The best Speccy game by Richard Shepherd Software: discussion

[PeteProdge]

Still trawling through mentions of software companies in the first issue of Crash (look, I'm near the end) and this was meant to be "The best Speccy game by C.P.S. Games", but a look-up on this site shows that ALL 17 TITLES are MIA! That's incredible, an entire software label output has gone MIA? (Most likely never produced in the first place?) Understandable for the labels that announced one or two games which turn out to be vapourware, but I wonder what's the story with C.P.S. Games?

Anyway, I've moved onto the next software label that's cited, and it's Richard Shepherd Software. 13 games in all, from this label that disappeared in 1984...

Devils Of The Deep
Everest Ascent
Inferno, The
Invincible Island
Jackpot Fruit Machine
Monster Mine
Shaken But Not Stirred
Ship Of The Line
Ski Star 2000
Submarine Attack
Super Spy
Transylvanian Tower
Urban Upstart

Let me know if I've got anything wrong, then I'll start the poll this time next Sunday!

[8BitAG]

Still trawling through mentions of software companies in the first issue of Crash (look, I'm near the end) and this was meant to be "The best Speccy game by C.P.S. Games", but a look-up on this site shows that ALL 17 TITLES are MIA! That's incredible, an entire software label output has gone MIA? (Most likely never produced in the first place?) Understandable for the labels that announced one or two games which turn out to be vapourware, but I wonder what's the story with C.P.S. Games?

Yeah, we have thirteen text adventures listed by CPS on CASA and, despite them publishing on multiple formats (they produced games for Atari 400/800* as well as the ZX81/Spectrum), not a single one of them survives.

Their extensive advertising, in many publications and over a period of time, and news pieces seem to suggest they were a real company with real products... it's just that nothing is archived. (They were one of the companies whose products "HOLDCO" distributed as well)

*The Atari archive lists 29 missing titles!

[Morkin]

Devils of the Deep is a shocker.

If only they'd spent as much time on the game as their did for the inlay artwork...

[spider]

Good software house imo, its a shame it did not last longer they could of no doubt produced some more modern excellent games.

I think UpperGumtree is about vapourware for the Spectrum, hence you not including it. The C64 version does exist and adverts for the ZX version do too afaik. Anyway that's not too relevant here.

Having only played Urban Upstart when it was 'new' and experienced the other games in that 'series' and other titles by the software house much later on, I'm slightly torn in any vote however I'll keep that to myself for now.


PS ...



... for all these polls, I do 100% appreciate the time/trouble/effort/work it takes to compile them and get screenshots+write the post etc.

[StooB]

Super Spy is the same game as Shaken But Not Stirred but with all the 007 references removed so they wouldn't get sued.

[Nick]

Ship Of The Line is quite an enjoyable, if simple, game and I also like Urban Upstart and Invincible Island. Devils Of The Deep is complete pap and a contender for the worst game ever made that's not called SQIJ award.

There's an article about Richard Shepherd Software here:
https://archive.org/stream/home-computi ... 9/mode/1up

I wonder if he's aware that some of his games still get played all these years on?

[Morpheus]

For me Urban Upstart was probably the best. It was a decent adventure by Pete Cooke who went on to greater things.

[hitm4n]

I remember Everest Ascent being okay, selecting all your equipment in part one was real important to getting anywhere in this one. Urban Upstart was a good little adventure.

[RWAC]

Urban Upstart and Invincible Island are very good adventures. Especially so since they're written in BASIC.

[Mpk]

Urban Upstart is a decent adventure game, but really stands out due to it's themes and setting. None of the monsters or aliens or exciting locales of most other games, just urban decay and desperation. Obtusely, that mundane setting made it feel very fresh and original to me at the time. It's the Trainspotting of the Spectrum world.

[Matt_B]

The Inferno was the third of the Pete Cooke adventures. It's got a more sophisticated engine with better graphics and faster responses than its predecessors, but Urban Upstart was a hard act to follow story-wise. That said, it's still a decent game and got me reading Dante Alighieri albeit somewhat later in life.

I'd also think of Ski Star 2000 as the honorable ancestor of games like Micronaut One and Tau Ceti, in that it attempts a similar style of 3D graphics.

Overall though, probably Urban Upstart. It had the most impact at the time by far and it's stood up fairly well.

[Hank Scorpio]

There are some fairly good/interesting games on this list. They are a bit rough around the edges, which isn't surprising coming from a small software house from the early days of the Spectrum, I like Pete Cooke's adventure games the best though.

[Evil Genius]

Still trawling through mentions of software companies in the first issue of Crash (look, I'm near the end) and this was meant to be "The best Speccy game by C.P.S. Games", but a look-up on this site shows that ALL 17 TITLES are MIA! That's incredible, an entire software label output has gone MIA? (Most likely never produced in the first place?) Understandable for the labels that announced one or two games which turn out to be vapourware, but I wonder what's the story with C.P.S. Games?

An interview here sheds a little light:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 75&page=42

It states that they produced 12 games of their own, but only one - Seawolf - is credited to them in the database (and it's MIA) , the other 17 of their titles are the ones they inherited from CPS.

Probably deserves a thread of it's own, 'The software houses that time forgot'

[PeteProdge]

An interview here sheds a little light:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 75&page=42

It states that they produced 12 games of their own, but only one - Seawolf - is credited to them in the database (and it's MIA) , the other 17 of their titles are the ones they inherited from CPS.

Wow! And there is also absolutely nothing from Chameleon Computer Games anywhere, not even for other computers. Proper vapourware!

Probably deserves a thread of it's own, 'The software houses that time forgot'

That's a good idea!