Lookback at 2022

I update this blog once every two weeks, and this year the second update of December falls right on Christmas Day itself. I didn't want to break the two week cycle but the idea of doing a standard post didn't feel quite right. After trying and failing to come up with a suitably seasonal idea I've decided to take inspiration from CRASH's annual Lookbacks and simply take stock of the blog itself.

Design Design / Crystal

125 Smedley Road, Manchester, M8
 

 "I look upon Design-Design as a viable commune," S. Brattel. 

There was always something different about Design Design (née Crystal). The games were great but the twiddly bits round the edges seemed more important; obscure references on high score tables, the password to SPECTACLE, was/is Big Simon taller than Kevin Toms, and so on. Design Design built a loyal fanbase on these details and through a good relationship with CRASH magazine cultivated a reputation as a subversive company who were seriously irreverent about games. I'm tap dancing around the word cult here, because that's a term normally associated with niche interests and Design Design were never niche.

Virgin Mastertronic

16 Portland Road, London, W11

 It's a brave person who types the name Virgin into the Companies House register; 6984 matches found. Even the more specific Virgin Mastertronic brings up several pages of results but there's obviously only one of real interest. The company now known as Sega Europe Limited. The story so far: Building work on a London Underground extension unearths some unusual prehistoric remains and a strange rocket-like object that a bomb disposal expert deduces to be an unknown Nazi weapon.... The early days of Virgin are here and, for the completists, this is where you can read about Mastertronic.
NOW READ ON.

Bug-Byte

Mulberry House, Canning Place, Liverpool, L1

Last year, on an intermittently showery day in December, I went for a walk round Liverpool. My route was carefully plotted and I managed to take in the ex-offices of Software Projects, Imagine, Odin, Thor, Denton Designs, and Bug-Byte. What I hadn't taken into account, because it was the early days of the blog, was this material effectively represented five months of updates and once it was spread out I'd be writing about my grand day out almost a year later. Still, here we are, ending with the company that began it all. This then is the final movement of my Liverpool Oratorio. 

Palace Software

275 Pentonville Road, London, N1

 Palace Software always had good strong cover artwork and I was spoilt for choice when choosing a picture. I could have gone for the 2000AD style cover for Sacred Armour of Antirad, or the comic book Biggles of Stifflip & Co. Alternatively, if I was feeling bold, I could go for the moral panic baiting cover for Barbarian 2 or The Evil Dead, or the actual moral panic causing cover for Barbarian. Ultimately I went for a spooky witch because it's nearly Halloween, and there's time for more more story before twelve. Just to keep us warm. 

Addictive Games

Albert House, Albert Road, Bournemouth

The two things I associate with Addictive Games are Football Manager and Kevin Toms' face. His decision to do a Victor Remmington and put himself on adverts and packaging was smart. It gave Addictive Games a personality and made the company stand out at a time when most software houses were anonymous and programmers were just names or, at best, occasional photographs in a magazine. It helps of course that the game is Football Manager. One of those rare titles which achieved escape velocity and became a cultural touchstone in its own right. I was amazed when idly searching the online British Newspaper Archive to find a 1994 review of Premier Manager 3, for the Amiga, where Football Manager still had enough resonance for the writer open the review with: "Football Management games have been around since the early days of computing, with Kevin Toms' Football Manager setting the standards on the good old Sinclair Spectrum." (NEWCASTLE JOURNAL, Friday 18 November 1994 page 33).

Virgin Games

I briefly worked for Virgin Games during its Virgin Interactive Entertainment regeneration. This was the second of my three grazes along the side of the UK games industry (for graze number one, see Graftgold). I never met Richard Branson because the company split from the Virgin mothership in 1993, before I joined, and used the brand name under licence. However, my time there was exactly the glamourous never-ending parade of celebrities you'd expect. Dave Prowse once passed through the office and signed a copy of Tie Fighter. The company receptionist was Simone Hyames, Cally from Grange Hill. I saw Feargal Sharkey a couple of times. And, I was once nearly in the same room as Chaos and X-Com designer Julian Gollop. That's right, look impressed.

The Untracables

The worst thing in the world for a blog dedicated to tracking down the offices of old software houses is an incomplete or non-existent postal address. This then is my own personal Room 101; developers and publishers who cannot be located because they never made their address public or because 35+ years of urban redevelopment have been unkind to the history of UK software houses. These are the Untraceables. Presented in alphabetical order because there must be structure even in an Orwellian nightmare.

Denton Designs

30 Rodney Street, Liverpool, L1

When Imagine software went bang in 1984 it's ex-employees scattered across Liverpool; some went to Odin, some to Software Projects, and six went off and set up Denton Designs, their own development house. Steve Cain, Ally Noble, John Gibson, Karen Davies, Graham Everitt, and Ian Weatherburn were the original six. Karen Davies later told CRASH: 'We just sat down and rang round the major software companies offering our services... We were surprised at the reaction we got from companies -it was invariably favourable. Business wise people were naturally a bit wary at first, because of the Imagine reputation, but as programmers and artists we had a good grounding and reputation, and people had heard of us through the Imagine name." (June 1985 page 30)

Ariolasoft

Carl-Bertelsmann-Str 161, 4830 Gütersloh

In 1983 Ariola Records, the music division of German conglomerate Bertelsmann, set up a software company. This company was named, unsurprisingly, Ariolasoft and went to become the German distributor for Activision, Electronic Arts, and the Sega Master System. The company also published original games including Vermeer, Kaiser, and Ooze: Als die Geister mürbe wurden. Ariolasoft renamed itself United Software in 1990 and was taken over by the German division of MicroProse in 1993. Which is all very interesting but this blog is about the UK software industry and Britain hasn't been a part of Germany since Doggerland was submerged by the rising North Sea.

Durell

Castle Lodge, Castle Green, Taunton, TA1

DURELL SOFTWARE ARE STILL IN BUSINESS! This is almost unreasonably exciting. Sure, there's quite a long list of companies who are still going, Elite, System 3, and Rare spring to mind, but they're often either mining their own past for nostalgia or they've moved on and are essentially unrecognisable. Durell on the other hand are still going, still have a nameplate outside the same building they were in the 1980s, and are still making software. Admittedly it's financial services software which is pretty dull but it feels like there's much more of a direct line to the company's history than there is with, say, Ultimate Play The Game. Robert White, who gave an interview to CRASH in 1986 (February 1986 page 39) is still listed on the Durell website as Founder and Technical Director. 

Microsphere

 72 Rosebery Road, London, N10

"Little, and round, with no sharp edges." The explanation for Microsphere's name stuck with me ever since I read it in CRASH (February 1986 page 73). It's a very pleasing and charming explanation, and something about it strikes a chord. I like the way it takes two mundane words. Micro, as the interview notes, "from the days when any respectable software house had Micro in it's name" and sphere, and combines them to produce something new. It feels like that's what Microsphere did. It took mundane objects, trains, motorbikes, and of course schools, and made them into something unusual. And they did this from an ordinary London street where quietly and without any fuss they created some remarkable games.

Micro Power / Program Power

Northwood House, North Street, Leeds, LS7

"Are you ready for brain to brain combat? Ultimate risk scenario. Your intervention urgently requested. The Master planning to use the Doctor's brain in a modified TIRU (Time Instant Replay Unit) to produce chaos weapon. Time-warping mineral Heatonite a critical component. Mine/Factory 2nd moon Rijar. Ky-Al-Nargath construction. Mega secure!!!!Madrag (genetically boosted saurian) + psycho-robotics + techno trickery. Force futile. Weapon skills NA. Machine skill vital. Full cerebral combat status needed at all times. Halt Heatonite production. Disable TIRU. Locate and regain plans. Impossible to stress to fully the importance of the Rijan mission. Invisible cat could prove useful." 

Silversoft

London House, 271/273 King Street, W6

FOR ADDED REALISM PLAY THIS STANDING IN THE BATH. The bold advertising strapline on Silversoft Ltd's advert for Worst Things Happen at Sea got the company dinged by the Advertising Standards Authority. CRASH issue 13 (February 1985 page 59) reported how two members of the public complained on the grounds that electricity and water don't mix, and in a game likely to appeal to children the advert encouraged  a disregard for safety. You can view the offending advert here in CRASH issue 11 (December 1984 page 139). Out of curiosity I sent an email to the ASA, and got a polite but brief reply. "Thank you very much for contacting the Advertising Standards Authority with regard to ruling made against the company Silversoft Ltd in 1984 or 1985. I am afraid I am unable to help you on this occasion, as that ruling was archived off many years ago and we no longer have access to it."

Odin Computer Graphics / Thor (Computer Software)

The Podium, Steers House, Canning Place, Liverpool, L1

In the lands of the north where the black rocks stand guard against the cold sea, in the dark night that is very long, the men of the northlands sit by their great log fires and they tell a tale.

Mirrorsoft / Image Works

Maxwell House, Worship Street, London, EC2A

This post frequently felt like a house of cards spinning out of control. I'd started covering Mirrorsoft back in June 2021 (day one, the same day I made a spur of the moment trip to Stratford for CRL) but it quickly became clear this wasn't going to be a simple one-and-done job. One trip down to London became two, and then a third, and then... well you can read about my inability to understand basic street numbers further down the page, along with my flimsy, whinging justification. Oh, look, here's another  address, and it's outside of London, and don't forget Mirrorsoft's spin-off label Image Works. And of course Mirrorsoft is wrapped ivy-like in the complicated corporate structure of Robert Maxwell. At 3000 words this post is so stupidly long I did consider cutting it into two parts but that felt too self-indulgent event for me.

Amstrad / Amsoft

Brentwood House, 169 King's Road, Brentwood, CM14

Brentwood not Brentford. Brentwood not Brentford. Brentwood. Brentwood. I've got a blind spot on the location of the Amstrad HQ which must be a result of reading too many Robert Rankin books.  I'd normally weed out mistakes before publishing but in this case I'm going to allow rogue Brentfords* to remain; to see how many there are. Let's call it a science experiment. Amstrad moved to Brentwood in 1984, 16 years after the company was founded and the same year the CPC 464 was launched.

Micromega

230-236 Lavender Hill, London, SW11

Pop quiz hotshot. It's 1983. You've been given £7500 to promote a new-ish software house. What do you do? If you were Neil Hooper, newly appointed sales manager at Micromega you'd spend £4000 of it on television advertising. HOME COMPUTER WEEKLY (7 June 1983 page 37) went into more detail. "Though TV ads for videogames are nothing new, Micromega is the first home computer software company to advertise its wares on television." Sadly this historic advert hasn't survived or, if it is lurking out there on a videotape (go and check now!), it hasn't made the leap onto Youtube. Micromega were understandably proud of their small step into a new medium and for the next few months their print adverts carry the strapline "AS SEEN ON T.V.!!"

State Soft

Business & Technology Centre, Bessemer Drive, Stevenage, SG1

This is where I rectify a mistake made in the planning stages of this blog. I wanted an early entry to cover a company responsible for a notable Commodore 64 game, and Boulder Dash was always an unmistakably C64 title for me; probably because of trips to a friend's house where the game was always on the menu. However because my background is the C64's bitter rival the ZX Spectrum I defaulted to the World of Spectrum entry for my research and concluded Front Runner was solely responsible for all UK versions of Boulder Dash. It wasn't. It turns out Boulder Dash in the UK has the most convoluted licencing history possible with every version released by a different company; C64 (State Soft), Spectrum (Front Runner), Amstrad (Mirrorsoft), BBC (Tynesoft), MSX (Orpheus). It's tempting to wonder what First Star (the original USA publishers) were thinking but I suspect they were thinking, "cor, aren't we making a lot of money licencing this game."

Spirit Software

 1 1/2 Pembroke Mews, London W8

It began innocently enough. An advert in PERSONAL COMPUTER NEWS (January 21st 1984 page 67). "FORMULA ONE AND STEERING WHEEL," was the eye-catching headline. Followed up by, "Naturally you cannot steer a racing car effectively by pressing buttons or wiggling a joystick so we have developed a steering wheel that fits to the Spectrum... the wheel is strongly made and thanks to a brilliantly simple design we have been able to keep the cost down to a minimum. It will be used for many games in the future but is now only available with FORMULA ONE." How intriguing. And all for the (relatively) low price of £8.95. It's more expensive than a standard game admittedly, but how many games come with an innovative add-on?

Imagine

5 Sir Thomas Street, Liverpool, L1

The 1984 collapse of Imagine Software was a seismic event for the UK software industry. Imagine had become one of the biggest and best known software houses in just over 18 months of existence. Its professionalism, marketing, and overall corporate image seemed to point the way for the rest of the fledgling software industry. There is also the irony that a company as obsessed by image and marketing as Imagine should have its collapse documented in real time by a BBC film crew making a documentary for a series called Commercial Breaks, "A series that follows the fortunes of entrepreneurs around the world as their stories unfold."

Mastertronic

8-10 Paul Street, EC2A

"Pocket money games tapes, at £1.99 each have been launched for sale in video shops, petrol stations, hi-fi stores, supermarkets, and newsagents," was how HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY introduced budget software house Mastertronic; issue 57 (April 10-16 1984 page 1). Fourteen games were released at launch, "eight for the Commodore 64, four for the Spectrum and two for the VIC-20. Another seven will appear by the end of the month and then at the rate of one to three a week." I think those initial 14 games were Vegas Jackpot, Duck Shoot, Bionic Granny, Mind Control, Magic Carpet, Spectipede, Munch Mania, and Space Walk for the C64;  Vegas Jackpot, Gnasher, Spectipede and Magic Carpet for the Spectrum; and Vegas Jackpot and Duck Shoot for the VIC-20.

Graftgold

2 Freebournes Court, Newland Street, Witham Essex CM8

I remember looking through a friend's copy of ZZAP64 issue 3 and reading Andrew Braybrook's diary, THE BIRTH OF A PARADROID (July 1985 page 46). I didn't realise at the time but this was my introduction to the independent games developer Graftgold. The rapturous reviews of Paradroid and later Uridium produced the first cracks in my ZX Spectrum forever attitude. Looking back, what's surprising is Graftgold's invisibility despite the acclaim. The earliest mention of the developer comes two years later in issue 24 of ZZAP64, in Andrew Braybrook's follow up diary about writing the game Morpheus (April 1987 page 90). The same is true of fellow magazine CRASH where Graftgold is first mentioned in issue 47 (November 1987 page 11).

CRL

CRL House, 9 Kings Yard, Carpenters Road, London, E15

"A golden opportunity from Computer Rentals Limited." That's the eye-catching promise at the back of the October 1982 issue of YOUR COMPUTER (Vol 2 number 10, page 134). The text only advert looks basic but the tone is breezy. "If you have written some software, don't waste it on a small audience of family and friends. Send it to us, and we will take a good look at it. If we like it, we'll publish it, leaving you nothing more to do than cash your royalty cheques... we don't pay meanly... A royalty of £1.50 for each cassette sold is our offer and when you think of the size of the market, you can see how generous we are." The response to the advert must have been good because by January 1983 CRL, or Computer Rentals Limited as they preferred to be known, was advertising seven games in YOUR COMPUTER; Vol 3 issue 1 page 102.

Elite

Anchor House, Anchor Road, Aldridge, Walsall, WS9

The spiritual home of this blog is Anchor Road, Walsall. I've written before about my long fascination with the artwork on Elite's 1987 job advert and it's Gerry Anderson-esque vision of Anchor Road as the Moonbase Alpha of the Midlands. A trip to Anchor House was inevitable at some point. It just took slightly longer than expected because The Great Petrol Panic of autumn 2021 put paid to my first set of plans. It's going to be a while before the Travel Tube brings us to Anchor Road and before that address, before in fact Elite was even called Elite, the company had a more humble origin.

Melbourne House

Castle Yard House, Castle Yard, Richmond, TW10

Melbourne House was my first stop on an August 2021 trip across London, the day after Argos failed to deliver my washing machine (this bit is not relevant and would be removed by any decent sub-editor). It was my second full day of scouting old offices but only the first time I'd actually done any sensible planning. The first trip was done on an impulsive basis, like one of those films where Mickey Rooney suddenly goes "hey why don't we put on the show right here."