Gordon J. Key

Last updated
Gordon J. Key
Occupation(s) programmer, game designer, antiques [1]
Known for E-Type , Apocalypse

Gordon J. Key authored video game software for the Acorn BBC Micro, Electron and RISC OS platforms in the 1980s and 1990s. [2] His most well-known works were published by The Fourth Dimension (earlier known as Impact Software). He is also credited with additional programming routines in FedNet's futuristic flight combat game Star Fighter 3000 (1994), [3] and authored Party Machine for the Amstrad CPC.[ citation needed ]

In an article about the Electron referring to Key's Holed Out! golf simulator, Steve Botterill (co-founder of The Fourth Dimension) referred to Key as being "one of the most brilliant programmers" he had ever met. [4] In an interview in the November 1988 issue of The Micro User , Key explained that his development as a programmer began for pleasure, modifying existing games. He then used increasingly more machine code in an effort to produce magazine games of equal quality to commercial titles. At the time of publishing Clogger , he was learning ARM assembly language in addition to setting up a vehicle restoration business for old buses. [2]

In 2010, Key answered a number of questions posed by registered members of The Icon Bar forum. He has not written any commercial software since starting in the antiques trade. [1]

List of games

Related Research Articles

BBC BASIC is an interpreted version of the BASIC programming language. It was developed by Acorn Computers Ltd when they were selected by the BBC to supply the computer for their BBC Literacy Project in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acorn Computers</span> British computer manufacturer

Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK, including the Acorn Electron and the Acorn Archimedes. Acorn's BBC Micro computer dominated the UK educational computer market during the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acorn Archimedes</span> Personal computer

Acorn Archimedes is a family of personal computers designed by Acorn Computers of Cambridge, England. The systems are based on Acorn's own ARM architecture processors and the proprietary operating systems Arthur and RISC OS. The first models were introduced in 1987, and systems in the Archimedes family were sold until the mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RISC OS</span> Computer operating system by Acorn Computers Ltd

RISC OS is a computer operating system originally designed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England. First released in 1987, it was designed to run on the ARM chipset, which Acorn had designed concurrently for use in its new line of Archimedes personal computers. RISC OS takes its name from the reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture it supports.

Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. As well as games, it also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and utility packages – these included word processor VIEW and the spreadsheet ViewSheet supplied on ROM and cartridge for the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron and included as standard in the BBC Master and Acorn Business Computer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Econet</span> Computer networking system

Econet was Acorn Computers's low-cost local area network system, intended for use by schools and small businesses. It was widely used in those areas, and was supported by a large number of different computer and server systems produced both by Acorn and by other companies.

<i>Repton</i> (video game) Video game series

Repton is a video game originally developed by 16-year-old Briton Tim Tyler for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and released by Superior Software in 1985. The game spawned a series of follow up games which were released throughout the 1980s. The series sold around 125,000 copies between 1985 and 1990 with Repton 2 selling 35,000 itself. The games have since been remade for several modern systems, including iRepton for the iPhone / iPod Touch in 2010, and Android Repton 1, Android Repton 2 and Android Repton 3 from 2016 to 2018.

Timeworks Publisher was a desktop publishing (DTP) program produced by GST Software in the United Kingdom and published by Timeworks, Inc., in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superior Software</span>

Superior Software Ltd is a video game publisher. It was one of the main publishers for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in the 1980s and early 1990s, and occasionally published software to the Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. It currently releases games for Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android, mostly updates of its original games.

Xara is an international software company founded in 1981, with an HQ in Berlin and development office in Hemel Hempstead, UK. It has developed software for a variety of computer platforms, in chronological order: the Acorn Atom, BBC Micro, Z88, Atari ST, Acorn Archimedes, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and more recently web browser-based services.

The Acorn Business Computer (ABC) was a series of microcomputers announced at the end of 1983 by the British company Acorn Computers. The series of eight computers was aimed at the business, research and further education markets. Demonstrated at the Personal Computer World Show in September 1984, having been under development for "about a year" and having been undergoing field trials from May 1984, the range "understandably attracted a great deal of attention" and was favourably received by some commentators. The official launch of the range was scheduled for January 1985.

The Fourth Dimension (4D) was a major video game publisher for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Acorn Archimedes and RiscPC between 1989 and 1998. Previously, The Fourth Dimension had been known as Impact Software, which specialised mainly in BBC Micro games. Some of 4D's staff had worked for Superior Software. Notable release included Cyber Chess, Stunt Racer 2000, Galactic Dan and Chocks Away.

<i>Strykers Run</i> 1986 video game

Stryker's Run is a video game designed by Chris Roberts and Philip Meller for the BBC Micro and BBC Master which was published by Superior Software in 1986. It was also later converted to the Acorn Electron. It is a 2D side-scrolling action game. It was well received, particularly for its graphics.

Designer Castles was a software title for the BBC Micro and later Acorn Archimedes range of computers.

<i>Acorn User</i>

Acorn User magazine was founded by Acorn Computers in 1982, contract-published by Addison-Wesley, to coincide with the launch of the BBC Micro. It covered the range of Acorn home computers, the BBC Micro and Atom at first and later the Electron, Archimedes and Risc PC.

<i>The Micro User</i> UK computer magazine

The Micro User was a British specialist magazine catering to users of the BBC Microcomputer series, Acorn Electron, Acorn Archimedes and, to a limited extent, the Cambridge Z88. It had a comprehensive mix of reviews of games, application software, and the latest Acorn computers; type-in programs, a correspondence page offering help with computer problems, and approachable technical articles on programming and the BBC Micro's internals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Micro</span> Series of British microcomputers by Acorn

The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers designed and built by Acorn Computers Limited in the 1980s for the Computer Literacy Project of the BBC. The machine was the focus of a number of educational BBC TV programmes on computer literacy, starting with The Computer Programme in 1982, followed by Making the Most of the Micro, Computers in Control in 1983, and finally Micro Live in 1985.

<i>Deathstar</i> (video game) 1985 video game

Deathstar is multidirectional shooter for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro developed by Peter Johnson and originally published in the UK by Superior Software in 1985. It is a clone of the arcade game Sinistar.

The Advanced Disc Filing System (ADFS) is a computing file system unique to the Acorn computer range and RISC OS-based successors. Initially based on the rare Acorn Winchester Filing System, it was renamed to the Advanced Disc Filing System when support for floppy discs was added and on later 32-bit systems a variant of a PC-style floppy controller.

RISC OS, the computer operating system developed by Acorn Computers for their ARM-based Acorn Archimedes range, was originally released in 1987 as Arthur 0.20, and soon followed by Arthur 0.30, and Arthur 1.20. The next version, Arthur 2, became RISC OS 2 and was completed and made available in April 1989. RISC OS 3 was released with the very earliest version of the A5000 in 1991 and contained a series of new features. By 1996 RISC OS had been shipped on over 500,000 systems.

References

  1. 1 2 Gordon J. Key
  2. 1 2 3 Davidson, Pete (November 1988). "Key to success". The Micro User .
  3. ↑ "Starfighter 3000". Archived from the original on 2012-04-13. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  4. ↑ Retro Inspection: Acorn Electron
  5. ↑ Wade, Stephen (August 1990). "Software Scene–E-Type". The Micro User . Less than a year after the original release for the Archimedes series comes the 8-bit version of Gordon Keys'[ sic ] excellent E-Type racing game [...]
  6. ↑ Lazarus (December 1989). "Software Scene–E-Type ...in the fast lane". The Micro User . The author of this excellent product is Gordon Key [...]
  7. ↑ McLachlan, David (June 1989). "Software Scene–Holed Out ... a fairway to spend your time". The Micro User . [...] with what is the best golf simulation I've seen on any Acorn machine.
  8. ↑ Lazarus (August 1989). "Software Scene–Holed Out ... mnuch faster, better". The Micro User . [...] it is quite a stunning piece of work, ranking with Zarch and Conqueror in quality.
  9. ↑ Turnbull, Steve (July 1990). "Software Scene–Apocalypse!". The Micro User . Gordon Key ranks as one of the best games programmers for Acorn machines [...] stunning speed of the vector graphic 3D shoot-'em-up Apocalypse.
  10. ↑ Lazarus (January 1991). "Software Scene–Powerband". The Micro User . Gordon Key, author of the best type-in games from The Micro User and now the greatest Archimedes games, has done it yet again with Powerband.
  11. ↑ "What's Old?". Archived from the original on 2009-01-11. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.