Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s.

Amongst the company's successes were Jeff Minter

Jeff Minter

Jeff 'Yak' Minter is a British computer/video game designer and programmer. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and his recent works include Neon , a non-game music visualization program that has been built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games Space Giraffe , and Space Invaders...

's Gridrunner (1983) and Bugaboo

Bugaboo (The Flea)

Bugaboo , originally released in Spain as La Pulga, is a computer game released in for the Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64 and MSX. It was the first computer game ever made in Spain. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC under the name Roland in the Caves, to exploit the CPC's recurring Roland character...

(1983, aka La Pulga), a title licenced from Spanish software house Indescomp S.A.. Sandy White's Ant Attack (1983) and Zombie Zombie

Zombie Zombie

Zombie Zombie is a ZX Spectrum computer game by Sandy White. It was published in the 1984 by Quicksilva. It is the sequel to the popular Ant Attack, by the same author, and uses the same 'Softsolid 3D' isometric graphics.-Storyline:...

(1984) for the ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

 featured revolutionary 3-D graphics for which a patent had been applied.

The company was most successful during 1983-1984, during which time it released a Star Raiders

Star Raiders

Star Raiders is a video game for the Atari 8-bit family of computers, released in 1979 and programmed by Doug Neubauer. It was also later ported to other Atari computer and game platforms...

-style game entitled Time-Gate

Time-Gate

Time-Gate is an early ZX Spectrum game from Quicksilva, and one of the first 3D combat games.This video game was an original concept, i.e...

(1983) and the first official home computer conversion of Atari Games

Atari Games

Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade games, and originally part of Atari, Inc..-History:When, in 1984, Warner Communications sold the Atari Consumer division of Atari Inc...

' Battlezone (1984). Also in 1984 they released Fantastic Voyage, which was an official licence from the film

Fantastic Voyage

Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....

.

In 1984 the company was bought by Argus Press Software which later became Grandslam Entertainment

Grandslam Entertainment

Grandslam Entertainment was a computer and video games software house based in Britain. It was formed in late 1987 from the ashes of Argus Press Software by former Argus Managing Director, Stephen Hall. Grandslam developed and published many games for home computers during the 1980s and 1990s...

. Managing Director Rod Cousens and Software Manager Paul Cooper left to establish Electric Dreams Software

Electric Dreams Software

Electric Dreams Software was a video game publisher established in 1985 by ex-managing director of Quicksilva, Rod Cousens and ex Software Manager of Quicksilva, Paul Cooper...

.

The company's release schedule slowed down after that point although it went on to produce popular games such as Glider Rider

Glider Rider (video game)

Glider Rider is an isometric 3D arcade adventure game released by Quicksilva in for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC. The game music was composed by David Whittaker.- Plot :...

and the home computer versions of Elevator Action

Elevator Action

is a 1983 arcade game by Taito. It debuted during the "Golden Age of Arcade Games". Innovative in gameplay, this game was very popular for many years, with game music created by musician Yoshino Imamura...

, both in 1986. In 1985 and 1986 it released two games based on the Rupert Bear

Rupert Bear

Rupert Bear is a children's comic strip character, who features in a series of books based around his adventures. The character was created by the English artist Mary Tourtel and first appeared in the Daily Express on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to win sales from the rival...

's franchise; Rupert and the Toymaker's Party

Rupert and the Toymaker's Party

Rupert and the Toymaker's Paty is a computer and video game published by Quicksilva in 1985. It was developed for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.-Summary:...

 and Rupert and the Ice Castle

Rupert and the Ice Castle

Rupert and the Ice Castle is a computer and video game developed and published by Quicksilva in 1986. It was developed for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.-Summary:...

 respectively. Both with outstanding graphics, animation, music and sound effects for the time.

The Quicksilva name last appeared on the home computer version of Pac-Land

Pac-Land

is an entry in the Pac-Man series of arcade video games, released into arcades by Namco, and its American distributor Bally Midway , in 1984. It was the first Namco arcade game to use the then-new arcade system later titled as Namco Pac-Land...

(1989).

Quicksilva mainly released games for the Commodore 64

Commodore International

Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...

 and ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

, but also did conversions and some original games for the Vic-20, Dragon 32/64

Dragon 32/64

The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer , and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., in Port Talbot, Wales, and for the US market by Tano of New Orleans, Louisiana...

, Oric-1/Atmos, BBC Micro

BBC Micro

The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...

 and Acorn Electron

Acorn Electron

The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC along with its operating system....

 home computers.

External links

• Sandy White's homepage
• Sandy White at World of Spectrum
  World of Spectrum
  World of Spectrum is a website devoted to cataloging and archiving material for the ZX Spectrum home computer popular in the 1980s, and has been officially endorsed by Amstrad which holds the rights to the ZX Spectrum brand...