Network 23 (company)
Encyclopedia
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, they produced games exclusively for the Acorn Archimedes
Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.The name is commonly...
range of computers from 1990 to 1996.
The studio’s name was derived from the dominant mega-corporation Network 23
Network 23
Network 23 may refer to:*Network 23 *Network 23 , a defunct British video game development company*Network 23, a fictional television network on the TV series Max Headroom*"Network 23", a song on the Tangerine Dream album Exit...
featured in Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's 1985 short film ’20 Minutes into the Future
20 Minutes into the Future
Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future is a 1985 cyberpunk television movie created by Chrysalis Visual Programming Ltd. for Channel 4 in the UK to provide a back story for Max Headroom, a computer generated TV host...
’ (aka Max Headroom
Max Headroom (TV series)
Max Headroom is a British-produced American science fiction television series by Chrysalis/Lakeside Productions that aired in the United States on ABC from March 1987 to May 1988. The series was based on the Channel 4 British TV pilot Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future...
)
History
Network 23 were well known within the Archimedes demosceneDemoscene
The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
from 1987 to 1990. Their best known releases from this time included ‘Wibble’, ‘Granny Chow’ and ‘Graffiti Street’
The company changed its name to R.A.G.E. Software Developments with the launch of its first commercial game ‘Provocator
Provocator
Provocator is an award winning shoot 'em up computer game developed for the Acorn Archimedes range of computers. It was the first game by Network 23 and was published in the summer of 1991 by C.T.S. to critical acclaim...
’ in 1991, but reverted back to its demoscene name in 1992 to avoid being confused with newly formed Amiga games developer, Rage Software Limited.
Network 23's graphic style was influenced by the Amiga games of the day, especially those of the Bitmap Brothers
Bitmap Brothers
The Bitmap Brothers were a UK based video game developer founded in 1987. The company entered the industry in 1988 with the scrolling shooter Xenon. They quickly followed with the classic Speedball...
and Team 17. The graphics were designed using Deluxe Paint
Deluxe Paint
Deluxe Paint is a bitmap graphics editor series originally created by Dan Silva for Electronic Arts .The original version was created for the Commodore Amiga and was released in November 1985...
on an Amiga 500
Amiga 500
The Amiga 500 - also known as the A500 - was the first “low-end” Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer. It was announced at the winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1987 - at the same time as the high-end Amiga 2000 - and competed directly against the Atari 520ST...
and ported to the Acorn using custom hardware, which gave their games a unique look. The Archimedes games market slowly dried up as the 90’s progressed, and the company closed its doors in November 1996.
Chris Lloyd went into business software and is now an independent I.T. consultant. He wrote the popular Archimedes emulator ‘Archie’ in his spare time, but was forced to shelve the project in 2001 due to time constraints.
Russell Hughes stayed within the games industry, and worked on titles including Carmageddon
Carmageddon
Carmageddon is the first of a series of graphically violent vehicular combat video games produced by Stainless Games, published by Interplay and SCi...
, State of Emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
and JFK Reloaded. And subsequently worked in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
as an artist for Blue Tongue Entertainment
Blue Tongue Entertainment
Blue Tongue Entertainment Pty. Ltd. was an Australian video game developer founded in 1995. It was acquired by THQ on November 17, 2004, and remained an internal development studio of THQ until its closure in August 2011...
/ THQ
THQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
Asia Pacific. He died on September 22nd, 2010 at the age of only 37.
Games
ProvocatorNetwork 23’s first published game ‘Provocator
Provocator
Provocator is an award winning shoot 'em up computer game developed for the Acorn Archimedes range of computers. It was the first game by Network 23 and was published in the summer of 1991 by C.T.S. to critical acclaim...
’ was released in September 1991 and published by Isle of Wight developer Computer Tutorial Services (C.T.S)Provocator was a fast space based shoot-em-up, reminiscent of the Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica TV series in 1978, and was followed by a brief sequel TV series in 1980, a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games...
TV show from the late 70's. It required the player to protect a huge convoy of ships from alien attack as they passed through hostile territory, and dock with a mother ship after each wave of attacks.
Warlocks
Released in late October 1993, Warlocks became Network 23's biggest hit. A platform shoot-em-up featuring a reincarnated knight who was tasked with freeing the world of Lylvania from the tyranny of 3 demented Warlocks. Warlocks' advertising boasted that was the only Acorn game to ever feature 8 directional, 256 colour, parallax scrolling whilst running at a consistent 50 frames per second.
Deadline
Network 23's last game was Deadline, published in August 1995. A top down shoot-em-up, that set the player the mission of rescuing hostages from 8 war torn battlegrounds.