Vektor Grafix Ltd
Moby ID: 1572
Overview edit · view history
As the name implies, this UK team concentrated mostly on games using mathematical methods of drawing screen displays. It was founded in June 1987 by former musician Andy Craven and Danny Gallagher.
It was one of the notable studios writing for Activision's Electric Dreams label. One month after the formation the studio was landed a contract to do the Spectrum, Commodore and BBC Micro conversions of Star Wars. This was done by a development team of three people, as the founders hired 16-year-old programmer Ciaran Gultnieks. With a good result, the company received the contract to port Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as well. Gallagher had already left for Ocean by then, but Derrick Austin, Bill Pullan, and Ian Martin joined the team. While working on the Empire project John Lewis also arrived, taking the role of company director and Gallagher's 50% share of the company.
After that, the vector graphics were abandoned and the team moved on to an advanced 3D system of graphics. The company established a new sub-company Sprytes Ltd to create core systems for a wide array of games and platforms, and Muzik Ltd to do the same for music and sound effects.
The first game to use the new graphics system was Strike Aces (Fighter Bomber in Europe) in 1989. After developing a number of original games the studio was acquired by Microprose in 1992. It then became Microprose's internal Leeds development studio.
Credited on 8 Games from 1987 to 2021
| Air Duel: 80 Years of Dogfighting (1993 on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST...) |
| B-17 Flying Fortress (1992 on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST...) |
| Shuttle: The Space Flight Simulator (1992 on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST) |
| Killing Cloud (1991 on DOS, Windows, Amiga...) |
| Strike Aces (1989 on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST...) |
| Ring Wars (1988 on Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum) |
| Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1985 on Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64...) |
| Star Wars (1983 on DOS, GameCube, Amiga...) |
History +
- July 1992
-
Company acquired by Microprose.
- June 1987
-
Company founded by Andy Craven and Danny Gallagher in Leeds, England, UK.
Frequent Collaborators
Companies- 3 games with Hit Squad, The
- 3 games with GOG Poland Sp. z o.o.
- 3 games with Bandai Namco Entertainment UK Ltd.
- 3 games with Valve Corporation
- 2 games with Square Enix Limited
- 2 games with Sound Images
- 2 games with MicroProse Software, Inc.
- 1 game with Atari Holdings, Inc.
- 1 game with Accolade, Inc.
- 1 game with BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Germany GmbH
- 6 games with Ian Martin
- 6 games with Derrick Austin
- 5 games with Andy Craven
- 5 games with Ciaran Gultnieks
- 3 games with Mark Griffiths
- 3 games with Dominic Robinson
- 3 games with John Guerin
- 3 games with Alastair Swinnerton
- 2 games with Dean Betton
- 2 games with David Whittaker
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