Artic Computing was a software development company based in Brandesburton, England from 1980 to 1986. The company's first games were for the Sinclair ZX81 home computer, but they expanded and were also responsible for various ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and Amstrad CPC computer games. The company was set up by Richard Turner and Chris Thornton. Charles Cecil, who later founded Revolution Software, joined the company shortly after it was founded, writing Adventures B through D. Developer Jon Ritman produced a number of ZX81 and Spectrum games for Artic before moving to Ocean Software.
Usually packaging and distributing games themselves, some titles were picked up by Sinclair who repackaged them under the Sinclair brand, and Amstrad who repackaged them under their Amsoft brand.
Adventures A through D were written for the ZX81 but were quickly ported to the ZX Spectrum platform on its release (as well as other systems). By comparison with later Spectrum adventure games such as The Hobbit, they are basic and short. However they are considered by many to be the start of the adventure game genre on the Spectrum in particular and thus were an important step in the growth of adventure games.
Games Sword of Peace (1980): ZX80, ZX81 Adventure A: Planet of Death (1981): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC Adventure B: Inca Curse (1981): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC Zombies (1981): ZX81 ZX Chess (1981): ZX81 1K ZX Chess (1982): ZX81 Adventure C: Ship of Doom (1982): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC Adventure D: Espionage Island (1982): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC Invaders (1982): ZX Spectrum Namtir Raiders (1982): ZX81 ZX-Galaxians (1982): ZX81 3D Combat Zone (1983): ZX Spectrum Adventure E: The Golden Apple (1983): ZX Spectrum Bear Bovver (1983): ZX Spectrum, C64 Cosmic Debris (1983): ZX Spectrum Dimension Destructors (1983): ZX Spectrum Adventure F: The Eye of Bain (1984): ZX Spectrum Adventure G: Ground Zero (1984): ZX Spectrum Engineer Humpty (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64 Humpty Dumpty in the Garden (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64 Humpty Dumpty Meets the Fuzzy Wuzzies (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64 Mothership (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64 Mr Wong's Loopy Laundry (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC, MSX Mutant Monty (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC World Cup Football (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC (reworked as World Cup Carnival by U.S. Gold in 1986) Adventure H: Robin Hood (1985): ZX Spectrum (released only as part of the Assemblage compilation) Aladdin's Cave (1985): ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC International Rugby (1985): ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC Assemblage (1986): ZX Spectrum (compilation, includes four games) Harry Hare's Lair Mutant Monty and the Temple of Doom Curse of the Seven Faces Robin Hood Obsidian (1986): Amstrad CPC Paws (1985): ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC Web War (1985): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro; similar to Tempest Rugby Manager (1986): ZX Spectrum The Great Wall (1986): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro; similar to Hunchback Voodoo Rage (1986): Amstrad CPC Woks (1986): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro
Adventure Games Development The parser in their adventures is of a basic 2-word design, such as "Use Axe". However the programs from adventures A-F were built using a custom built design. Adventure G (Ground Zero) and later were built using The Quill, an Adventure Game Creator produced by Gilsoft.
Programming and utilities Artic Forth (1982) Forth programming language ZX Assembler (1982) Toolkit (1982)
References
External links Artic Computing at Adventureland