English Software was a software developer

Software developer

A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...

 and publisher in the 1980s based in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, UK

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...

.

History

The company was set up in 1982 by Philip Morris, owner of Gemini Electronics computer store in Manchester, to release video games for the Atari 8-bit home computers. By the end of 1983, English Software was the largest producer of Atari 8-bit software in the UK and Morris closed Gemini Electronics to concentrate on English.

The company continued to concentrate on the Atari 8-bit market but also released games for other home computers including 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...

, 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...

, 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....

, Amstrad CPC

Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...

, 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...

, Atari ST

Atari ST

The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...

 and Amiga

Amiga

The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

.

Notable popular games include platformers

Platform game

A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...

 Jet-Boot Jack

Jet-Boot Jack

Jet-Boot Jack is a platforming video game first published for the Atari 8-bit home computers by English Software in 1983. It was later ported to a number of other platforms and spawned a sequel, Legend of the Knucker-Hole.-Gameplay:...

(1983) and Henry's House (1984), racer Elektra Glide (1985), the multi-event Knight Games (1986) and shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 Leviathan (1987).

English had licensing deals that saw some of their games released internationally eg through Dynamics Marketing in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Datamost

Datamost

Datamost was a software design company founded by David Gordon and based in Chatsworth, California. Datamost operated in the early 1980s producing games and other software mainly for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and Atari platforms, with some for the IBM PC...

 in the US. A number of English's games were sold at budget price by Mastertronic

Mastertronic

Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were distributed in mid-1984. At its peak the label was the dominant software publisher in the UK, a position achieved by selling cassette-based software at the £1.99...

 in both the UK and US, which included exclusive ports such as the Atari version of Henry's House and the PC

IBM PC compatible

IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...

 version of Knight Games.

Select titles

• 1982 Airstrike (Atari 8-bit)
• 1982 Time Warp (Atari 8-bit)
• 1982 Xenon Raid (Atari 8-bit)
• 1983 Captain Sticky's Gold (Atari 8-bit)
• 1983 Jet-Boot Jack
  Jet-Boot Jack
  Jet-Boot Jack is a platforming video game first published for the Atari 8-bit home computers by English Software in 1983. It was later ported to a number of other platforms and spawned a sequel, Legend of the Knucker-Hole.-Gameplay:...
  
  (Atari 8-bit, 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...
  
  , 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...
  
  , 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....
  
  , Amstrad CPC
  Amstrad CPC
  The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
  
  )
• 1983 Neptune's Daughters (Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit)
• 1984 Spaceman Sid (BBC Micro, Acorn Electron)
• 1984 Stranded (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) - Ports of the BBC/Electron game first published by Superior Software
  Superior Software
  Superior Software is a video game publisher. It was established in 1982 by Richard Hanson and John Dyson, two graduates of the University of Leeds, England...
  
  
• 1984 Henry's House (Commodore 64) - Also ported to the Atari 8-bit by Mastertronic
  Mastertronic
  Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were distributed in mid-1984. At its peak the label was the dominant software publisher in the UK, a position achieved by selling cassette-based software at the £1.99...
  
  
• 1984 Legend of the Knucker-Hole starring Jet-Boot Jack (Commodore 64)
• 1984 Colossus Chess 3.0
  Colossus Chess
  Colossus Chess is a series of chess-playing computer programs developed by Martin Bryant, commercially available for various home computers in the 1980s.- Colossus Chess :...
  
  (Atari 8-bit)
• 1984 Kissin' Kousins (BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit)
• 1985 Hijack! (Atari 8-bit)
• 1985 Topper the Copper (Commodore 64)
• 1985 Chop Suey (Atari 8-bit)
• 1985 Elektra Glide (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC)
• 1985 Mediator (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64)
• 1986 Knight Games (Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC) - Also ported to PC
  IBM PC compatible
  IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
  
   by Mastertronic
• 1986 Q-Ball (Atari ST
  Atari ST
  The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
  
  , Amiga
  Amiga
  The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
  
  )
• 1987 Leviathan (Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, 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...
  
  , Atari ST, Amiga)
• 1987 Octapolis (Commodore 64)
• 1987 Knight Games 2: Space Trilogy (Commodore 64)