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Scetlander (later known as Lander Software) was a software publisher which released titles for various 8- and 16-bit home computer systems in the 1980s and 1990s.

Games

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Gold Series
Genre(s)Edutainment
Developer(s)Scetlander
Publisher(s)Scetlander
Platform(s)Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Windows, ZX Spectrum
First release1989

Gold Series is a collection of educational games for the ZX Spectrum designed to make learning English and maths fun and easy.[1] The games were then ported other various computers including Atari ST, Amiga, and Commodore 64 and MS-DOS. Each game focuses on a particular topic. The games can have their difficulty settings set to suit a player's skill, and cater for various age groups.[2]

The Amiga and Atari ST versions were programmed by Terence Anthony Mancey.[3][4]

Mix and Match

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This game was created in 1988 for MS-DOS, coded by David Jolliff. It was ported to the BBC Micro in 1990[5] and ported to ZX Spectrum, Atari ST and Amiga in 1991. The technical editor of the game was Cliff Johnson.[6] It is aimed to teach children under 5 years how match different objects together aided by the sea serpent Maggie. It also came with a Maggie badge in the pack along with a manual.[7] The game is divided into four game types including "Two of a Kind", "Odd one Out", "Forget-me-not" and "Clock + Calendar". Each of those types (except the Calendar) have six activities: pictures, shapes, same, large, small, and numbers.

The game was also translated into the Belgian language on the Belgian Ministry of Education's behalf.[8]

Count and Add

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This game was designed for the ZX Spectrum in 1992[12] and was ported to the Atari ST the same year. The game is aimed to teach children how to count objects and add them together aided by Shades the dog. There are six activities:

  • Sets 1 - player counts the objects on the screen.
  • Sets 2 - player types the number of objects to require and then reveal them.
  • Animals - player counts scattered objects on the screen.
  • Train - player counts two different sets of objects and adds them together.
  • Spider - players do additional sums before the spider reaches the butterfly.
  • Clock - player tells the time on the clock.

Hooray for Henrietta

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This game is aimed to teach children aged 5–12 mathematics, including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It was created in 1989 by T.R. Tulloch for MS-DOS and ported to ZX Spectrum in 1990. The object of the game is to help the protagonist Henrietta save her trouble prone boyfriend Henry and recover his wedding clothes which have been stolen by the parrot John. In each maths activity, the player has a limited time to solve a number of problems before John can cover Henrietta in cold custard.

The game is the first to be produced as joint project with the Scottish Council for Education and Training.[16] It also came with a John the Parrot badge and a guide for configuring and running the game.[17][18]

In 1996 the game was remade for Windows, with 3D graphics and high quality sound and music.[19][20]

Henrietta's Book of Spells

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This game aims to teach children aged 7–14 language skills. It was created in 1989 by T. R. Tulloch for Archimedes A3000, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS. The game was ported to ZX Spectrum and Amiga in 1990 and ported to Atari ST in 1991. The object of the game is to help the protagonist Henrietta undo Morgana the Morbid's spell which turned her husband Henry into a frog. The difficulty of the game can be adjusted from five to nine letter words.[22] Each activity earns the player a letter. Activities include:

  • Flash - player has to memorise a word then type it in.
  • Complete - player has to fill the gaps of a word with correct vowels.
  • Crack-It - player has to decipher substituted letters.
  • Hangman - player has to guess correct letters with a limited number of tries.
  • Jumble - player has to crack an anagram of jumbled letters into a proper word.

After all five letters have been collected, the player must do a final Word Jumble to break Morgana's spell. The game was written in the STOS language by David Jolliff[23] but was written in the AMOS language for the Amiga.[24] In 1996 the game was remade for Windows with 3D graphics and using five different languages, including English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.[19][20]

Spellbound

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This game, designed by William Cochrane with graphics by Donald Anderson, teaches children spelling. Unlike the other games it has the platform of an arcade game.[26] The object of the game is to guide a helicopter (in one level a submarine) driven by Hal through five levels while shooting Professor Grime's robots. In each level the player needs to collect all the letters that make up the goal word from the robots. After the winning a level the player must retype the goal word twice. The levels consist of Underground, Underwater, Downtown, North Pole and Space Base.[27]

Other

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In addition to the Gold Series Scetlander developed a number of other games, mostly for the BBC Micro computer.[5]

Game Genre/Topic(s) Year Platform(s) Notes
A Pathway to Bearings Mathematics, Navigation 1990 BBC Micro
A Walk Around the Zoo Navigation 1990 BBC Micro, Archimedes A3000
Airline Reservation Package[28] Business Studies, Information Technology 1988 Archimedes 305, Archimedes 400[29]
Basic Mathematics[30] Mathematics 1988 ZX Spectrum
Bearings Suite A[28] Navigation, Mathematics 1988 Archimedes 305, Archimedes 400[29] Consists of "Left or Right", "Playpark" and "A Walk Around the Zoo".
Bearings Suite B Navigation, Mathematics 1988 Archimedes 400[29]
Bearings Suite C Navigation, Mathematics 1988 Archimedes 400[29]
Care Hire[28] Information Technology, Business Studies, Environmental Studies 1988 Archimedes 305, Archimedes 400[29]
Carrigan Street Simulation 1990 BBC Micro
Catch[28] Business/Fishing Simulation 1988, 1990 BBC Micro, Archimedes A3000, Archimedes 305, Archimedes 400[29]
Cell Growth[30] Biology 1988 ZX Spectrum
Comal Demons English 1988 Archimedes 400[29]
Compass Points Navigation 1990 BBC Micro
Counting and Adding Mathematics 1990 BBC Micro
Cycling[30] Road Safety 1988 ZX Spectrum
Datafile[28] Database editing 1988 Archimedes 305
Forest Economics, Ecology 1990 BBC Micro
Historical Farming Simulation, History 1990 BBC Micro
Holiday[30][28] Language, Environmental Studies 1988 ZX Spectrum, Archimedes 305, Archimedes 400[29]
Housebuilder[30] Simulation, Construction 1988 ZX Spectrum
Journey[31] Navigation 1988 BBC Micro
King of the Jungle Safari 1990 BBC Micro
Know Your Compass Points Navigation 1990 BBC Micro
Left or Right Navigation 1990 BBC Micro, Archimedes A3000
Mapmaster Navigation, Cartography 1990 BBC Micro
Matrix Databases, English 1990 BBC Micro A touch screen and an overlay keyboard could be applied.
Mazemaster Puzzle 1988 Archimedes 400[29]
New Community Suite Simulation, Economics 1990 BBC Micro
The New Community[32] Environmental Studies 1988 ZX Spectrum
Pathfinder Navigation 1990 BBC Micro
Playpark Navigation 1990 BBC Micro, Archimedes A3000
Predictype[33] Word Processing 1985 Acorn RISC
Project Space English 1990 BBC Micro, MS-DOS An audio cassette was provided.
Radar Navigation, Flight Simulation 1990 BBC Micro
Snapshot[30] Environmental Studies 1988, 1990 ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro Available for BBC Master 128 only.
Stock Control Simulation[28] Business Studies 1988 Archimedes 305, Archimedes 400[29]
Weather Weather Forecasting 1990 BBC Micro, MS-DOS Additional features in DOS version.

Re-release

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In 1994 WizardWorks re-released updated remakes of the two Henrietta games on CD.[34]

In 1995 Lander Software released a "Lander Gold" CD compiling four games remade with 256 colour VGA graphics, mouse compatibility digitised sound and music. The CD included "Hooray for Henrietta", "Henrietta's Book of Spells", "Count and Add" and "Spellbound".[35]

References

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  1. ^ "Sinclair User - Issue 111". Sinclair User. No. 111. EMAP. May 1991. p. 39.
  2. ^ "Amiga Computing - Issue 76". Amiga Computing. No. 76. Europress / IDG Media. August 1994. p. 81.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". www.tmancey.ltd.uk. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Yatedo, les Actualités & les News".
  5. ^ a b Martin Rickitt (1990). "Rickitt Educational Media - Catalogue 1990" (PDF). pp. 4, 11, 16, 22, 23, 26–28, 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 8, 2015. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  6. ^ "Amiga Shopper 003". Amiga Shopper. No. 3. Future plc. July 1991. p. 8.
  7. ^ "Crash Issue 88". Crash. No. 88. Newsfield. May 1991. p. 18.
  8. ^ "Amiga Computing 038". Amiga Computing. No. 38. Europress / IDG Media. July 1991. p. 13.
  9. ^ a b c d "Sinclair User Issue 128". Sinclair User. No. 128. EMAP. October 1992. pp. 20–21.
  10. ^ a b c "Sinclair User Issue 111". Sinclair User. No. 111. EMAP. May 1991. p. 43.
  11. ^ "ST Format - Issue 26". ST Format. No. 26. Future plc. September 1991. p. 128. Like many edsoft programs on the market, Mix and Match fails to take advantage of many opportunities.
  12. ^ "ZX Spectrum Catalog" (PDF): 181. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-07. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ^ "Your Sinclair Issue 074". Your Sinclair. No. 74. Dennis Publishing. February 1992. pp. 52–53.
  14. ^ "Atari ST Review - Issue 2" (PDF). Atari ST Review. No. 2. EMAP. June 1992. p. 56. Count and Add is a definite winner.
  15. ^ "ST Format - Issue 99". ST Format. No. 99. Future plc. April 1994. p. 50. These games are very well thought out and makes important lessons very entertaining.
  16. ^ "Amiga Computing Issue 34". No. 34. March 1991. p. 22. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  17. ^ "Amiga Format 015". Amiga Computing. No. 15. Europress / IDG Media. October 1990. p. 10.
  18. ^ a b Richard (July 1990). "Crash Issue 78". Crash. No. 78. Newsfield. p. 46.
  19. ^ a b Ian Wilson (May 24, 1996). "Cheers for Henry - magazine article - TES". TES Global Ltd. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  20. ^ a b "Ron Lander is paying off Reprogrammed for success". Herald Scotland. April 19, 1997.
  21. ^ "CU Amiga Issue 15". CU Amiga. No. 15. EMAP. May 1991. p. 120.
  22. ^ "Amiga Computing Issue 29". Amiga Computing. No. 29. Europress / IDG Media. October 1990. p. 9.
  23. ^ "Atari ST User - Issue 67". Atari ST User. No. 67. Europress. September 1991. pp. 57–58.
  24. ^ "Henrietta's Book of Spells: Fun with Words for 7-14 Year Olds: Hall of Light - the database of Amiga games".
  25. ^ Richard (December 1990). "Crash Issue 83". Crash. No. 83. Newsfield. p. 59.
  26. ^ "Amiga Shopper 011". Amiga Shopper. No. 11. Future plc. March 1992. p. 7.
  27. ^ Sarah Williams (April 1992). "Amiga Computing Issue 47". Amiga Computing. No. 47. Europress / IDG Media. pp. 28–29.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g "Acorn APP155 Hardware and Software" (PDF). 1988: 28–29, 32, 36. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  29. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Acorn APP119 Software Apps" (PDF). January 1988: 30–33, 55, 59. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  30. ^ a b c d e f Rosetta McLeod (March 1988). "Crash Issue 50". Crash. No. 50. Newsfield. pp. 72–73.
  31. ^ "Computer Game Museum Display Case - Journey".
  32. ^ Rosetta McLeod (June 1988). "Crash Issue 53". Crash. No. 53. Newsfield. pp. 43–44.
  33. ^ "Appendix 4: Computer Programmes Recommended in the Survey (19)". Dyslexia: 244. 2002. doi:10.1002/9780470699065.app4. ISBN 9780470699065.
  34. ^ "Home/Office Software" (67). 1994: 2. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  35. ^ Nick Thomson (September 1995). "Education CD". Retrieved September 25, 2015.
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