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Matthew Smith (games Programmer)
Matthew Smith (born 1966) is a British video game programmer. He created the games ''Manic Miner'' and ''Jet Set Willy'' for the ZX Spectrum, released in 1983 and 1984 respectively. Smith left the games industry in 1988 and later moved to the Netherlands. He has since returned to the UK and has worked on some games as well as appearing at conventions and in documentaries. Early life Smith was born in Penge. His family moved to Wallasey when he was seven years old. Programming career 1980s He started out Computer programming, programming when he received a TRS-80 for Christmas in 1979. His first commercial game was a ''Galaxian'' clone for the TRS-80 called ''Delta Tau One''. He then went on to produce ''Monster Muncher'' on the VIC-20. Smith has said that he wrote Monster Muncher in 3 hours. He obtained a ZX Spectrum on loan from Bug-Byte, Bug-Byte Software Ltd. in return for a freelance contract for three games. The first of these was ''Styx (Spectrum video game), Styx'' in 1 ...
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Penge
Penge () is a suburb of South East Greater London, London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross. Etymology The name ''Penge'' is first attested in charter of 1067, as ''penceat'', and in a twelfth-century copy of a charter of 957 as ''pænge'' (where the place is described as a "wood" (, and in which Eadwig, King Eadwig gives Penge Common to the thane Lyfing). The name comes from the Common Brittonic words that survive in modern Welsh as ("head, end, summit") and ("woodland"), and thus it once meant "end of the wood", like a number of similar names, including Pencoed in Wales., s.v. ''Penge''. The largest Grunerite, amosite mine in the world, in South Africa, was named Penge, Limpopo, Penge apparently because one of the British directors thought the two areas were similar in appearance. History Penge was once a small Hamlet (place), hamlet attached to the manor of Battersea; it became indepe ...
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Attack Of The Mutant Zombie Flesh Eating Chickens From Mars
''Star Paws'' is an action video game released by Software Projects for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ... in 1987. Gameplay The game's plot involved captain Rover Pawstrong (a dog in a space suit) in his adventures on a planet, attempting to capture 20 Space Griffins (essentially large, fast chickens). Gameplay involves the player's character running back and forth on a side-scrolling planet surface, attempting to catch the Griffins. The player finds crates which contain items that the player can use to help catch the bird - or the player can simply try and run and jump on top of the bird, thus catching it. During playtime, there is a time limit by which a bird must be caught (indicated by a roast chicken slowly tu ...
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Video Game Programmers
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer". A game programmer should not be confused with a game designer, who works on game design. History In the early days of video games (from the early 1970s to mid-1980s), a game programmer also took on the job of a designer and artist. This was generally because the abilities of early computers were so limited that having specialized personnel for each function was unnecessary. Game concepts were generally light and games were only meant to be played for a few minutes at a time, but more importantly, art content and variations in gameplay were constrained by computers' limited power. Later, as specialized arcade hardware and home systems became more powerful, game developers could develo ...
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British Video Game Designers
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** British Isles, an island group ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** British Empire, a historical global colonial empire ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) * British Raj, colonial India under the British Empire * British Hong Kong, colonial ...
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1966 Births
Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo is deposed by a military coup in the Republic of Upper Volta (modern-day Burkina Faso). * January 10 ** Pakistani–Indian peace negotiations end successfully with the signing of the Tashkent Declaration, a day before the sudden death of Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. ** Georgia House of Representatives, The House of Representatives of the US state of Georgia refuses to allow African-American representative Julian Bond to take his seat, because of his anti-war stance. * January 15 – 1966 Nigerian coup d'état: A bloody military coup is staged in Nigeria, deposing the civilian government and resulting in the death of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. * January 17 ** The Nigerian coup is overturned by another faction of the ...
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Elite Systems
Elite Systems is a British video game developer and publisher established in 1984 as Richard Wilcox Software. It is known for producing home computer conversions of popular arcade games. Elite also published compilations of games on the Hit-Pak label and budget price re-releases on the Encore label. History Under the name Richard Wilcox Software, only one title was published: ''Blue Thunder'' for the ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit computers, and Commodore 64. In August 1984, the group was relaunched as Elite Systems, expanding the team to include graphic designers Rory Green and Jon Harrison; programmers Neil A. Bate, Chris Harvey, Andy Williams and Stephen Lockley; administrators Paul Smith and Pat Maisey; and Wilcox's brother Steve handled sales and marketing. Its first release under the new Elite Systems label was '' Kokotoni Wilf'', which also carried the first of their anti-counterfeiting holograms on the cassette inlay card. By 1986, the company was developing many home compu ...
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Retrogaming
Retro gaming, also known as classic gaming and old school gaming, is the playing and collection of computer game, personal computers, video game console, consoles, and video games from earlier decades. Usually, retro gaming is based upon systems that are outmoded or discontinued, although ported retro gaming allows games to be played on modern hardware via Porting, ports, Video game console emulator, emulations or compilations. It is typically for nostalgia, preservation, or authenticity. A new game could be retro styled, such as an Role-playing video game, RPG with turn-based combat and pixel art in isometric video game graphics, isometric camera perspective, as well as chiptune, chip-tune styled video game music, music. Retro gaming has existed since the early years of the video game industry, and was popularized with the Internet and Video game console emulator, emulation technology. It is argued that the main reasons players are drawn to retro games are nostalgia for differ ...
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Thumb Candy
The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb is ''pollex'' (compare ''hallux'' for big toe), and the corresponding adjective for thumb is ''pollical''. Definition Thumb and fingers The English word ''finger'' has two senses, even in the context of appendages of a single typical human hand: 1) Any of the five terminal members of the hand. 2) Any of the four terminal members of the hand, other than the thumb. Linguistically, it appears that the original sense was the first of these two: (also rendered as ) was, in the inferred Proto-Indo-European language, a suffixed form of (or ), which has given rise to many Indo-European-family words (tens of them defined in English dictionaries) that involve, or stem from, concepts of fiveness. The thumb shares the following with each of ...
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Runecraft (company)
Gamezlab (formerly Runecraft) was a British video game developer based in Yorkshire. The company was founded in April 1997 and mostly developed games based on licensed properties. History In 2002, the company was commissioned by the BBC to develop a fighting game engine for the company's upcoming '' FightBox'' game show project. However, various financial issues, mismanagement, and other problems caused Runecraft to go bust at the end of December 2002. To keep the show alive, BBC Worldwide acquired the developer and a small number of its staff, and renamed the developer under BBC's core-publishing brand "Gamezlab". Following the failure of ''FightBox'' and the completion of the tie-in games, In February 2004, Gamezlab were commissioned to develop a video game based on BBC's '' Spooks'' TV series for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating sy ...
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Video Game Developer
A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as programmers, designers, artists, etc. Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games. A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles, or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts's ...
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Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds. Historic counties of England, Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, after undergoing a period of major growth in the 19th century as a mill town, Dewsbury went through a period of decline. Dewsbury forms part of the Heavy Woollen District of which it is the largest town. The population of the built-up area was 63,722 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. History Toponymy The Domesday Book of 1086 records the name as ''Deusberie'', ''Deusberia'', ''Deusbereia'', or ''Deubire'', literally "Dewi's fort", Dewi being an old Welsh name (equivalent to David) and "bury" coming from the old English word "burh", meaning fort. Other, less supported, theories exist as to the name's o ...
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