Apex Computer Productions

Last updated

Apex Computer Productions
Industry Video games
Headquarters United Kingdom
Key people
John Rowlands
Steve Rowlands

Apex Computer Productions was the brothers John and Steve Rowlands, British based game designers and programmers on the Commodore 64 in the late 1980s and early 1990s. [1]

Contents

They programmed in pure assembly language and their earliest commercial release was Cyberdyne Warrior , a platform shooter, for Hewson in 1989. Soon after, they entered a relationship with Thalamus, the game publishing arm of Newsfield, who published their next game, Retrograde.

Thalamus relationship

After Creatures, Apex began work on the sequel Creatures II: Torture Trouble , still developing on the Commodore 64. In a startling coup—since Thalamus were associated with a rival magazine publisher in Newsfield, the home of ZZAP!64 — Commodore Format (Future Publishing) secured the rights to serialise the development of the game, which again proved very popular. Creatures II was received favorably by the critics. Creatures II focused more on the popular torture screens than on the side-scrolling platforming of Creatures.

Thalamus collapsed shortly after the publication of Creatures II, as the Commodore 64 had started to wane in popularity. Apex then decided to publish for themselves.

Solo

Mayhem in Monsterland was their swan song. [2] Platformers had become very popular, with Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. on the consoles. Mayhem was a game fashioned after Sonic, though mostly a direct descendant of Creatures.

Mayhem in Monsterland was given a "perfect" 100% score when reviewed by Commodore Format magazine. [3] This proved controversial both because the game contained bugs (not all stars could be collected on all levels), and because the Rowlands brothers had close ties with the magazine, documenting the development of the game in game diary features.

Games

Related Research Articles

The Commodore 64 amassed a large software library of nearly 10,000 commercial titles, covering most genres from games to business applications, and many others.

Thalamus Ltd was a British computer game developer that published titles for a number of 8-bit and 16-bit platforms during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Newsfield Publications Ltd was a British magazine publisher during the 1980s and early 1990s.

<i>Mayhem in Monsterland</i> 1993 video game

Mayhem in Monsterland is a 1993 platform game for the Commodore 64. Its titular hero, "Mayhem", is a yellow triceratops blessed with the gift of speed. His goal is to return his world from sad to happy, ridding the world of monsters along the way.

<i>Zzap!64</i> Computer games magazine

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<i>Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior</i> 1987 video game

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<i>Nebulus</i> (video game) 1987 video game

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<i>Exolon</i> 1987 video game

Exolon is a run and gun game programmed by Raffaele Cecco and published by Hewson in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC. It was later converted to the Enterprise 128, Amiga, and Atari ST.

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<i>Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back</i> 1986 video game

Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back is a video game developed and published by British developer Palace Software as a sequel to their 1985 game Cauldron. The 2D platform game was released in 1986 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC home computers. Players control a bouncing pumpkin that is on a quest of vengeance against the "Witch Queen". The roles of the two were reversed from the first game, in which the witch defeated a monstrous pumpkin.

<i>Creatures II: Torture Trouble</i> 1992 video game

Creatures II: Torture Trouble is a platform game for the Commodore 64 computer, released in 1992. It was developed by Apex Computer Productions, the company started by two brothers, John Rowlands and Steve Rowlands. It is the sequel to Creatures.

<i>Creatures</i> (1990 video game) 1990 Platformer

Creatures is a platform game for the Commodore 64 computer developed by Apex Computer Productions and released in 1990. The game was made by two brothers who were founders of the company, John Rowlands (programming) and Steve Rowlands. It was later ported by WJS Design for Atari ST and released in 1992 and to the Amiga in 1993.

<i>Onslaught</i> (1989 video game) 1989 video game

Onslaught is a video game that was released by Hewson in 1989 for the Amiga and subsequently ported to the Atari ST, MS-DOS, and Mega Drive. The game is a fantasy-themed platform game with an eerie soundtrack and graphic violence.

<i>Commodore Force</i>

Commodore Force was a computer games magazine covering games for the Commodore 64. It was published in the UK by Europress Impact. Its predecessor was Zzap!64.

<i>Commodore Format</i>

Commodore Format was a British magazine for users of the Commodore 64 home computer. It was published on the third Thursday of every month. All 61 issues were produced by Future plc. These came towards the end of the machine's commercial life - from October 1990 until October 1995.

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<i>Armalyte</i> 1988 video game

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<i>Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax</i> 1988 video game

Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax is a video game first published in 1988 for various home computers. It was released as Axe of Rage in North America. The game is the sequel to Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior, which was published in 1987. In Barbarian II, the player controls a princess or barbarian character, exploring the game world to locate and defeat an evil wizard. The game's plot is an extension of its predecessor, although the gameplay is different. While the first game offers two players the opportunity for virtual head-to-head combat, the second is a single-player beat 'em up with fewer fighting moves. It uses a flip-screen style instead of scrolling.

<i>Menace</i> (video game) 1988 video game

Menace is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis. It was originally released for the Amiga in 1988, and was ported for the Atari ST, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS in 1989. The game is set on the planet of Draconia, where players are tasked with destroying the planet's defence mechanisms in order to kill the harmful creatures.

References

  1. ↑ Staff Writer (9 May 2011). "Museum of Computing launches bedroom coding days". ITProportal. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
  2. ↑ Fabrizio Bartoloni (15 May 2009). "La vita oltre la morte del C64". Archived from the original on 21 December 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Cover page November 1993".
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