The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales before moving to Port Talbot, Wales and by Eurohard S.A. in Casar de Cáceres, Spain, and for the US market by Tano Corporation of New Orleans, Louisiana. The model numbers reflect the primary difference between the two machines, which have 32 and 64 kilobytes of RAM, respectively.
The Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) is a game engine developed by Sierra On-Line. The company originally developed the engine for King's Quest (1984), an adventure game that Sierra and IBM wished to market in order to attract consumers to IBM's lower-cost home computer, the IBM PCjr.
Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher active in the late 1970s and 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before renaming the company to match in 1983. Epyx published a long series of games through the 1980s. The company is currently owned by Bridgestone Multimedia Group Global.
Graftgold was an independent computer game developer that came to prominence in the 1980s, producing numerous computer games on a variety of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms.
Tynesoft Computer Software was a software developer and publisher in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Sirius Software was a California-based publisher of video games for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and VIC-20. Most games were written for the Apple II, then ported to other systems. The company was founded in 1980 by Jerry Jewell and Terry Bradley and released over 160 games before folding in 1984. Sirius also developed games for the Atari 2600 which were published in 1982 and 1983 by 20th Century Fox Video Games. Fox's failure to pay Sirius resulted in company's downfall. Nasir Gebelli wrote some of the early hits from Sirius, establishing his reputation as an Apple II game programmer.
Epic is a space combat simulation game developed by Digital Image Design and published by Ocean Software for the Commdore Amiga and Atari ST in early 1992. A port to MS-DOS also appeared in the same year, followed by a version for the NEC PC-9801 in 1993. A sequel, titled Inferno, was released in 1994 for PCs only.
Cuthbert Goes Digging is a 1983 video game for the Dragon 32 home computer. Written by Steve Bak at Microdeal, the game features the hero Cuthbert, who also appears in Cuthbert Goes Walkabout and Cuthbert in the Mines. In the game, the player guides Cuthbert through levels of girders, avoiding 'moronians' fatal to the touch.
Cuthbert Goes Walkabout is a maze video game written by Steve Bak for the Dragon 32/64 and published by Microdeal in 1983. A TRS-80 Color Computer port was released the same year. Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 versions followed in 1984. The game features the character Cuthbert. The game is based on the Konami arcade game Amidar.
Tanglewood is a puzzle/adventure computer game published by Microdeal for the Dragon 32 and TRS-80 Color Computer in early 1987. It was released for the Atari ST and Amiga in 1988.
Airball is a video game released in 1987 by Microdeal. It was programmed by Ed Scio, with graphics by Pete Lyon, music by Paul Shields, and level design by Pete Scott. Lyon was the artist for other Microdeal games in the late 1980s, such as Goldrunner.. The game was released for the Dragon 32/64 and TRS-80 Color Computer, with ports following for the Atari ST, Amiga, MS-DOS, Atari 8-bit family, and Game Boy Advance. Airball was ported to the Apple IIGS, but fewer than 150 copies were sold. A version for the Nintendo Entertainment System from Novotrade and Tengen was cancelled.
Atlantis Software was a London-based UK computer games publisher that released a number of games during the 1980s and early 1990s.
The United Kingdom has the largest video game sector in Europe. By revenue, the UK had the second-largest video game market in Europe in 2022 after Germany, and the sixth-largest globally. By sales, it is Europe's largest market, having overtaken Germany in 2022. The UK video game market was worth £7.16 billion in 2021, a 2% increase over the previous year.
Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single, non-technical user. These computers were a distinct market segment that typically cost much less than business, scientific, or engineering-oriented computers of the time, such as those running CP/M or the IBM PC, and were generally less powerful in terms of memory and expandability. However, a home computer often had better graphics and sound than contemporary business computers. Their most common uses were word processing, playing video games, and programming.
Peter Michael Lyon is a UK-based visual artist who has worked in a wide range of 2D and 3D media spanning from traditional oil painting to computer graphics, for the science fiction and fantasy genres. According to his personal website, he has been involved in various works in the computer games industry such as graphic production, teaching and management, with 3D modelling and animation. He is known as a pioneer graphic designer for the Atari and the Amiga in the 1980s and 1990s.
Goldrunner is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Steve Bak and Pete Lyon for the Atari ST and published by Microdeal in 1987. Rob Hubbard composed the music. An Amiga version followed, as well as a 1988 sequel, Goldrunner II.
Russ Wetmore is an American programmer and video game designer best known for writing commercial games and applications for Atari 8-bit computers in the early to mid 1980s. His Frogger-inspired Preppie! was published by Adventure International and praised by reviewers for the music and visuals. He also wrote the maze-game sequel, Preppie! II. Wetmore stopped writing games after the video game crash of 1983 and developed the integrated HomePak productivity suite for Batteries Included. He has remained in software development in director and architecture roles.
The Karate Kid Part II: The Computer Game is a fighting game based on the 1986 film The Karate Kid Part II. It was initially released for the Atari ST in 1986, and an Amiga port was published in 1987. It was published by Microdeal in Europe and the United States, and by Ozisoft in Australia.
Danger Ranger is a non-scrolling platform game designed by Ken Kalish and published in 1983 by Microdeal for the Dragon 32/64 and TRS-80 Color Computer. The game was ported to the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 by Rita Jay in 1984.
