquired the rights to publish a considerable number of titles including gamesTM, Play, PowerStation, X360, Digital Photographer and iCreate, from the old Paragon Publishing stable of magazines when owner Highbury House Communications went into liquidation, following Future Publishing's withdrawal of its offer to buy the company, due to threats of a monopoly-investigation by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retro Gamer
''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became a monthly. In 2005, a general decline in gaming and computer magazine readership led to the closure of its publishers, Live Publishing, and the rights to the magazine were later purchased by Imagine Publishing. It was taken over by Future plc on 21 October 2016, following Future's acquisition of Imagine Publishing. History The first 18 issues of the magazine came with a coverdisk. It usually contained freeware remakes of retro video games and emulators, but also videos and free commercial PC software such as ''The Games Factory'' and '' The Elder Scrolls: Arena''. Some issues had themed CDs containing the entire back catalogue of a publisher such as Durell, Llamasoft and Gremlin Graphics. On 27 September 2005, the magazine's original p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoff Crammond
Geoff Crammond is a computer game designer and programmer who specialises in motor racing games. A former defence industry systems engineer, he claims to have had little interest in motor racing before programming his first racing game (Revs) back in 1984, but he holds a physics degree, which may explain the realism of some of his programming. As a consequence of that project he became a big fan of Formula One motor racing. At the end of the 80s, this interest, plus the ever improving capabilities of home computers, inspired him to specialise in programming Formula One racing simulations. Games One of his early releases was ''Aviator'', a Spitfire simulator released by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro in March 1984. Having been motivated to make his own flight simulator from the hardware level upwards, Crammond identified the possibility of using one of the increasingly sophisticated home computers, if only "to cannibalise it". Recognising the potential of the BBC Micro, he ordered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy (computer Game)
''Academy'' is an action/simulation video game for the Commodore 64, MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Amiga It was released in 1986 by the CRL Group. It is the sequel to ''Tau Ceti'' and written by the same author, Pete Cooke. Gameplay The gameplay is similar to ''Tau Ceti''—the player pilots a 'skimmer' through a 3D world—but with additional features. Instead of a single, large gameworld, the storyline is mission-based (but allowing the player some control over the order of play). The world physics of the original game are expanded on, as these missions take place on different planets under different suns; for example piloting under a dark red-dwarf provides a different play experience to a bright yellow sun. In addition, the player may design their own skimmers; customising engine and weapon strengths, equipment payloads, and arranging the on-screen control panel. The game's interface is the same cursor-and-menu system used in Pete Cooke's other creations, such as '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Upstart
''Urban Upstart'' is a 1983 text adventure programmed by Pete Cooke and published by Richard Shepherd Software for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. ''Urban Upstart'' is set in the fictional British town of Scarthorpe, a particularly grim town with high crime and unemployment rates. The protagonist begins in their house at three o'clock in the morning, with the objective of escaping from Scarthorpe. Gameplay Trying to leave the protagonist's house ''Urban Upstart'' is a text adventure in which the player types actions in verb-noun format. The upper half of the screen displays an illustration of the current location. Typing in expletives results in the protagonist being arrested on obscenity charges and sent to a gaol. Unlike Richard Shepherd Software's previous adventure, '' Invincible Island'', ''Urban Upstart'' did not come supplied with a separate "help program". This was intended to take the pressure off the company with regards to giving hints, but only caused customer conf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invincible Island
Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane * ''Invincible'' (2006 film), a sports film starring Mark Wahlberg * ''Invincible'' (TV series), an animated streaming television series based on the Image Comics comic * "Invincible" (''Eureka''), an episode of ''Eureka'' * "Invincible" (''The Flash''), an episode of ''The Flash'' Publications * ''Invincible'' (comics), an Image Comics series ** Invincible (character), the titular superhero * ''Invincible'' (Star Wars novel), a novel in the ''Legacy of the Force'' series * ''The Invincible'', a novel by Stanisław Lem * ''Invincible: The Games of Shusaku'', a book by John Power about Go master Honinbo Shusaku Music * Invincible (rapper), American rapper Ill Weaver Albums * ''Invincible'' (Five album) or the title song, 1999 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft XNA
Microsoft XNA (a recursive acronym for XNA's not acronymed) is a freeware set of tools with a managed runtime environment that Microsoft developed to facilitate video game development. XNA is based on .NET Framework, with versions that run on Windows and Xbox 360. XNA Game Studio can help develop XNA games. The XNA toolset was announced on March 24, 2004, at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California. A first Community Technology Preview of XNA Build was released on March 14, 2006. In many respects'', XNA'' can be thought of as a .NET analog to Microsoft's better known game development system, DirectX, but it is aimed at developers primarily interested in writing lightweight games. XNA is the basic platform for Xbox Live Indie Games. As of January 2013, XNA is no longer being developed, and it is not compatible with Windows Runtime (the API for developing Metro-style apps), which was introduced with Windows 8. Overview XNA Framework Microsoft XNA Framework is based ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
