Odin Computer Graphics
{{short description|British video game developer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Odin Computer Graphics
| logo = Odin Computer Graphics company logo.png
| type =
| genre =
| predecessor =
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| foundation = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1985}}
| founders = {{Unbulleted list|Mark Butler|Paul McKenna}}
| defunct = {{End date and age|df=yes|1987}}
| location_city = Liverpool{{cite web|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=987&page=42|title=Decelopments down in the Docklands|date=September 1985|work=Crash|publisher=Newsfield|pages=42–44|access-date=16 March 2025}}
| location_country = United Kingdom
| location =
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| area_served = United Kingdom
| key_people = {{Unbulleted list|Paul McKenna}}
| industry = Video games
| products = Computer games
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}}
Odin Computer Graphics was a Liverpool-based computer games developer that came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a variety of titles for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC home computers.
History
Odin was started by Paul McKenna and Mark Butler in 1984 as Thor{{Cite web|url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/33088/Odin-Computer-Graphics/|title = Odin Computer Graphics - Company - Computing History}} which released several titles including Jack and the Beanstalk which reached number 2 in the ZX Spectrum charts in August 1984.{{cite magazine |title=Charts|magazine=Popular Computing Weekly|issue=34|publisher=Sunshine Publications|date=23 August 1984|page=50|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2820&page=50|access-date=7 April 2025}} Butler left Thor in early 1985, and McKenna (managing director and owner) thought it appropriate to form a sister company, Odin Computer Graphics although the Thor name would still be used on later titles such as The Arc of Yesod and I.C.U.P.S.{{cite magazine |title=Merely Mangram|magazine=Crash|issue=23|publisher=Newsfield|date=21 November 1985|page=18|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=990&page=18|access-date=21 March 2025}}{{cite magazine |title=Telecomsoft Treats|magazine=Crash|issue=32|publisher=Newsfield|date=28 August 1986|page=98|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=999&page=98|access-date=21 March 2025}}
The new company consisted of Managing Director Paul McKenna; programmers Steve Wetherill, Robbie Tinman, Marc Dawson (now Wilding), Keith Robinson, George Barnes, Tommy Laningan, Derrick Rowson, and Stefan Walker; artists Paul Salmon, Stuart Fotheringham, and Colin Grunes; and musician Keith Tinman. Bernie Duggs and musician Fred Gray are also credited.{{cite web|url=http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0002412|title=Hypaball - World of Spectrum|website=www.worldofspectrum.org|accessdate=15 December 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekpub.cgi?regexp=%5EFred+Gray$&loadpics=1|title=Fred Gray - World of Spectrum|website=www.worldofspectrum.org|accessdate=15 December 2017}} Fotheringham and Dawson had previously worked for Software Projects.{{cite web |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/retro-gamer/20200709/283364769336700 |title=I feel a special attachment to Matthew Smith. All the trouble he got into kind of boiled down to me Chris Cannon |via=PressReader |access-date=2023-09-14}} Some other staff members had previously worked for Imagine Software.{{cite web |url=https://www.crashonline.org.uk/20/odin.htm |title = CRASH 20 - Odin}}
In 1986, Odin signed a publishing, marketing and distribution deal with Telecomsoft, the software division of British Telecom.{{cite magazine |title=British Telecom Takes On Odin|magazine=Popular Computing Weekly|issue=9|publisher=Sunshine Publications|date=27 February 1986|page=4|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2897&page=4|access-date=21 March 2025}} While Odin's later games, like Heartland, were well received, some later titles failed to live up to expected BT standards.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} During this period, the warehouse area attached to the Odin studio was used by Telecomsoft as a distribution warehouse and to store thousands of copies of games on their Firebird, Rainbird and Beyond labels.
Odin made a very deliberate attempt to ensure they were mistaken for Ultimate Play the Game, one of the most critically acclaimed game developers of the 1980s.{{cite web | url = http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/industry/publishers/odin_interviews.htm| title = Odin Interview| accessdate = 2007-01-15 }} As well as establishing a very similar name (Odin Computer Graphics vs. Ashby Computer Graphics), many of their games were heavily inspired by Ultimate's output (Odin's Nodes of Yesod certainly owes a considerable debt to Ultimate's Underwurlde).
In 1987, Odin finally closed their doors, mainly due to an inability to expand the size of their teams while maintaining the quality that had put the company on the map in the first place. Although they delivered more than all the necessary titles to fulfil their contract, Telecomsoft deemed several of them to be not worthy of release. By this time many of Odin's core programmers and artists had already left. Several ex-Odin staff initially joined Denton Designs, another Liverpool-based games developer, before going their separate ways.
In 2005, Paul McKenna reformed Odin Computer Graphics Ltd, to develop and produce new titles and convert Nodes of Yesod, Arc of Yesod, Heartland and Robin of the Wood on the Mobile Phone formats.
In 2010, Odin Computer Graphics, Ltd. in conjunction with Uztek Games, Inc. released Nodes of Yesod for the iPhone. A web browser version built with Adobe Flash was also released in the same year.
Games developed
- Nodes of Yesod (1985; ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC, Enterprise 64/128)
- Robin of the Wood (1985; ZX Spectrum, C64){{cite web |url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/17277/Robin-of-the-Wood/ |title = Robin of the Wood - Software - Game - Computing History}}
- The Arc of Yesod (1985; ZX Spectrum, C64)
- I.C.U.P.S. (1986; ZX Spectrum, C64)
- Mission A.D. (1986; C64){{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/commodore-user-magazine-36/page/n44/mode/1up?view=theater | title=Commodore User Magazine Issue 36 | date=September 1986 }}
- Heartland (1986; ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC)
- Hypa-Ball (1986; ZX Spectrum, C64)
- On the Tiles (1987; C64){{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/commodore-user-magazine-48/page/n23/mode/1up | title=Commodore User Magazine Issue 48 | date=September 1987 }}
- Sidewize (1987; ZX Spectrum, C64)
- U.F.O. (1987; C64){{cite web |url=http://www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=027&page=089&thumbstart=0&magazine=zzap&check=1 |title = Impossible to Display Scan}}
- The Plot (1988; ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC) [Originally titled 'The Gunpowder Plot']
- Scary Monsters (1988; Commodore 64){{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/commodore-user-magazine-48/page/n39/mode/1up | title=Commodore User Magazine Issue 48 | date=September 1987 }}
- Crosswize (1988; ZX Spectrum)Although not an Odin game, Crosswize was produced by former Odin personnel.
- Gladiator (unreleased)
- Tank Game (unreleased){{cite web |url=http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/odin-computer-graphics-ltd/#more-41 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507182953/http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/odin-computer-graphics-ltd/ |archive-date=2017-05-07 |title=Odin Computer Graphics Ltd - The Bird Sanctuary}}
- P.L.O.D. (unreleased)
- Lusitania (unreleased){{Cite web|url=https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=10903|title=Lusitania © odin computer graphics (1986)}}