# Artic Computing

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{{Short description|English computer game company, 1980–1986}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Artic Computing
| logo             = Artic-computing.png
| location         = [Brandesburton](/source/Brandesburton), [England](/source/England)
| industry         = [Video games](/source/Video_game_industry) 
| products         = [Computer games](/source/Personal_computer_game)
}}
'''Artic Computing''' was a software development company based in [Brandesburton](/source/Brandesburton), [England](/source/England) from 1980 to 1986. The company's first games were for the [Sinclair ZX81](/source/Sinclair_ZX81) home computer, but they expanded and were also responsible for various [ZX Spectrum](/source/ZX_Spectrum), [Commodore 64](/source/Commodore_64), [BBC Micro](/source/BBC_Micro), [Acorn Electron](/source/Acorn_Electron) and [Amstrad CPC](/source/Amstrad_CPC) computer games. The company was set up by Richard Turner and Chris Thornton. [Charles Cecil](/source/Charles_Cecil), who later founded [Revolution Software](/source/Revolution_Software), joined the company shortly after it was founded, writing Adventures B through D. Developer [Jon Ritman](/source/Jon_Ritman) produced a number of ZX81 and Spectrum games for Artic before moving to [Ocean Software](/source/Ocean_Software).

Usually packaging and distributing games themselves, some titles were picked up by [Sinclair](/source/Sinclair_Research_Ltd) who repackaged them under the Sinclair brand, and [Amstrad](/source/Amstrad) who repackaged them under their [Amsoft](/source/Amsoft) brand.

Adventures A through D were written for the [ZX81](/source/Sinclair_ZX81) but were quickly ported to the ZX Spectrum platform on its release (as well as other systems). By comparison with later Spectrum adventure games such as ''[The Hobbit](/source/The_Hobbit_(1982_video_game))'', they are basic and short. However they are considered by many{{who|date=July 2014}}{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} to be the start of the adventure game genre on the Spectrum in particular and thus were an important step in the growth of adventure games.

==Games==
*''Sword of Peace'' (1980): ZX80, ZX81
*''[Adventure A: Planet of Death](/source/Adventure_A%3A_Planet_of_Death)'' (1981): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC
*''Adventure B: Inca Curse'' (1981): ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC
*''Zombies'' (1981): ZX81
*''ZX Chess'' (1981): ZX81
*''[1K ZX Chess](/source/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](/source/Bear_Bovver)'' (1983): ZX Spectrum, C64
*''Cosmic Debris'' (1983): ZX Spectrum
*''[Dimension Destructors](/source/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](/source/World_Cup_Carnival)'' by [U.S. Gold](/source/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)<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Gilbert |first1=John |title=Spectrum Software Scene - Assemblage |journal=[Sinclair User](/source/Sinclair_User) |date=January 1986 |issue=46 |pages=120 |publisher=[EMAP](/source/EMAP)}}</ref>
**''Harry Hare's Lair''
**''Mutant Monty and the Temple of Doom''
**''[Curse of the Seven Faces](/source/Curse_of_the_Seven_Faces)''
**''Robin Hood''
*''[Obsidian](/source/Obsidian_(1986_video_game))'' (1986): Amstrad CPC
*''Paws'' (1985): ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC
*''Web War'' (1985): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro; similar to ''[Tempest](/source/Tempest_(video_game))''
*''Rugby Manager'' (1986): ZX Spectrum
*''The Great Wall '' (1986): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro; similar to ''[Hunchback](/source/Hunchback_(video_game))''
*''Voodoo Rage'' (1986): Amstrad CPC
*''Woks'' (1986): Acorn Electron, BBC Micro

===Adventure Games Development===
The [parser](/source/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](/source/The_Quill_Adventure_System), an Adventure Game Creator produced by [Gilsoft](/source/Gilsoft).

== Programming and utilities ==
* ''Artic Forth'' (1982) [Forth programming language](/source/Forth_(programming_language))
* ''ZX Assembler'' (1982)
* ''Toolkit'' (1982)

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite web
    |url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=1318
    |title=Artic Computing Ltd
    |accessdate=2023-01-13
    |work=SpectrumComputing.co.uk
  }}

== External links ==
* [http://www.if-legends.org/~adventure/Artic_Computing.html Artic Computing at Adventureland]

Category:Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Artic Computing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artic_Computing) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artic_Computing?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.