Level 9
| Level 9 computing | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Limited |
| founding | 1981 |
| resolution | 1991 |
| Reason for dissolution | Business abandonment |
| Seat | Weston-super-Mare (Great Britain) |
| management | John Austin |
| Branch | Software development |
Level 9 was an English development studio of computer games , which some of the most successful text adventures for home computers has published in the 1980s.
history
The company was founded in 1981 by the brothers Peter, Michael and Nicholas Austin, who only gave their nicknames Pete, Mike and Nick in all publications. Peter Austin had completed a degree in psychology and computer science and was working full-time as a programmer for PerkinElmer ; his brothers studied engineering (Mike) and computer science (Nick). After the company started to show success, sister Margaret joined as marketing director and father John as managing director. Mike Austin designed the platform-independent programming language A-Code for their games. For the numerous home computers then on the market, an individual playback program only had to be programmed once; then every game programmed in A-code could run on every system for which such a playback program existed. This enabled Level 9 to publish self-produced games for a variety of systems in a short period of time. The company produced around 30 games for the home computers BBC Micro , Commodore 64 , Nascom , ZX Spectrum , Oric Atmos , Atari Lynx 48k, RML 380Z , Amstrad CPC , MSX , Apple II and Enterprise.
The main author of the games was company co-founder Pete Austin. He drew his inspiration from the role-playing game systems Dungeons & Dragons and the Empire of the Petal Throne developed by Muhammad Abd-Al-Rahman Barker . In 1991 the company was forced to close due to the shrinking market.
Games overview
- Fantasy, Missile Defense, Bomber, Space Invasion - four games for the Nascom computer
- Colossal Adventure (1983) - an expanded adaptation of the original Adventure
- Adventure Quest (1983)
- Dungeon Adventure (1983)
- Snowball (1983)
- Lords of Time (1983)
- Return to Eden (1984)
- The Saga of Erik the Viking (1984)
- Emerald Isle (1985)
- Red Moon (1985)
- The Worm in Paradise (1985)
- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and 3/4 (Virgin) (1985)
- The Archers (1985)
- The Price of Magik (1986)
- Jewels of Darkness Trilogy
- Silicon Dreams Trilogy
- Knight Orc (1987)
- Gnome Ranger (1987)
- The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (Virgin) (1987)
- Time and Magik Trilogy (1988)
- Lancelot (1988)
- Ingrid's Back (1988)
- Scapeghost (1989)
- Champion of the Raj (1991)
Web links
- Level 9 at MobyGames (English)
- Level 9 fan page
- Further information on Level 9 ( Memento from February 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Level 9 essay
- Presentation of the company in Page 6 Magazine July 1988 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Chris Bourne: On the level . In: Sinclair User . No. 38, May 1985, p. 60.