Andy Craven is a former video game developer who founded Vektor Grafix, a United Kingdom-based computer game development company. The company's first products were ports of Star Wars: The Arcade Game and The Empire Strikes Back for home computers.
Biography
Before Craven designed video games, he was a rock musician, touring Europe with various bands. He often played on British and American military bases. Eventually he stopped touring and got married.[1]
Craven taught himself computer programming in the 1980s, as was the norm in that era. He eventually became an instructor in programming qualifications in Leeds, where he met Daniel James Gallagher. Craven and Gallagher founded Vektor Grafix in June 1987, hiring Ciaran Gultnieks as the first employee. Within a month, the three men won a contract to port Star Wars: The Arcade Game to three period home computers: the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and BBC Micro.[1]
The results were satisfactory, and Vektor was given the contract for the next game in the series, The Empire Strikes Back. The company underwent a number of personnel changes at that point and Gallagher departed.[1]
Works
Gameography
| Year | Title | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Star Wars: The Arcade Game | Programming |
| 1988 | The Empire Strikes Back | Grafix System, Game Programming |
