| Tynesoft Computer Software | |
| Products: | Computer games |
| Foundation: | 1983 |
| Defunct: | 1990 |
| Location City: | Blaydon |
| Location Country: | United Kingdom |
Tynesoft Computer Software was a software developer and publisher in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The company was originally set up in 1983 by Colin Courtney and Trevor Scott[1] to release educational software but soon moved into the video games market on which it concentrated for most of its time. It developed numerous games for a wide variety of 8-bit micros, particularly those less well catered for by other publishers such as the Commodore 16, BBC Micro and Atari 8-bit computers. They also had a budget label, MicroValue, that issued compilations, reissues and some original games.
They had most success with their multi-load games such as Summer Olympiad, Circus Games and Rodeo Games. They also released licensed ports to smaller systems such as Software Projects' Jet Set Willy (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 16/Plus/4, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron), First Star Software's Boulder Dash (BBC, Electron) and Spy vs. Spy (C16/+4, BBC, Electron) and Mindscape's Indoor Sports (C16/+4, BBC, Electron). From the late 1980s, they released games for the 16-bit computers Amiga and Atari ST as well as PC but failed to capture a large share of this new market and with the demise of the 8-bit games scene, their sales fell. The company went bankrupt in June 1990[2] when its sister printing business incurred massive debts.
Programmer Brian Jobling left the company in 1988 to set up Zeppelin Games with programmer and journalist Derek Brewster.
Colin Courtney set up a new company, Flair Software, which continued to use the MicroValue label for budget releases. Flair published one title that had originally been scheduled for release by Tynesoft, , but a reported conversion of Games Workshop's Blood Bowl[3] [4] never appeared. The company currently operates under the name Casual Arts and releases games for PC, Mac, Nintendo DS/3DS, iOS, Android and Kindle.[5]