''B.C. Bill'' is a 2D action video game published by Imagine Software in 1984. It was released for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

, ZX Spectrum, TRS-80 Color Computer, Dragon 32/64 and BBC Micro.

Gameplay

The player controls the eponymous B.C. Bill, a caveman, and must gather wives and enough food to feed his growing family, while avoiding predatory dinosaurs. Bill is armed with a club, which he uses to stun cavewomen and to kill a variety of roaming creatures. Smaller creatures may be dragged back to the cave as food, whereas larger dinosaurs will eat potential wives and food, and will kill Bill on contact. Bill can die from a broken heart if too many wives leave the cave, and from starvation if he is unable to provide enough food to feed himself and his family. The seasons change, which affect the number and variety of food animals and also act as an internal gameplay timer: in spring, every wife who has food will produce a child, while in autumn any wife with no food will die and any child with no food will leave home.

Development

B.C. Bill was developed in the UK by Creative Technology Group, and was published in the UK by Imagine Software in 1984 and in Spain by ABC Soft. Versions of the game were developed and released for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, TRS-80, Dragon 32/64 and BBC Micro home computers. The game was the last title published by Imagine, which was wound up in July 1984 due to unpaid debts of £10,000. Prior to the company's collapse Beau Jolly acquired the rights to market Imagine's games, so after the company's demise Beau Jolly took over marketing and distribution of B.C. Bill.

Reception

The game received generally favourable reviews at release, with reviewers variously praising its graphics, sound and

playability Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pl ...

. Looking back at the game in 2010, however, Retro Gamer described it as "an exceedingly poor game". While reviewers praised the gameplay, the game has been criticised by both contemporary and modern reviewers for its

sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

subject matter, as a core element of gameplay involves the protagonist clubbing women and then dragging them by the hair into his cave to become his wife. '' Your Sinclair's'' (then ''Your Spectrum'') Ron Smith speculated that this might have been deliberate on the part of Imagine, and Imagine's Tim Best appeared to confirm this, saying that he expected the " Greenham Common women" to take up residence outside Imagine's Liverpool offices.

References

External links

* *{{WoS_game, id=0000476 1984 video games Action games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Commodore 64 games Video games about dinosaurs Dragon 32 games Prehistoric people in popular culture TRS-80 Color Computer games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Fred Gray Video games set in prehistory ZX Spectrum games