Archer MacLean is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 video game programmer

Game programmer

A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebase for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer"...

.

Beginnings

He is the author of such titles as Dropzone

Dropzone

Dropzone is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Arena Graphics in 1984. It is a bi-directional, horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up in the style of Defender. It was designed and written by Archer MacLean, his first commercial video game. In fact, "Arena Graphics" is just a shell name for MacLean...

and International Karate

International Karate

International Karate is a karate fighting game created and published by System 3 for various home computers. Of these versions the 1986 releases for Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers, created by Archer MacLean with music by Rob Hubbard, stand out for their good playability and overall high...

, which he developed for the Atari 400/800

Atari 8-bit family

The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...

 but were ported

Porting

In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...

 to other systems. Archer also created the sequel to International Karate, IK+ which was developed for the Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

 and also ported

Porting

In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...

 to other systems. He is also known for his series of snooker

Snooker

Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...

 and pool

Billiards

Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...

 games, which commenced with Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker in 1991 (that was originally called 147 ).

Awesome Play

He left Awesome Studios—the studio

Video game developer

A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...

 he helped found and establish—in July 2005 and now runs Awesome Play. Their latest game release is SpeedZone (known as Wheelspin outside of the US).

Recent projects

MacLean's most recent title while working for Awesome Studios was Archer Maclean's Mercury

Archer Maclean's Mercury

Archer Maclean's Mercury is a video game for the PlayStation Portable, first released in April 2005 in North America. In Japan, the game was released under the name Hg] Hydrium. Mercury is a puzzle game developed by the eponymous British game programmer, Archer MacLean who had previously developed...

completed in 2005, before he left the studio for unknown reasons.

The follow-up versions were Mercury Meltdown

Mercury Meltdown

Mercury Meltdown is a video game for the PlayStation Portable. It is the sequel to the 2005 title Archer Maclean's Mercury. Like the first game, the goal is to tilt the playing area and guide one or more blobs of mercury to the destination.-Gameplay:...

for the PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

, Mercury Meltdown Remix

Mercury Meltdown

Mercury Meltdown is a video game for the PlayStation Portable. It is the sequel to the 2005 title Archer Maclean's Mercury. Like the first game, the goal is to tilt the playing area and guide one or more blobs of mercury to the destination.-Gameplay:...

for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

, and Mercury Meltdown Revolution

Mercury Meltdown Revolution

Mercury Meltdown Revolution is a puzzle video game developed and published by Ignition Entertainment for the Nintendo Wii. The game is part of a series of puzzle games including Mercury Meltdown and Archer Maclean's Mercury...

for the Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

.
MacLean then developed a futuristic racing game, WheelSpin

Wheelspin (video game)

Wheelspin, known as SpeedZone in the United States, is a futuristic racing video game for Wii, developed by British developer Awesome Play. The races take place on various terrains such as space stations, planets and asteroids. Only a few of the games are accessible at first, the rest are unlocked...

, for the Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

.

Maclean also writes a monthly column for Retro Gamer

Retro Gamer

Retro Gamer is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Although launched as a quarterly publication, Retro Gamers soon became a monthly...

magazine.

External links

• Awesome Play
• Archer Maclean interview from Halcyon Days
  Halcyon Days (book)
  Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers is a digital book edited by James Hague and published in 1997. The book was originally formatted using HTML and sold via mail-order, shipped on a floppy disk by Dadgum Games for USD$20. In 2002 Halcyon Days was made freely...
  
  
• 2009 interview regarding the Wii from Wii's World