Difference between revisions of "Elite Systems"

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'''''Elite Systems, Ltd.''''' was a British game development company founded by Richard and Steve Wilcox. The company was established under the name Richard Wilcox Software. They were known for their Commodore 64 games such as Airwolf, Commando, and Ghosts 'N Goblins. During their NES development, they didn't put credits in their games, but it is unknown why.
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'''''Elite Systems, Ltd.''''' is an English game development company founded by Richard and Steve Wilcox. The company was established under the name Richard Wilcox Software. They were known for their Commodore 64 games such as Airwolf, Commando, and Ghosts 'N Goblins. During their NES development, they didn't put credits in their games, but it is unknown why.
  
 
Elite started a subsidiary called MotiveTime. Most of the development team from Elite would move over to MotiveTime and would pay their employees bonuses based on the company's profits, but over time, the profits eventually reduced to virtually nothing. According to one of the developers, what may have happened is MotiveTime's profits were kept deliberately low so as not to pay out big bonuses. One way this was done was by the company leasing computer equipment and office space off Elite at inflated prices as well as using some of the remaining Elite staff as "consultants".
 
Elite started a subsidiary called MotiveTime. Most of the development team from Elite would move over to MotiveTime and would pay their employees bonuses based on the company's profits, but over time, the profits eventually reduced to virtually nothing. According to one of the developers, what may have happened is MotiveTime's profits were kept deliberately low so as not to pay out big bonuses. One way this was done was by the company leasing computer equipment and office space off Elite at inflated prices as well as using some of the remaining Elite staff as "consultants".
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==Music Development==
 
==Music Development==
 
===Commodore 64===
 
===Commodore 64===
Elite had a license to ''Novaload'', a tape loading system which had its own music format where notes had to be entered in BASIC. Initially, Elite used the example tune, but by September 1985, one programmer had asked [[Mark Cooksey]] to arrange his favorite song, Living on Video, last heard in April 1986.
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Elite had a license to ''Novaload'', a tape loading system which had its own music format where notes had to be entered in BASIC. Elite used [[When a felon's not engaged in his employment|the example tune]] initially and [[Living on Video]] from September 1985 to April 1986. On his first 3 games, [[Mark Cooksey]] was given someone else's driver. Apart from that, everyone used their own drivers. Programmers often asked Cooksey to arrange their favorite songs (including ''Living on Video''), believing computer music to be a gray area in copyright.
  
 
===NES===
 
===NES===
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* [[Chris Davison]] - Title music composer for [[Dragon's Lair (SNES)]]; 1993
 
* [[Chris Davison]] - Title music composer for [[Dragon's Lair (SNES)]]; 1993
 
* [[Chris Harvey]]
 
* [[Chris Harvey]]
* [[Jason Brooke]] - Composer for Space Harrier; 1988
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* [[David Whittaker]]
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* [[Jason Brooke]] - Composer for Space Harrier, [[Ikari Warriors (C64)]] and [[Supertrux (C64)]]; 1988
 
* [[Mark Cooksey]] - Lead in-house composer, but also worked as a freelance musician; 1984-1986, 1989-1990
 
* [[Mark Cooksey]] - Lead in-house composer, but also worked as a freelance musician; 1984-1986, 1989-1990
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* [[Paul Walker]]
 
* [[Richard Frankish]] - SNES sound driver programmer; 1988-1985
 
* [[Richard Frankish]] - SNES sound driver programmer; 1988-1985
* [[Rob Hubbard]] - Composer for [[Commando (C64)]]; 1985
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* [[Rob Hubbard]] - Composer for [[Commando (C64)]] and [[Thundercats (C64)]]; 1985, 1987
 
* [[Rob Mann]] - Composer and sound programmer; 1991-1993
 
* [[Rob Mann]] - Composer and sound programmer; 1991-1993
* [[Tony Williams]] - Composer for Power Slide ETCS Demo (SNES)
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* Stu and Tim - Credited for "Music Driver" in [[Dragon's Lair (GEN)]]. Stu could be Stuart Middleton, a programmer for Elite at the time. Tim could be Tim Round, the game's programmer.
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* [[Tony Williams]] - Composer for Power Slide ECTS Demo (SNES)
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* [[Trevor Scott]] - Credited for music in [[Dragon's Lair (GEN)]]
  
 
==Image Gallery==
 
==Image Gallery==

Revision as of 23:20, 28 January 2020

Elite Systems Limited
Elite Systems - 1.jpg
Founded 1984
Headquarters Walsall, West Midlands, England
Website bmginteractive.com
Other Names MotiveTime

Elite Systems, Ltd. is an English game development company founded by Richard and Steve Wilcox. The company was established under the name Richard Wilcox Software. They were known for their Commodore 64 games such as Airwolf, Commando, and Ghosts 'N Goblins. During their NES development, they didn't put credits in their games, but it is unknown why.

Elite started a subsidiary called MotiveTime. Most of the development team from Elite would move over to MotiveTime and would pay their employees bonuses based on the company's profits, but over time, the profits eventually reduced to virtually nothing. According to one of the developers, what may have happened is MotiveTime's profits were kept deliberately low so as not to pay out big bonuses. One way this was done was by the company leasing computer equipment and office space off Elite at inflated prices as well as using some of the remaining Elite staff as "consultants".


Later, some former Elite staff members formed NMS Software. Some ex-Elite staff would also create Arc Developments.

Games

Music Development

Commodore 64

Elite had a license to Novaload, a tape loading system which had its own music format where notes had to be entered in BASIC. Elite used the example tune initially and Living on Video from September 1985 to April 1986. On his first 3 games, Mark Cooksey was given someone else's driver. Apart from that, everyone used their own drivers. Programmers often asked Cooksey to arrange their favorite songs (including Living on Video), believing computer music to be a gray area in copyright.

NES

All of Elite's NES games were composed by Mark Cooksey. He wrote the music in Notator for the Atari ST, and would use a utility to convert his music to his sound driver. Mark would use the same sound driver for his work with Spidersoft on their game Cliffhanger (NES) and NMS Software.

Audio Personnel

Image Gallery

Links