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Quicksilva
Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s. Quicksilva was founded by Nick Lambert in 1979. 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 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 successful titles was 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''" on the Amstrad), two titles licensed from Spanish software house Indescomp S.A. Sandy White's ''Ant Attack'' (1983) for the ZX Spectrum featured revolutionary 3-D graphics for which a ... [...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 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 to the year before the Squarm invaded, located their home planet, and locked onto it with one’s meson RAM (48K), thereby destroying it and retroactively preventing its inhabitants from ever having invaded in the first place. Development ''Time-Gate'', ... [...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 walled city infested with zombies. The player 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 terrain 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 first actio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ant Attack
''Ant Attack'' is a ZX Spectrum computer game by Sandy White, published by Quicksilva in 1983. It was converted to the Commodore 64 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 tied up 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; however, these can also harm the humans. Once the hostage is rescued, the two mus ... [...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 fli ... [...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 family, 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'', 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, which Minter refers to as "the best week of work I've ever done." Although it draws its inspiration from the arcade ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bugaboo (The Flea)
''Bugaboo (The Flea)'', later published in Spain as ''La Pulga'', is a computer game created in 1983 in video gaming, 1983 by the Spanish team of programmers ''Paco & Paco'' for the ZX Spectrum. Later versions for the Commodore 64, Amstrad and MSX were produced. Bugaboo, besides being the first video game made in Spain, is one of the first computer games to include cut scenes. Its publication marked the official beginning of the Golden Era of Spanish Software. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC under the name ''Roland in the Caves'', to exploit the CPC's recurring Roland (game character), Roland character. A sequel was released in Spain by Opera Soft under the title "Poogaboo", made by Paco Suarez, one of the authors of the original game. 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 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argus Press Software
Argus Press was a British publishing company. It was acquired by British Electric Traction (BET) in 1966, and became the publishing arm of that company. It was the subject of one of the most hotly contested management buyouts of the 1980s when a management team led by Kimble Earl, George Fowkes, and Scott Smith secured financing of £207m from forty national and international banks to acquire the UK and US businesses from BET. The acquisition was of particular note as the publisher Robert Maxwell was among the rival bidders, and widely considered as capable of out-witting the management team. Only an eleventh-hour intervention by Earl – exposing members of Maxwell's secret consortium as rival newspaper publishers which meant Maxwell would fall foul of the Monopolies Commission – brought success for the management team. The new company traded under the name of Team Argus. Its portfolio of businesses included the largest group of paid-for and free weekly newspapers in the UK, an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bugaboo (game)
''Bugaboo (The Flea)'', later published in Spain as ''La Pulga'', is a computer game created in 1983 by the Spanish team of programmers ''Paco & Paco'' for the ZX Spectrum. Later versions for the Commodore 64, Amstrad and MSX were produced. Bugaboo, besides being the first video game made in Spain, is one of the first computer games to include cut scenes. Its publication marked the official beginning of the Golden Era of Spanish Software. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC under the name ''Roland in the Caves'', to exploit the CPC's recurring Roland character. A sequel was released in Spain by Opera Soft under the title "Poogaboo", made by Paco Suarez, one of the authors of the original game. 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Minter
Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an independent 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 Sinclair ZX80. Minter's games are often arcade style 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 had expressed an interest in programming computers from a young age. He wrote the game ''Deflex'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Snowman
''The Snowman'' is a 1982 British animated television film 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 words, 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 2004. Its broadcast, usually on Chri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Dreams Software
Electric Dreams Software was a UK-based video game publisher established in 1985 by Activision and run by Rod Cousens and Paul Cooper formerly of Quicksilva . The company published video games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and the Atari 8-bit family of computers between 1985 and 1989, becoming one of the top eight UK software houses of that decade. Software Studios The publisher's in-house video game developer was Software Studios, set up in April 1986 and run by John Dean and Dave Cummings. Software Studios also handled Activision's products marketed in countries outside the United States. The concept behind this team was to pool resources and ideas between all Electric Dreams projects, but they were also directly responsible for two film tie-in licenses, '' Aliens: The Computer Game'' (1986) and ''Big Trouble in Little China''. The company's initial releases were '' Riddler's Den'' and ''I, Of the Mask''. List of releases *'' Riddler's Den'' (1985), David Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grandslam Entertainment
Grandslam Interactive Ltd. (formerly Grandslam Entertainments Ltd. and later Grandslam Video Ltd.) was a video games software house based in Britain. It was formed in late 1987 from a management buy-out of Argus Press Software by former Argus Managing Director, Stephen Hall and close friend David C. Dudman. Grandslam developed and published many games for home computers during the 1980s and 1990s. Originally based in central London, the offices were relocated to Croydon in 1990. List of games 1987 *''Terramex'' 1988 *''Chubby Gristle'' *''Espionage'' *''City Survivor'' *''The Flintstones'' *''Pac-Land'' *''Pac-Mania'' *''Peter Beardsley's International Football'' *'' Alternate Reality: The City'' 1989 *'' The Running Man'' *''Saint & Greavsie'' *''Thunderbirds'' *''The Seven Gates of Jambala'' *''Warp'' *''Terry's Big Adventure'' *''Trivia - The Ultimate Quest'' *''Chambers of Shaolin'' 1990 *''The Hunt for Red October'' *''Scramble Spirits'' *''Space Harrier II'' *''Leavin T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |