Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s. Quicksilva was founded by Nick Lambert in 1979. The name Quicksilva was inspired by a particular guitar solo in a track on the album Happy Trails by

Quicksilver Messenger Service Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...

.A first-hand account of Quicksilva and its part in the birth of the UK games industry, 1981–1982
/ref> Quicksilva mainly released games for the Commodore 64 and

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 ...

, but also did conversions and some original games for the

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the ...

Dragon 32/64 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 m ...

Oric-1 Oric was the name used by UK-based Tangerine Computer Systems for a series of 6502-based home computers sold in the 1980s, primarily in Europe. With the success of the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research, Tangerine's backers suggested a h ...

/ Atmos,

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an empha ...

and

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a p ...

home computers. One of their earliest successful titles was a ''

Star Raiders ''Star Raiders'' is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in March 1980. The game is considered the platform's kil ...

''-style game entitled '' Time-Gate'' which reached the top of the ZX Spectrum charts in December 1982. Amongst the company's other successes were

Jeff Minter Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an independent English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 19 ...

's ''

Gridrunner ''Gridrunner'' is a fixed shooter video game written by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft for the VIC-20 in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore PET and Dragon 32. Many remakes and sequels ...

'' (1983), '' Bugaboo'' (1983, a.k.a. ''La Pulga'') and ''Fred'' (1983, titled " ''Roland on the Ropes''" on the Amstrad), two titles licensed from Spanish software house Indescomp S.A. Sandy White's '' Ant Attack'' (1983) for the

featured revolutionary 3-D graphics for which a patent application was made. In early 1984, they published their first licensed title, '' The Snowman'', an adaptation of the 1978 book by

Raymond Briggs Raymond Redvers Briggs (18 January 1934 – 9 August 2022) was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his 1978 story ...

. Software Manager Paul Cooper ruled out an adaption of Briggs' '' When The Wind Blows'' stating "nuclear war can upset a lot of people".

Later years

In May 1984, the company was bought by Argus Press Software which later became Grandslam Entertainment. Paul Cooper and Managing Director Rod Cousens left to establish Electric Dreams Software in 1985 when Argus moved the company from Southampton to London. The company continued to publish licensed products, including the first official home computer conversion of Atari's '' Battlezone'', '' Eric Bristow's Pro Darts'', two different games based on '' Strontium Dog'' from the '' 2000 AD'' comic and ''Fantastic Voyage'' (an official licence from the 1966 film), In late 1984 they developed '' The Thompson Twins Adventure'' (an adaptation of the Thompson Twins single ''

Doctor! Doctor! "Doctor! Doctor!" is a song performed by the British new wave band Thompson Twins. It is the second single from the band's fourth studio album, ''Into the Gap'' (1984). It was written by Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway, and promine ...

'') which was published by ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' magazine on a

flexi-disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

, and published Sandy White's follow-up to ''Ant Attack'', '' Zombie Zombie''. The following years brought further tie-ins including games featuring Rupert Bear in '' Rupert and the Toymaker's Party'',

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their nex ...

in '' Yabba Dabba Doo!'' and

Max Headroom Max Headroom is a fictional artificial intelligence (AI) character portrayed by actor Matt Frewer. Advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter", Max was known for his biting commentary on a variety of topical issues, arrogant wit, ...

It also produced popular original titles such as '' Glider Rider'' and two more arcade ports, Taito's ''

Elevator Action is a platform shooter game released in arcades by Taito in 1983. The player assumes the role of Agent 17, a spy infiltrating a 30-story building filled with elevators and enemy agents who emerge from closed doors. The goal is to collect secret ...

'' in 1987 and the final Quicksilva game, Namco's '' Pac-Land'' in 1989.

References

{{reflist

External links

Sandy White's homepageSandy White
at World of Spectrum Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies established in 1979 Video game publishers Video game development companies 1979 establishments in the United Kingdom