|
Quicksilva
Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s. Quicksilva was founded by Nick Lambert in 1980. The name Quicksilva was inspired by a particular guitar solo in a track on the album Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service. Quicksilva mainly released games for the ZX81, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, but also did conversions and some original games for the VIC-20, Dragon 32/64, Oric-1/ Atmos, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron home computers. One of their earliest titles was ''QS Defenda'' (originally ''QS Defender''), a clone of the ''Defender'' arcade game for the ZX80 and ZX81 home computers. Greater success followed with later releases, including a ''Star Raiders''-style game entitled ''Time-Gate'' which reached the top of the ZX Spectrum charts in December 1982. Amongst the company's other successes were Jeff Minter's '' Gridrunner'' (1983), '' Bugaboo'' (1983, a.k.a. ''La Pulga'') and ''Fred'' (1983, titled " ''Roland on the Ropes'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zombie Zombie
''Zombie Zombie'' is a ZX Spectrum computer game developed by Spaceman Ltd (Sandy White and Angela Sutherland), published in 1984 by Quicksilva. It is a development of Spaceman's previous ''Ant Attack'', and uses an updated "Softsolid 3D" isometric graphics engine. Gameplay The player is alone in an ancient partially walled city infested with zombies. They must lure the zombies into following the player and then trick them into falling off the edge of tall structures more than three blocks high. The player must get close enough to the zombies to attract their attention into following them, but not so close as to be overwhelmed and become a zombie themselves. ''Zombie Zombie'' includes a helicopter, which can be piloted and used to alter the architecture by lifting and dropping bricks. City The city is made of blocks which can be rearranged by the player to make the zombie cull easier. As the city walls are incomplete in places, '' Your Spectrum'' recommended that the player's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time-Gate
''Time-Gate'' (also known as ''Timegate'', ''4D Time-Gate'' or ''4D Defender'') is a ZX Spectrum game from Quicksilva, and one of the first 3D combat games. The name is derived from its treatment of time as a dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coo ..., in which one could travel (albeit backwards only). The first press launch in the UK games industry was for this title. Plot ''Time-Gate'' had one embarking on a perilous mission to repel the Squarm invaders who have conquered Earth, by fighting through hordes of same, thus finding and locating the time-gates (hence the name) and using the gates to travel back through time to an earlier era, where one fought through more Squarm to find another gate. Eventually, if one hadn't been killed by the enemy, one got back ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glider Rider
''Glider Rider'' is an isometric action-adventure game published by Quicksilva in 1986 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC. The music was composed by David Whittaker. Plot The criminal Abraxas Corporation must be destroyed. An agent has been sent to their artificial island to bomb the ten reactors that power their base. To complete the mission he has been given a supply of grenades and a motorcycle capable of transformation into a hang glider. Gameplay The player must destroy the reactors on the island by dropping grenades on them. The reactors are defended by laser gun towers which can be temporarily disabled by disrupting their control towers. The player's character rides a machine which is a combination motorcycle and hang glider. By driving down a mountainside and suddenly reversing direction, the player can take to the air. He can fly in any direction, or lose height, but cannot climb higher. There are many mountains on the island to help him achieve fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bugaboo (The Flea)
''Bugaboo (The Flea)'', later published in Spain as ''La Pulga'', is a video game written by the Spanish programming duo Paco Portalo and Paco Suarez for the ZX Spectrum and published by Quicksilva in 1983. It was later released for the Commodore 64, MSX and Amstrad CPC. The Amstrad CPC port was published under the name ''Roland in the Caves'' using the Roland character. ''Bugaboo'', besides being one of the earliest video games made in Spain, is one of the first computer games to include cutscenes. Its publication marked the beginning of the Golden Era of Spanish Software. A sequel was released in Spain by Opera Soft under the title ''Poogaboo'', made by Paco Suarez. Paco Portalo, the other member of Paco & Paco, left the project after the publication of the original game for the ZX Spectrum. The player takes control of a flea who has fallen into a cavern and must escape. Gameplay The game begins with an animation depicting Bugaboo, a small, yellow creature with two ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ant Attack
''Ant Attack'' is an action game written for the ZX Spectrum by Sandy White and published by Quicksilva in 1983. A Commodore 64 version was released in 1984. While ''Zaxxon'' and ''Q*bert'' previously used isometric projection, ''Ant Attack'' added an extra degree of freedom (ability to go up and down instead of just north, south, east and west), and it may be the first isometric game for personal computers. The same type of isometric projection was used in Sandy White's later '' Zombie Zombie''. It was also one of the first games to allow players to choose their gender. Gameplay The player chooses whether to control the character of "Girl" or "Boy", who then enters the walled city of Antescher to rescue the other, who has been captured and immobilised somewhere in the city. The city is inhabited by giant ants which chase and attempt to bite the player. The player can defend themselves by throwing grenades at the ants, but these can also harm the humans. Once the hostage is re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gridrunner
''Gridrunner'' is a fixed shooter video game written by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft for the VIC-20 in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore PET and Dragon 32. Many remakes and sequels have followed, including versions for the Atari ST, Amiga, Pocket PC, Microsoft Windows, and iOS. Gameplay The game is similar to the Atari, Inc. arcade game ''Centipede (video game), Centipede'', with long, segmented enemies that progress in a zig-zag fashion and can be broken apart. Players control a small ship that can fire upwards and move freely around the screen. The player must also avoid pulses emitted by the X-Y zappers which patrol the edges of the grid. The game has twenty waves of enemies to complete. Development Llamasoft released ''Gridrunner'' in 1982 for the unexpanded VIC-20. The game was written over the course of a single week. Although it draws its inspiration from the arcade game ''Centipede (video game), Centipede'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Minter
Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games for the ZX80. Minter's games are shoot 'em ups which contain titular or in-game references demonstrating his fondness of ruminants (llamas, sheep, camels, etc.). Many of his programs also feature something of a psychedelic element, as in some of the earliest "light synthesizer" programs including '' Trip-a-Tron''. Minter's works include the music visualisation program ''Neon'' (2004) which is built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games ''Gridrunner'', ''Attack of the Mutant Camels'', ''Tempest 2000'', and ''Polybius''. Game development career Pre-commercial career (early years) Minter began programming computers at a young age. He wrote the game ''Deflex'' for the Commodore PET in 1979. However it would not be until a long il ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quicksilver Software
Quicksilver Software, Inc. was an American privately-owned video game developer based in Irvine, California, United States. The company was founded on May 1, 1984 by three former Mattel Electronics programmers: Bill Fisher, Stephen Roney, and Mike Breen. The company specializes in the creation of strategy, simulation, and educational products, and on focused high-technology R&D projects. History Early in its history, Quicksilver landed a productive deal with arcade video game manufacturer Data East USA, Inc. that ultimately resulted in the creation of 28 different games for Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Mac (computer), Mac, and Atari ST home computers. These included adaptations of well-known games such as ''Karnov'' and the ''Ikari Warriors'' series. The company's work on another Data East title, '' Heavy Barrel'', earned it the attention of publisher Interplay Productions, which contracted Quicksilver to develop what would become one of Interplay's first titles as an in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Snowman
''The Snowman'' is a 1982 British animated television film and symphonic poem based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 picture book '' The Snowman.'' It was directed by Dianne Jackson for Channel 4. It was first shown on 26 December 1982, and was an immediate success. It was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the 55th Academy Awards and won a BAFTA TV Award. The story is told through pictures, action and music, scored by Howard Blake. It has no dialogue, with the exception of the central song, " Walking in the Air". The orchestral score was performed by the Sinfonia of London and the song was performed by Peter Auty, a St Paul's Cathedral choirboy. The film ranked at number 71 on the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, a list drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, based on a vote by industry professionals. It was voted number 4 in UKTV Gold's ''Greatest TV Christmas Moments''. It came third in Channel 4's poll of ''100 Greatest Christmas Moments'' in 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acorn Electron
The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was introduced as a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a price more competitive with that of the ZX Spectrum. It has 32 kilobytes of random-access memory, RAM, and its read-only memory, ROM includes BBC BASIC II together with the Acorn MOS, operating system. Announced in 1982 for a possible release the same year, it was eventually introduced on 25 August 1983 priced at £199. The Electron is able to save and load programs onto compact audio cassette, audio cassette via a cable, originally supplied with the computer, connecting it to any standard tape recorder with the appropriate sockets. It is capable of bitmapped graphics, and can use either a contemporary television set, a colour (RGB) monitor or a monochrome monitor as its display. Several expansions were made available to provide m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland (game Character)
''Roland'' is a video game franchise developed in 1984 by Alan Sugar, CEO of Amstrad, and Jose Luis Dominguez, a Spanish game designer. Named for Roland Perry, a computer engineer who worked for Amstrad, the idea was to have one recognizable character in a number of different computer games in a bid to have the Amstrad CPC compete with the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64. Games in the ''Roland''-series * 1984: ''Roland Ahoy!'' (by Computersmith) * 1984: ''Roland on the Ropes'' (by Indescomp) - a copy of the Spanish game ''Fred''. Roland had to collect bullets, treasures and maps while climbing ropes to get out of a tomb/pyramid. Some villains can be destroyed (skeletons, bats, mummies) while some can only be forced to change direction (ghosts) and some have to be jumped over (dripping poison, rats, scorpions). When the game ends, the end music is the Funeral March. The game was released for the Spectrum and the Commodore as well, and was later remade for the PC. * 1984: ''Roland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
