Orpheus

The Smithy, Unit 1, Church Farm, Hatley St. George, Nr. Sandy, Beds, SG19

Orpheus were a relatively short-lived software house who were notable for a couple of games. First, an MSX version of Boulder Dash when they joined the increasingly long line of companies who licenced First Star's game. Secondly for The Young Ones. The looks-like-but-wasn't-officially-licenced game of the BBC comedy series.

Tynesoft

≠Unit 3 Addison Industrial Estate, Blaydon, Tyne & Wear, NE21

Tynesoft is my story of failure, hope, failure, more hope, more failure, a bit more hope, and a disappointing final near miss. The company was always on my would-be-nice-to-do list but I just couldn't justify a trip to Newcastle upon Tyne. The city is just too far out of my normal orbit to be practical. So I set the company aside, which was a shame because it's definitely one I wanted to cover. (Failure).

New Generation Software

Freepost Oldland Common Bristol, BS15 5BR
(really, 16 Brendon Close, Oldland Common, Bristol BS15 6QE)

It took me a while to understand that J.K. Greye Software and New Generation Software were two completely different companies. One appeared to take their name from an advertising slogan used by the other. Malcolm Evans wrote ZX81 games for one and ZX Spectrum games for the other. One sold old ZX81 games originally written for the other. One started in Bath and moved to Bristol. The other started in Bristol and moved to Bath. You can see why I was confused.

J.K. Greye Software

 16 Park Street, Bath, Avon, BA1

I don't think I believed my friend when he said he had a computer at home. In fact, I don't think I really knew what a computer was at the time. We're taking late 1982, early 1983 at the most, and my friend was telling me about this scary game he played which was "not suitable for those of a nervous disposition." It had a dinosaur in it and you had to escape a maze, and that was pretty much all I knew. It sounded terrifying. By the time I actually sat down to play the game I was all wound up. Not suitable for those of a nervous disposition. They wouldn't be able to say that if it wasn't true. And how did you know if you were of a nervous disposition, anyway?

The RamJam Corporation

 

Just off Carnaby Street near the Old Coffee House Pub

A software publisher who quickly turned into a development house. The RamJam Corporation only released one game under their own name, the quirky and surprisingly difficult to spell Valkyrie 17. It came out at the end of 1984 when the UK market was maturing and it was becoming increasingly tricky for smaller software houses to get games into shops. The Ramjam Corporation ended up signing a distribution deal with Palace Software (a subsidiary of Palace Pictures) which generated the kind of amusing PR photos that magazines love to use to generate copy.

Platinum Productions

Ayrshire

I'm slowly transferring residents of the Untraceables gulag to pages of their own (see the CGL article for a full explanation why). I was originally planning to move New Generation Software this week but they've unexpected turned out to be more complicated than expected, so they'll have to wait. We're off on a trip to Ayreshire instead. Can I learn anything new about Ocean and US Gold's preferred development house for converting games to the ZX Spectrum?

Computer Games Ltd

Computer Games Ltd, CGL House, Goldings Hill, Loughton, Essex, IG10

Computer Games Ltd (CGL) were electronics importers in the early eighties; in the days when the UK market seemed to small for the big international companies to bother doing it themselves. They imported everything from Nintendo Game and Watch to chess computers to the Sord M5 computer. If you had an electronic handheld game in the early eighties there is a good chance it came from CGL.