Talent Computer Systems

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Talent Computer Systems published a wide range of games and adventures for the Sinclair QL and Atari computers. They originally used a Wicat, an up market 68000 based machine, running under Unix for software development. All of their early software was written in Stab, a language developed at Strathclyde University, which is related to C and BCPL.

They were best known for producing QL Paint under the Sinclair label and the ground breaking (and ever-needed) Cartridge Doctor which would attempt to rescue damaged files from microdrive cartridges automatically (or as Talent coined it - automagically).

Talent changed its name to Colin Ross Malone Ltd. and is still in business. They now concentrate on educational products and documentation for large organisations such as HP and the National Health Service.

At some point, their address was Curran Building, 101 St James Road, Glasgow G4 0NS, UK

Their catalogue of software, together with the Sinclair QL titles published by Microdeal, Shadow Games and Chisoft were purchased by a Tom Dolezal who trades as Talent+. Much of their software is still available from RWAP Software.

Software Published by Talent includes:

3D Designer - create 3d wire frame graphics and rotate them (MISSING IN ACTION)
Assembler Workbench - programming aid to help create and debug machine code programs
BasicAlly - programming aid to help debug SuperBASIC programs
Cartridge Doctor - semi-automatic tool to recover data from corrupt microdrive cartridges
Cosmos - astronomy program
Deathstrike - good quality arcade game based on scramble
Dennis the Dwarf at the Funfear - text adventure featuring the same characters as Horrorday (never released by Talent)
GraphiQL - bitmap screen drawing package - also released as QL Paint
Horrorday - good humourous text only adventure
Hoverzone - good quality arcade game
Jungle Eddi - platform adventure game
Lost Kingdom of Zkul - realtime dungeons and dragons text adventure
Macro Assembler - 68000 Macro Assembler by Eddy Yeung
Nemesis - text adventure by Paul Brittain
Oxford Trivia - pub quiz game (MISSING IN ACTION)
PCB Designer 1 - design package for single sided eurocards (MISSING IN ACTION)
PCB Designer 2 - design package for double sided boards (MISSING IN ACTION)
QDOS Trap Handler - a small machine toolkit for giving direct access to QDOS Traps
QIMP - flexible Icon Manager program
QL Toolset - toolkit providing over 100 extensions to SuperBASIC
QLacman - a colourful pacman clone with good graphics
Ram Disk and Spooler - Easy to use RAM disk driver and printer spooler
Screen Snatch - a program for capturing the screen and printing it out
Sideways - program to send text to a printer sideways - landscape printing
Stone Raider - Boulderdash clone
Strip Poker - the classic card game where you are trying to beat Denise
Superbomber - a good quality scramble clone - similar to Deathstrike
Technikit - a support package for TechniQL
TechniQL - 2D CAD drawing package
The Prawn - spoof text adventure of QL Pawn
The Lost Pharaoh - arcade game where you explore the Pharaoh's tomb in search of treasure
Type22 - lead a Type 22 Frigate on a search and destroy mission
West - realtime text adventure set in the Old West
WIMP - program to design Windows, Icons and Pictures for use in your own programs