{{Short description|British software house active between 1982 and 1985}} {{Infobox company | name = Richard Shepherd Software Ltd | logo = | type = Private | fate = Folded | founded = February 1982 | founder = Richard Shepherd | defunct = {{End date|1985}} | hq_location_city = Slough | hq_location_country = United Kingdom | key_people = Richard Shepherd, Pete Cooke | industry = Video games | products = ''Urban Upstart'', ''Everest Ascent'' }}
'''Richard Shepherd Software''' was a British software house active between 1982 and 1985. The company was mainly known for releasing text adventure games.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=CRASH|issue=14|page=120|title=Ski Star 2000 review|date=March 1985}}</ref> These were programmed by Richard Shepherd himself and Pete Cooke.
== History ==
Richard Shepherd had worked as an accountant and taught himself programming on a ZX81 in his spare time.<ref name="HCW">{{cite magazine | last= | first= | date=30 August 1983 | title=The spare-time sideline that took off | url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2592&page=29 | magazine=Home Computing Weekly | page=29 | location=London | publisher=Argus Specialist Publications | access-date=2022-05-05}}</ref> During this time his wife Elaine took an interest in text adventure games. Upon her disappointment about a purchased game Richard suggested writing their own. Their company started out in February 1982 from the Shepherd's dining room in their house in Maidenhead. Its first product was ''Bargain Bytes'', a collection of games and utilities for the ZX81. Due to the release of the ZX81's successor ZX Spectrum in April 1982 the company had to switch to the new machine. A major step for the company was when retailer WHSmith ordered the adventure ''Transylvanian Tower'' for its stores in February 1983. At this point Richard Shepherd quit his daytime job and focused on the software company. The company moved into an office in Slough and hired the first employees.
Richard Shepherd's finance utility, ''Cash Controller'', was the first Spectrum program to be designed to work with the ZX Microdrive.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=ZX Computing|issue=8402|page=84|title=Software News|date=February–March 1984}}</ref>
In 1991 an issue of Amstrad Action (May, No. 68 p. 70) published an artillery game type-in program called ''Warzone''. Consisting of 144 lines of code, the author was noted down as one "Richard Shephard down Bristol way".
==List of publications==
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Caption text |- ! Program Title !! Prod year !! Informantion |- | Cash Controller || 1983 || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=96&id=8004|title = Cash Controller at Spectrum Computing - Sinclair ZX Spectrum games, software and hardware}}</ref> |- | Devils of the Deep || 1983 || . |- | Everest Ascent || 1983 || . |- | The Inferno || 1984 || . |- | Invincible Island || 1983 || . |- | Jackpot Fruit Machine || 1982 || . |- | Monster Mine || 1982 || . |- | Shaken but Not Stirred || 1982 || . |- | Ship of the Line || 1982 || . |- | Ski Star 2000 || 1985 || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ia801309.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/4/items/your-spectrum-magazine-15/YourSpectrum_15_Jun_1985_jp2.zip&file=YourSpectrum_15_Jun_1985_jp2/YourSpectrum_15_Jun_1985_0052.jp2&id=your-spectrum-magazine-15&scale=4&rotate=0|title = Your Spectrum 15 - Joystick Jury}}</ref> |- | Submarine Attack || 1982 || . |- | Super Spy || 1982 || . |- | Transylvanian Tower || 1982 || . |- | Upper Gumtree || 1984 || . |- | Urban Upstart || 1983 || . |- | || || . |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekpub.cgi?regexp=^Richard+Shepherd+Software+Ltd$&loadpics=1 Richard Shepherd Software] at World of Spectrum * {{MobyGames company|company=richard-shepherd-software-ltd}}
Category:1982 establishments in England Category:1985 disestablishments in England Category:British companies disestablished in 1985 Category:British companies established in 1982 Category:Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Category:Software companies disestablished in 1985 Category:Software companies established in 1982