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 Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...

.A first-hand account of Quicksilva and its part in the birth of the UK games industry, 1981–1982
/ref> Quicksilva mainly released games 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 ...

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 ...

, but also did conversions and some original games for the

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

Dragon 32/64 The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales before mov ...

Oric-1 Oric was the name used by UK-based Tangerine Computer Systems for a series of 6502-based home computers sold in the 1980s, primarily in Europe. With the success of the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research, Tangerine's backers suggested a ...

/ Atmos,

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

and

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/ home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a ...

home computers. One of their earliest successful titles was a '' Star Raiders''-style game entitled ''

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 math ...

'' which reached the top of the ZX Spectrum charts in December 1982. Amongst the company's other successes were

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 19 ...

's ''

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 hav ...

'' (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 ''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 de ...

'' (1983) for the

featured revolutionary 3-D graphics for which a patent application was made. In early 1984, they published their first licensed title, ''

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 ...

'', an adaptation of the 1978 book by

Raymond Briggs Raymond Redvers Briggs (18 January 1934 – 9 August 2022) was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his 1978 story ...

. Software Manager Paul Cooper ruled out an adaption of Briggs' '' When The Wind Blows'' stating "nuclear war can upset a lot of people".

Later years

In May 1984, the company was bought by

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 ...

which later became

Grandslam Entertainment Grandslam Interactive Ltd. (formerly Grandslam Entertainments Ltd. and later Grandslam Video Ltd.) was a video games software house based in United Kingdom, Britain. It was formed in late 1987 from a management buy-out of Argus Press Software by ...

. Paul Cooper and Managing Director Rod Cousens left to establish

Electric Dreams Software Electric Dreams Software was a UK-based video game publisher established in 1985 in video gaming, 1985 by Activision and run by Rod Cousens and Paul Cooper formerly of Quicksilva . The company published video games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 6 ...

in 1985 when Argus moved the company from Southampton to London. The company continued to publish licensed products, including the first official home computer conversion of Atari's '' Battlezone'', '' Eric Bristow's Pro Darts'', two different games based on ''

Strontium Dog ''Strontium Dog'' was a long-running British comics series starring Johnny Alpha, a mutant bounty hunter who lives in Earth's future. The series was created in 1978 by writer John Wagner (under the pseudonym T. B. Grover) and artist Carlos Ezque ...

'' from the '' 2000 AD'' comic and ''Fantastic Voyage'' (an official licence from the 1966 film), In late 1984 they developed ''

The Thompson Twins Adventure ''The Thompson Twins Adventure'' is a 1984 graphic adventure game that was distributed by '' Computer and Video Games'' magazine as a promotional 7" flexi disc "freebie" along with its October 1984 issue (Issue 36). The game is based on the Thom ...

'' (an adaptation of the Thompson Twins single ''

Doctor! Doctor! "Doctor! Doctor!" is a song performed by the British new wave band Thompson Twins. It is the second single from the band's fourth studio album, '' Into the Gap'' (1984). It was written by Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway, and promine ...

'') which was published by ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' magazine on a

flexi-disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntabl ...

, and published Sandy White's follow-up to ''Ant Attack'', ''

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" isom ...

''. The following years brought further tie-ins including games featuring

Rupert Bear Rupert Bear is a British children's comic strip character and franchise created by artist Mary Tourtel and first appearing in the ''Daily Express'' newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to win sales from the rival ''D ...

in '' Rupert and the Toymaker's Party'',

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...

in '' Yabba Dabba Doo!'' and

Max Headroom Max Headroom is a fictional artificial intelligence (AI) character portrayed by actor Matt Frewer. Advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter", Max was known for his biting commentary on a variety of topical issues, arrogant wit, ...

It also produced popular original titles such as ''

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. A ...

'' and two more arcade ports, Taito's ''

Elevator Action is a platform shooter game released in arcades by Taito in 1983. The player assumes the role of Agent 17, a spy infiltrating a 30-story building filled with elevators and enemy agents who emerge from closed doors. The goal is to collect secret ...

'' in 1987 and the final Quicksilva game, Namco's ''

Pac-Land is a 1984 side-scrolling arcade platform game developed and released by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Bally Midway, and in Europe by Atari Games. Controlling Pac-Man (character), Pac-Man, the player must make it to the end of eac ...

'' in 1989.

References

{{reflist

External links

Sandy White's homepageSandy White
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 Colo ...

Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies established in 1979 Video game publishers Video game development companies 1979 establishments in the United Kingdom