Ultimate Play the Game

 Ultimate Play the Game was created in the Leicestershire town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1982 by Tim Chris and Chris Stamper,[8] their close friend John Lathbury, and Tim's girlfriend (later wife) Carole Ward. Others Stamper family members participated in the beginning of the running and supporting of Ultimate Play the Game, that was initially situated close to a family-owned newsstand. Chris and Tim both had previous experience in the development of arcade games. Chris was, according to one report Konami's Gyruss. They claimed to be the "most experienced arcade game design team in Britain" prior to deciding to quit their jobs and create Ashby Computers and Graphics. The company's first trade being in creating arcade conversion kits, and later expanding into the market for home computer software creating games under the Ultimate Play the Game name. Blue Print was released by Ashby for Bally-Midway and Grasspin for Dingo. The Ultimate Play the Game's initial release was Jetpac for the 16K Spectrum in May 1983. Tim Stamper, in 1983 interview, mentioned that 16K computers were targeted because their smaller size meant that they could be developed more quickly. They could create one 48K or two games in 16K in a month. Jetpac was a commercial hit. The Spectrum version sold over 300,000 copies, which provided the company with a turnover of more than PS1 million. Jetpac, Pssst and Tranz Am were the only four of 10 games that were ever released with 16K ROM formats. The four games which were ever released in 16K ROM format and used in conjunction with the ZX Interface. They were Jetpac Pssst, Jetpac, Tranz Am Cookie, Jetpac, as well as Lunar Jetman. [14] Both games were well-liked by the gaming press, CRASH magazine particularly praising what Ultimate could do with the additional memory Lunar Jetman utilized. [15] In 1984 came Sabre Wulf, the first of the Sabreman series and the first game to be released with a recommended retail price of PS9.95. The initial price for Ultimate titles was PS5.50. This was a common practice for Spectrum arcade-style games of the time. This was done in order to stop copying. This was in conjunction with the introduction of the distinctive Ultimate "big box" packaging (used with all the subsequent Spectrum releases up to Gunfright and also with other games for other platforms) The company felt might also aid in justifying the price hike and encourage gamers to buy the game rather than copy it. Sabre Wulf was able to sell over 350,000 copies on the Spectrum. In late 1984, the Sabreman Series' next two installments were released. Underwurlde was followed by Knight Lore. Knight Lore was an interesting revolution in the computer games for home market,using a forced-perspective isometric viewpoint known as Filmation which was the design which would be extensively copied in other games, notable examples of this being Batman and Head Over Heels from Ocean Software. Knight Lore together with certain of its Filmation follow up Alien 8, were actually developed prior to Sabre Wulf. Ultimate however felt it could affect Sabre Wulf's sales, which were comparatively low therefore it was delayed until the end of 1984.