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Emulators and Fantasy Villains: Case Study on GATE (Bright Software 1991) #2

by Eugen Pfister, Aurelia Brandenburg, Adrian Demleitner, Arno Görgen, Addrich Mauch, and Kevin Negele. Additional research and editing by Corinne Hirter

GATE (Bright Software 1991 / Apple IIgs) is a Gauntlet-inspired action game that was developed by the Swiss studio Bright Software for the Apple IIgs in 1991, towards the very end of the platform’s lifespan. In this part two of our case study, we analyse the story, audio-visual aesthetics and game mechanics of the  game as a historical source, its reception and conclude our case study.

This is the second part of our two-part case study on the game GATE. You can find the first part here.

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Wanted: Swiss Atari Games

by Beat Suter

The CH-Ludens research project has compiled a corpus of video games from the period 1980–2000 that were either developed in Switzerland or have a close connection to Switzerland. In addition to many other games, this corpus contains a good two dozen Atari games. The Atari games listed are spread across various platforms that emerged during these years and were used for the development and release of console and computer games.

search for atari games
Figure 1: Searching for Atari games from Switzerland on old floppy disks – GameLab ZHdK. Source: Suter

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Curiosity and Computer Stores: Case Study on GATE (Bright Software 1991) #1

by Eugen Pfister, Aurelia Brandenburg, Adrian Demleitner, Arno Görgen, Addrich Mauch, and Kevin Negele. Additional research and editing by Corinne Hirter

At the end of the 1980s, four young people met in the Basel area and started developing a game called GATE for the Apple IIg in their free time. They came together partly through ice skating, a computer store and an early fascination with computers. The result was an unlikely reinterpretation of Gauntlet for the Apple IIgs, unlikely because the computer was already fourteen years old at the time of programming. The game itself even found a publisher, first in France and then in the USA, but it failed to achieve great success.

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What does it mean for a game to be a source?

by Tobias Winnerling

In June 2025, the CH Ludens team had the pleasure to welcome Tobias Winnerling (Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf) for a guest lecture at the University of Bern as part of our yearly workshop. This year’s workshop, organized by the Bern team of CH Ludens, focused on historical source criticism and the problems and possibilities of historical sources such as games, gaming magazines, and oral history interviews, and we started with said guest lecture, titled “Digital Games, Digital Born Sources, Discourses and Dispositifs”, and with this blogpost, we are publishing the written version of the first part of this talk.

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All known Swiss C64 Games

by Beat Suter

The research team CH-Ludens specialises in researching Swiss computer games from the 1980s and 1990s. While searching for Commodore C64 games developed in Switzerland, CH-Ludens discovered several interesting titles. Robox (1986), for example, is a graphic adventure game developed by Laro Schatzer and Marc Pilloud (fig. 1).  Adrian Demleitner, PhD candidate of the HKB researched it in depth and made two interviews with the developers. The German-language game features numerous locations, a good parser and challenging puzzles. It was released in 1986 by the German publisher Markt & Technik and is well documented.

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Swiss Listing Games? More listing games from Switzerland wanted!

by Beat Suter

So far, CH-Ludens has only been able to identify and archive just four listing games that were created in Switzerland. All four oft hem were printed as winners in computer magazines and therefore available as printed source code in archives that preserve computer magazines.

These are the games Jagdszene Chicago (1985) by Christoph Cronimund, Cave Flight (1985) by René Straub, Top Tennis (1985) by Bernhard Dalle and Muri (1987) by Markus Wild and Marius Wey.

Of course, in the early 1980s, there were many more “listed games” in Switzerland than just these four. Unfortunately, they were not published anywhere. In response to their monthly calls for submissions, the computer magazines received many listing games from young programmers. But only the best ones were published. Today, a large number of these listing games are considered irrevocably lost. However, it is possible that young programmers of the time still have old floppy disks with their game prototypes from the listing era at home. The CH-Ludens research group would be very interested in these games. We are researching the entire history of Swiss game design up to the year 2000 and would be happy if you could search your old disks and notes for lost “Listing games”. Or maybe you know of a game or two that has been published somewhere that we haven’t found. Please send your information to gamelab.zurich at zhdk.ch.

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Eine Box ist nicht nur eine Box: Game Verpackung im Wandel der Zeit

von Beat Suter

Verpackung für Videogames ist obsolet geworden. Heute werden 90% aller Spiele als Daten gestreamt oder übers Internet heruntergeladen. Nur ein kleiner Teil der Videogames erhält noch eine Verpackung und wird in Elektronikläden in die Regale gestellt. Früher war das ganz anders.

Ein Videogame wollte inszeniert sein, es musste durch seine Verpackung Aufmerksamkeit erringen, denn es war in den Läden in grossen Räumen voller Schachteln in Regale eingereiht. Und die potenziellen Spielerinnen und Spieler mussten sich lustvoll und etwas mühsam durch Stapel oder gut sortierte lange Tischreihen wühlen. Die frühen Verpackungen zeigten nicht das Gameplay eines Spiels, sondern vermittelten eine anregende Idee der Spielwelt, eine Inszenierung, die von den Betrachtern Imagination forderte. Professionelle Grafiker entwarfen Covers mit ausdrucksstarken realistischen Helden und Szenen, die weit über die Pixelwelt des Spiels hinausgingen.

In den 1980er und 1990er Jahren hatte die Normierung solcher Boxen noch keinen so durchschlagenden Erfolg. Es gab unterschiedliche Formen von Verpackungen. Die Händler versuchten Normierungen einzuführen und zum Beispiel übergrosse Verpackungen wie die grosse Kaiser Box (1989) des Schweizer Publishers LINEL nicht in ihr Sortiment aufzunehmen, weil sie nicht in die Regale passten. Doch sobald sich ein solches Spiel woanders gut verkaufte, wurde es dann trotzdem aufgenommen. Ein Standard für Verpackungen setzte sich erst nach 2000 so richtig durch mit der Polybox.

Dieser Text entwirft eine Entwicklungslinie der Game Verpackungen über die Jahrzehnte hinweg mit speziellem Blick auf Schweizer Videogames, die im freien Markt erhältlich waren.

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A Box is not just a Box: Game packaging in the course of time

by Beat Suter

Packaging for video games has become obsolete. Today, 90% of all games are streamed as data or downloaded via the internet. Only a small proportion of video games are still packaged and placed on shelves in electronics stores. It used to be very different.

A video game had to attract attention through its packaging, as it was lined up in stores on shelves in large rooms full of boxes. And potential players had to enjoy and somewhat laboriously rummage through stacks or well-sorted long rows of tables. The early packaging did not show the gameplay of a game but conveyed a stimulating idea of the game world. Professional graphic designers created covers with expressive, realistic heroes and scenes that went far beyond the pixel world of the game.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the standardization of such boxes was not such a resounding success. There were different types of packaging. Retailers tried to introduce standardization and, for example, did not include oversized packaging such as the large Kaiser box (1989) from Swiss publisher LINEL in their range because it did not fit on their shelves. But as soon as such a game sold well elsewhere, it was included anyway. It was not until the year 2000 that the Polybox really established itself as a standard for packaging.

This text outlines the development of game packaging over the decades with a special focus on Swiss video games that were available on the open market.

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“And it is still running perfectly today!”

Galactic Empires for Networks (GEn) – a Swiss multiplayer game (1984-2000)

by Beat Suter

Can a strategy game still provide the same excitement and fun 40 years later? Can a network game work as well on new systems 25 to 30 years later as it did back then? What sounds impossible or unlikely has been achieved by three Swiss developers with their game Galactic Empires. All three belong to the first generation of computer science students at ETH Zurich. They have helped shape digitalization in Switzerland from the very beginning. Their multiplayer game has a playing time of 4 to 8 hours and can still be played today in the same way as it was played all night long with friends.


The tip came from a good friend who, in the early 1990s, regularly played a science fiction strategy game on Friday or Saturday nights with his circle of friends from the IT and business departments, mostly in the homes and offices of his friends. It was a multiplayer game that was developed over the years and played again and again until about 2008. The developers and players called the game GalEmp or Galactic Empires, later also GEn, Galactic Empires for Networks.

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Richard M. Holmes and the high-price island of Switzerland

by Beat Suter

The video game publisher Black Legend was founded in Switzerland in 1992 by Richard M. Holmes. Holmes lived in Uster in the Canton of Zurich, had grown up here and had just graduated from KZO Wetzikon. The 20-year-old young entrepreneur wanted to produce games for Amiga computers and launch them on the market. He looked around in Switzerland for fellow campaigners, but soon found good contacts in England and finally emigrated to produce some well-performing games for Amiga and PC with his label Black Legend for the Kompart distribution company in the following years. Continue reading Richard M. Holmes and the high-price island of Switzerland