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Private company

Artic Software

English computer game company, 1980–1986

Artic Computing was a software development company based in Brandesburton, England from 1980 to 1986. The company's first games were for the Sinclair ZX81 home computer, but they expanded and were also responsible for various ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and Amstrad CPC computer games. The company was set up by Richard Turner and Chris Thornton.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

  • Industryvideo game industry1
  • HeadquartersBrandesburton1
  • Legal formprivate company limited by shares1

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Artic Computing was a software development company based in Brandesburton, England from 1980 to 1986. The company's first games were for the Sinclair ZX81 home computer, but they expanded and were also responsible for various ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and Amstrad CPC computer games. The company was set up by Richard Turner and Chris Thornton. Charles Cecil, who later founded Revolution Software, joined the company shortly after it was founded, writing Adventures B through D. Developer Jon Ritman produced a number of ZX81 and Spectrum games for Artic before moving to Ocean Software.2

Products and brands

  • PC game

Listed on Wikidata.1

Sword of Peace (1980): ZX80, ZX81

Adventure A: Planet of Death (1981): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC

Adventure B: Inca Curse (1981): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC

Zombies (1981): ZX81

Read the full text

ZX Chess (1981): ZX81

1K ZX Chess (1982): ZX81

Adventure C: Ship of Doom (1982): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC

Adventure D: Espionage Island (1982): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC

Invaders (1982): ZX Spectrum

Namtir Raiders (1982): ZX81

ZX-Galaxians (1982): ZX81

3D Combat Zone (1983): ZX Spectrum

Adventure E: The Golden Apple (1983): ZX Spectrum

Bear Bovver (1983): ZX Spectrum, C64

Cosmic Debris (1983): ZX Spectrum

Dimension Destructors (1983): ZX Spectrum

Adventure F: The Eye of Bain (1984): ZX Spectrum

Adventure G: Ground Zero (1984): ZX Spectrum

Engineer Humpty (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64

Humpty Dumpty in the Garden (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64

Humpty Dumpty Meets the Fuzzy Wuzzies (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64

Mothership (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64

Mr Wong's Loopy Laundry (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC, MSX

Mutant Monty (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC

World Cup Football (1984): ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC (reworked as World Cup Carnival by U.S. Gold in 1986)

Adventure H: Robin Hood (1985): ZX Spectrum (released only as part of the Assemblage compilation)

Aladdin's Cave (1985): ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC

International Rugby (1985): ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC

Assemblage (1986): ZX Spectrum (compilation, includes four games)

Harry Hare's Lair

Mutant Monty and the Temple of Doom

Curse of the Seven Faces

Robin Hood

Obsidian (1986): Amstrad CPC

Paws (1985): ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC

Web War (1985): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro; similar to Tempest

Rugby Manager (1986): ZX Spectrum

The Great Wall (1986): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro; similar to Hunchback

Voodoo Rage (1986): Amstrad CPC

Woks (1986): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro

Adventure Games Development

The parser in their adventures is of a basic 2-word design, such as "Use Axe". However the programs from adventures A-F were built using a custom built design. Adventure G (Ground Zero) and later were built using The Quill, an Adventure Game Creator produced by Gilsoft.

From Wikipedia’s article on Artic Computing, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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