Gargoyle Games

What Is Gargoyle Games?

• Gargoyles Games was a UK video-game development company established in 1983. Greg Follis and Roy Carter created the business for a game they were working on called "Ad Astra." The company made its last game in 1986; after that, the developers worked under the company name Faster than Light and created titles for Elite Systems, a video-game developer and publisher from the U.K.

1984 Games

• "Ad Astra," Latin for "to the stars," put the player in the cockpit of a spaceship. The task was to dodge approaching asteroids by moving left and right while shooting down as many enemy spacecraft as possible.

  "Tir Na Nog" was a side scrolling adventure game with a large playable character called Cuchulainn; the size of this character was groundbreaking at the time. To save his people Cuchulainn had to collect the four pieces of the seal of Calum, which was destroyed by the enemy. The game also had a large map that the player could explore by turning the map in different directions.

1985 Games

• "Dun Darach" was a prequel to "Tir Na Nog;" it built upon Tir Na Nog by adding shops to sell or buy goods. Other characters in the game had the ability to steal the player's belongings or confiscate his stolen items.

  "Marsport" was another title in the style of "Tir Na Nog" and "Dun Darach." This adventure game was set in the future on the planet Mars. The player, as Commander John Marsh, had to steal the enemy's plans from the Marsport complex to liberate the planet. There were many challenging puzzles and a complex map.

1986 Games

• "Sweevo's World" was a move away from serious video-game adventures and also a chance to poke some fun at the genre. The game was made in isometric 3D, meaning 2D graphics made to look 3D. Sweevo, a robot and main character in the game, had to locate and destroy the Wjus while avoiding enemies, traps and solving puzzles.

  "Heavy on the Magick" was the final game released by Gargoyle Games, in which the player had to call upon a range of demons. Creatures such as goblins and vampires attack throughout the game, but the main character, Axil, could defend himself with magic. The game was originally intended as the first in a series of adventure games.