Don Priestley (born 1940) is a teacher and former

video game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall ...

who wrote over 20 commercial games for the

ZX81 The ZX81 is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-cos ...

and

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 t ...

home computers between 1982 and 1989. Despite successful releases for

DK'Tronics DK'Tronics Ltd (stylised as dk'tronics) was a British software and hardware company active during the 1980s. It primarily made peripherals for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC but also released video games for the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, ...

, such as '' 3D Tanx'' and ''

Maziacs ''Maziacs'' is an action adventure maze game published by DK'Tronics in 1983 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and MSX. History ''Maziacs'', written by Don Priestley, was based on his earlier ZX81 game '' Mazogs''

'', Priestley returned to teaching in the late 1980s, claiming changes in the video game industry did not suit his style of work.

Game development

Until 1979, Don Priestley was a teacher. In 1981 both he and his son enrolled in a

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

course at night school. Although his son dropped out, he carried on. One of his early programs was an adaptation of

Conway's Game of Life The Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. It is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further ...

which was converted to a newly purchased Sinclair ZX81. His first commercial game was ''The Damsel and the Beast'', inspired by a program called ''Mugwump'' and published by

Bug-Byte Bug-Byte Software Ltd. was a video game company founded in 1980 by Tony Baden and Tony Milner, two Oxford chemistry graduates. It was one of the first to develop a range of 8-bit computer games during the early 1980s, for Sinclair, Commodore and ...

. Further ZX81 games written freelance were ''Dictator'' (a successful strategy game later ported to the Spectrum) and ''

Mazogs ''Mazogs'' is a maze video game and developed by Softsync and published in 1982 for the Timex Sinclair 1000. Another version was programmed by Don Priestley and published for the ZX81 by Bug-Byte. Don Priestly followed up the game with ''Maziacs ...

'' (which was later rewritten for the Spectrum as ''

''). Priestley joined

as a director in March 1983. There he developed '' 3D Tanx'', which was critically well-received and his most successful game. It sold around 5000 copies per month for 15 months. This was followed by ''Spawn of Evil'' which reached the top of the charts in May 1983. He also wrote ''Popeye'' for DK'Tronics. Released in 1985, its point of differentiation was having huge, colourful sprites; amongst the largest seen on the Spectrum.''Popeye'' review
from ''Your Spectrum'' issue 19, October 1985 This distinct graphical style happened by chance: In 1986,

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

re-released ''Popeye'' and approached Priestley to use the same techniques on a launch title for its new label,

Piranha Software Piranha Software was a short-lived video game publishing label created by Macmillan Publishers in 1986 and closed eighteen months later. In that time it gained a reputation for its unusual output from well known developers such as Don Priestley ...

. ''

The Trap Door ''The Trap Door'' is a British animated television series, originally shown in the United Kingdom in 1986. The plot revolves around the daily lives and the misadventures of a group of monsters living in a castle. These include a blue creatur ...

'', based on the animated series of the same name, won multiple awards from the press and has been described as one of the best games ever released for the ZX Spectrum. Priestley would go on to use the same style in the sequel ''Through The Trapdoor'' (1987), '' Flunky'' (1987) and ''Gregory Loses his Clock'' (1989) but by the late eighties, Priestley felt that games development was moving away from single developers to team development. These changes did not suit Priestley's style of work and he left the games industry to return to teaching.

Games

Sinclair ZX81

*''The Damsel and the Beast'' (1981,

) *''Mission of the Deep'' (1981, Macronics) *''Dictator'' (1982, Bug-Byte) *''Sabotage'' (1982, Macronics) *''City Patrol'' (1982, Macronics) *''

'' (1982, Bug Byte)

ZX Spectrum

*'' 3D Tanx'' (1982,

) *''Meteoroids'' (1982, DK'Tronics) *''Dictator'' (1983, DK'Tronics) *''

'' (1983, DK'Tronics) *''Jumbly'' (1983, DK'Tronics) *''Spawn of Evil'' (1983, DK'Tronics) *''Minder'' (1985, DK'Tronics) *''Popeye'' (1985, DK'Tronics) *'' Benny Hill's Madcap Chase'' (1985, DK'Tronics) *''

'' (1986,

) *'' Flunky'' (1987, Piranha Software) *''Through the Trap Door'' (1987, Piranha Software) *''Target'' (1988, Summit Software) *''Up for Grabs'' (1988, Summit Software) *''Gregory Loses His Clock'' (1989,

Mastertronic Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were distributed in mid-1984. At its peak the label was one of the largest software publishers in the UK, achieved b ...

)

References

External links

Don Priestley
at

World of Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 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 ...

.
"Terry, Arfur and 'Im Upstairs"
article from ''CRASH'' issue 34, November 1986; retrieved from CRASH The Online Edition.

May 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Priestley, Don 1940 births Living people Video game designers Video game programmers