Company:Quicksilva

From HandWiki
Quicksilva
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded1980; 46 years ago (1980)
FounderNick Lambert
Defunct1990; 36 years ago (1990)
Headquarters
  • Southampton (1979-85)
  • London (1985-89)
Products

Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s.

They were founded by Nick Lambert in 1980[1], with the name Quicksilva inspired by a particular guitar solo in a track on the album Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service.[2] Quicksilva mainly released games for the ZX81, 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 titles was QS Defenda (originally QS Defender), a clone of the Defender arcade game for the ZX80 and ZX81 home computers.[2] Greater success followed with later releases, including a Star Raiders-style game entitled Time-Gate which reached the top of the ZX Spectrum charts in December 1982.[3] Amongst the company's other successes were Jeff Minter's Gridrunner (1983),[4] Bugaboo (1983, a.k.a. La Pulga) and Fred (1983, titled "Roland on the Ropes" on the Amstrad CPC), the latter two titles licensed from Indescomp S.A., a Spanish software house. They were also responsible for the hugely innovative Ant Attack (1983), written by Sandy White for the ZX Spectrum which featured revolutionary 3-D graphics (which a patent application was made for).[5]

In early 1984, they published their first licensed title, an adaptation of the 1978 book The Snowman by Raymond Briggs,[6][7] although Software Manager Paul Cooper ruled out an adaption of Briggs' When The Wind Blows stating "nuclear war can upset a lot of people".[6]

Later years

In May 1984, the company was bought by Argus Press Software[8][2][9] which later became Grandslam Entertainment. Paul Cooper and Managing Director Rod Cousens left to establish Electric Dreams Software in 1985, when Argus moved the company from Southampton to London.[10][11]

The company continued to publish licensed products, including the first official home computer conversion of Atari's Battlezone, Eric Bristow's Pro Darts,[12] two different games based on Strontium Dog from the 2000 AD comic[12] and Fantastic Voyage (an official licence from the 1966 film).[13]

In late 1984 they developed The Thompson Twins Adventure (an adaptation of the Thompson Twins single Doctor! Doctor!) which was published by Computer and Video Games magazine on a flexi-disc,[14] and published Sandy White's follow-up to Ant Attack, Zombie Zombie.[15]

The following years brought further tie-ins including games featuring Rupert Bear in Rupert and the Toymaker's Party,[16] The Flintstones in Yabba Dabba Doo![16] and Max Headroom.[17] It also produced popular original titles such as Glider Rider and two more arcade ports, Taito's Elevator Action in 1987[18] and the final Quicksilva game, Namco's Pac-Land in 1989.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "ZX Computing Summer 1982 - June 1987". https://archive.org/details/ZXComputingJunJul1985/ZXComputing/ZXComputing_Summer_1982/page/n73. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 A first-hand account of Quicksilva and its part in the birth of the UK games industry, 1981–1982
  3. ↑ "Top 10". Popular Computing Weekly (Sunshine Publications) 1 (36): 31. 30 December 1982. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2735&page=31. Retrieved 15 May 2021. 
  4. ↑ "Code Britannia: Sandy White". 8 March 2013. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-06-code-britannia-sandy-white. 
  5. ↑ "3D Ant Attack". CRASH (1). http://www.crashonline.org.uk/01/antattack.htm. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Quicksilva goes soft with the Snowman". Your Computer (IPC) (3): 49. March 1984. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=172&page=49. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  7. ↑ "Now book is a game". Home Computing Weekly (Argus) (49): 6. 14 February 1984. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2615&page=6. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  8. ↑ "Quicksilva Introduction". Computer Gamer (1): 85. April 1985. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=1579&page=85. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  9. ↑ "Your Spectrum 06 - Frontlines". http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/yr06/yr06_05.htm. 
  10. ↑ Goodwin, Simon (September 1985). "Planning our Future". CRASH (20). http://www.crashonline.org.uk/20/cousens.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
  11. ↑ "Births, marriages and deaths". Sinclair User (EMAP) (39): 5. June 1985. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=39&page=5. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Norman's on the warpath". Popular Computing Weekly (Sunshine Publications) (38): 5. 20 September 1984. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2824&page=5. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  13. ↑ "Fantastic Voyage". Crash (Newsfield) (16): 132. May 1985. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=983&page=132. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  14. ↑ "Meet The Pop Twins!". Computer and Video Games (EMAP): 11. October 1984. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=1487&page=11. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  15. ↑ "Deserted City". Popular Computing Weekly (Sunshine Publications) (40): 68. 4 October 1984. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2826&page=68. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Taskset". http://www.the-commodore-zone.com/articlelive/articles/3/4/Taskset/Page4.html. 
  17. ↑ "Max Headroom". Popular Computing Weekly (Sunshine Publications) (15): 24. 10 April 1986. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2903&page=24. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  18. ↑ "Elevator Action". Computer and Video Games (EMAP) (65): 38. March 1987. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=1516&page=38. Retrieved 23 July 2021. 
  19. ↑ "Ultimate Guide: Pac-Land". Retro Gamer (Imagine) (127): 72. 27 March 2014. 



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