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Acornsoft
Type Computer software, Video game developer and publisher
Founded 1982
Headquarters Cambridge, United Kingdom
Industry Computer software, Video games
Products Elite, Revs, Starship Command, Countdown to Doom, Arcadians, Snapper

Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers Ltd, and was a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video A video game publisher is a company that publishes Video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a Video game developer Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" The video game industry (formally referred to as Interactive entertainment) is the economic sector involved with the development, Marketing In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need Elite is a seminal space trading Computer game, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Revs is a 1984 Formula Three simulation written initially for the BBC Micro by Geoff Crammond and published by Acornsoft that is notable Acornsoft 's Starship Command is a Computer game released in 1983 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. Countdown to Doom is a text adventure computer game more recently termed Interactive fiction, written in 1982 by Peter Killworth. Arcadians is a Shoot-em-up for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron programmed by Orlando M Pilchard (his real name is Nick Pelling Snapper is a computer game written by Jonathan Griffiths for the BBC Micro and released as one of the launch titles for Acornsoft in 1982 Acorn Computers was a British Computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978 The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/ Home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. As well as games, they also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and utility packages - these included ROM-based word processor VIEW and the spreadsheet Acornsoft ViewSheet which Acorn supplied on ROM chips/cartridges for the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron and included as standard in the BBC Master and Acorn Business Computer. ViewSheet was a Spreadsheet program produced in the 1980s by Acorn Computers for use with their series of Microcomputers It was distributed as a pre-installed The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/ Home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. The Acorn Business Computer (ABC was a series of Microcomputers announced at the end of 1983 by the British company Acorn Computers.

While many of their games were clones or remakes of popular arcade games (Hopper = Frogger, Snapper = Pac-Man, Arcadians = Galaxian), they also published a number of original, innovative titles (such as Revs and Elite) that went on to spawn entire genres that live on to this day. Frogger is an Arcade game introduced in 1981. It was developed by Konami, and licensed for worldwide distribution by Sega / Snapper is a computer game written by Jonathan Griffiths for the BBC Micro and released as one of the launch titles for Acornsoft in 1982 is an Arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution Arcadians is a Shoot-em-up for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron programmed by Orlando M Pilchard (his real name is Nick Pelling Galaxian is a 1979 Fixed shooter Arcade game by Namco and released by Midway Mfg Revs is a 1984 Formula Three simulation written initially for the BBC Micro by Geoff Crammond and published by Acornsoft that is notable Elite is a seminal space trading Computer game, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and

Acornsoft also published a number of text adventure games by authors such as Peter Killworth, including Philosopher's Quest and Countdown to Doom, that remain highly regarded within the interactive fiction community. Countdown to Doom is a text adventure computer game more recently termed Interactive fiction, written in 1982 by Peter Killworth.

Although Acorn continued releasing office software in the VIEW family under the Acornsoft name for the BBC Master series, they sold the Acornsoft games brand and back catalogue to Superior Software in 1986. Superior Software (aka Superior Interactive) is a Video game publisher. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) Many games were re-released by them, often as part of compilations such as the Play It Again Sam and Acornsoft Hits series. The Acornsoft brand was also used on the packaging of all subsequent Superior games. Superior chose not to take on Acornsoft's text adventure games, most of which were released in updated versions by Topologika along with some sequels from the same authors. Topologika is a British publisher of educational software It was founded in 1983.

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Acornsoft Games range

Including all arcade, text adventure and board games. Elite is a seminal space trading Computer game, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Frogger is an Arcade game introduced in 1981. It was developed by Konami, and licensed for worldwide distribution by Sega / Labyrinth is a Video game published in 1984 by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro. Lunar Rescue is an Arcade game released by Taito in 1979 It combines elements from Taito's own Space Invaders (and is sometimes listed Asteroids is a video Arcade game released in 1979 by Atari Inc Missile Command is a 1980 Arcade game by Atari Inc that was also licensed to Sega for European release Space Panic is a 1980 Arcade game designed by Universal. Chris Crawford calls it the first ever Lode Runner is a 1983 Platform game, first published by Brøderbund. Revs is a 1984 Formula Three simulation written initially for the BBC Micro by Geoff Crammond and published by Acornsoft that is notable Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or F3, is a class of open-wheel formula racing. Simulation is the imitation of some real thing state of affairs or process Scramble is a 1981 horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up, Arcade game. Snapper is a computer game written by Jonathan Griffiths for the BBC Micro and released as one of the launch titles for Acornsoft in 1982 is an Arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution Acornsoft 's Starship Command is a Computer game released in 1983 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. is an arcade Video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978 Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the History Since 400 AD Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys. All games were compatible with the BBC Micro Model B. Games followed by Model A & B were compatible with both machines. Games followed by Electron were also released separately for the Acorn Electron. The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/ Home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. Games are listed by their catalogue numbers which are roughly the order of release of the BBC versions.

There are also a number of completed but unreleased games that have found their way into the public domain such as Crazy Balloon, Hellforce and Bandit that date from around 1983.

Acornsoft Education range

Acornsoft produced a wide range of educational titles aimed at many different age groups.

Acornsoft also published and distributed a range of educational software developed by ASK (Applied Systems Knowledge) that were widely used in schools running BBC Micros. These included Podd (find out which actions a red blobby character can perform eg jump, smile, dance), Squeeze (a two player strategy game of squeezing shapes onto a board) and Cranky (solve maths problems to repair a living calculator). Podd is an Educational game for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, published by Acornsoft in 1984 These titles were part of the official Acornsoft catalogue (eg Podd was E26) and ran on both the BBC Micro Model B and Acorn Electron. The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/ Home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. Acornsoft also distributed other ranges of educational programs devoped by companies such as ICL, Good Housekeeping and Bourne but they are not considered part of the official catalogue.

The Ivan Berg Software range was also mainly educational but had its own distinct code (XBX?? - all other Acornsoft titles began with S eg the Education range on BBC Micro cassettes would be SBE??). This included the 6 Grandmaster Quizzes (Theatre, Crime & Detection, Music, History, Science Fiction and Royal), relationship aids ". . I Do" Your Guide to a Happy Marriage and The Dating Game and GCE/CSE revision guides.

Acornsoft Business range

Acornsoft produced a range of office software for home and business use.

The series continues but mainly with add-on products for the VIEW word processor such as ViewIndex (an automatic index generator) and ViewSpell (spell-checker) as well as newer versions.

Acornsoft Languages range

Acorn systems came with a version of the BBC BASIC programming language as standard but Acornsoft also produced a wide range of other languages that could be loaded in by cassette or disc or in some cases, supplied in ROM form.

Acornsoft Graphics range and more

The graphics range was used to demonstrate the graphical power of the Acorn computers but only 3 titles were made available. The X?? code was then used for other types of software.

The range took on various themes including the Linkword foreign language titles. Shirley Conran (born September 21, 1932) is the ex-wife of British Designer, Restaurateur, Retailer and Writer

External links

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