British video game creator and programmer Archer Maclean has sadly passed away at 60 years of age, as confirmed by the Retro Gamer Twitter account. Since beginning his career in the 80s, Maclean's works and the insightful columns in Retro Game Magazine have inspired fans and young developers whose games we play today.
Maclean will be remembered for some of the best fighting games compatible with the legendary Commodore 64 system. The best of all, according to many, was the scrolling shooter Dropzone, which later made its way to the Game Boy Color and Nintendo Entertainment System. Maclean took inspiration from the golden era arcade game Defender, which many think was outshined by Dropzone, proving that the programmer was from a different cloth.
Following Dropzone’s success, Maclean would develop the 1986 International Karate game, followed by its sequel the following year. Over the years, Archer Maclean has converted most of these titles into different versions to adapt to the diverse consoles. What’s most surprising is that Archer Maclean wrote more than thirteen of these games by himself. He fixed the graphics, the code, the sound, etc.
Another notable game titled Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker was branded the most realistic snooker game in 1994 and marked a significant milestone in Maclean’s portfolio thanks to its exceptional design. It made him a star among game developer circles, some of who confessed to using Maclean’s games to improve theirs.
Several of Maclean’s titles were developed at UK’s Awesome Studios, which he helped establish in 2002, but resigned three years later. His next move was to the Awesome Play developers, where he created the Speedzone in 2009, as the last title in his game development career.
With all the achievements, the loss of Archer Maclean is a blow to the gaming industry, and fans will miss the insights he used to share online. His work history reflects a genuine game guru in the UK and beyond who created classic games for the C64 and the Atari 800 iconic machines.