Roland was a game character developed in 1984 by

Alan Sugar Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician and political adviser. In 1968, he started what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics com ...

, CEO of

Amstrad Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstra ...

, and Jose Luis Dominguez, a Spanish game designer. The character was named for Roland Perry, a computer engineer who worked for Amstrad. The idea was to have one recognizable character in a number of different

computer games A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-d ...

in a bid to have the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

compete with the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

and the Commodore 64.

Games in the ''Roland''-series

* 1984: ''Roland Ahoy!'' (by Computersmith) * 1984: ''Roland on the Ropes'' (by Indescomp) - A copy of the Spanish game ''Fred''. Roland had to collect bullets, treasures and maps while climbing ropes to get out of a tomb/pyramid. Some villains can be destroyed (skeletons, bats, mummies) while some can only be forced to change direction (ghosts) and some have to be jumped over (dripping poison, rats, scorpions). When the game ends, the end music is the Funeral March. The game was released for the Spectrum and the Commodore as well, and was later remade for the PC. * 1984: ''Roland in the Caves'' (by Indescomp) - A copy of the Spanish game '' Bugaboo (The Flea)''. * 1984: '' Roland Goes Digging'' (by Gem Software for Amsoft) - a ''

Space Panic is a 1980 arcade game designed by Universal. Predating Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong'', and lacking a jump mechanic, ''Space Panic'' was the first game involving climbing ladders between walkable platforms. The genre was initially labeled as "clim ...

'' clone. Roland navigates around a series of platforms and dispatches aliens by digging holes to trap them in. * 1984: ''Roland Goes Square Bashing'' (by Durell) - a logic puzzle game. * 1984: ''Roland on the Run'' (by Epicsoft) - a ''

Frogger is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega. In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of frogs to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous ri ...

'' clone. * 1985: ''Roland in Time'' (by Gem Software) - a more colourful clone of ''

Manic Miner ''Manic Miner'' is a platform video game originally written for the ZX Spectrum by Matthew Smith and released by Bug-Byte in 1983 (later re-released by Software Projects). It is the first game in the Miner Willy series and among the early ti ...

''/'' Jet Set Willy'' with some overt homages to '' Doctor Who''. * 1985: ''Roland in Space'' (by Gem Software) - a sequel to ''Roland In Time''. Again, a more colourful clone of the '' Miner Willy'' games with homages to ''Doctor Who''. There was also a type-in game and instructional series, ''Roland Takes a Running Jump'', published in Amstrad's official magazine, '' Amstrad Computer User'', from November 1985 to March 1986.

References

1984 video games Amstrad CPC games Video games developed in Spain {{game-stub