Parvis e glandibus quercus. That simple piece of Latin describes retro gaming so aptly I could stop writing right now and you would get the point. Well, that or the Editor would just pay me a visit with the punishing stick again. But for those whose knowledge of Latin only stretches as far as what was learned from the Centurion on Life of Brian allow me translate, ‘Tall oaks from little acorns grown’. The wonderful thing about retro gaming is that the history is in recent memory, so unlike the teapot we have a good knowledge of what inspired what in the world of pixels and bits. Activision’s Little Computer People is one of those tiny acorns, indeed a little acorn from which one of the biggest selling games series of all time was born and yet now has faded into relative obscurity.

The concept of Little Computer People was, at the time revolutionary as it tried to sell the concept that inside every computer there are hordes of little people working away to produce what you see on the screen. (In the case of the Amstrad the little people were clearly still observing the three-day week of 1974) By inserting the game into your C64 you gave these people a way of communicating with you, as well as a well-deserved house to reside as the game’s case explains: -

“Admit it. Haven’t you ever wondered - even just for a second - what really goes on inside your computer? If so, then an important recently announced research discovery will be of special interest to you! The answer is fascinating. The discovery itself took dozens of researchers, hundreds of thousands of dollars, the most technically advanced equipment and years of scientific speculation and hard work. The precise process is based on an incredible, state-of-the-art piece of software. It’s a unique fully equipped two and half storey “House-on-a-Disk”. When loaded into a computer, it will not only draw out one of the Little Computer People but will actually become the Person’s permanent residence.”

From here on in the experiment began, with the ‘gamer’ and I use that term loosely watching the little computer person go about his daily life. He might read, he might buy a dog, or if you were lucky he might even write you a letter or play games with you. Each copy of the game generated a random person, so players had their own, unique person to go all Rear Window on. A treat was in store for you if your little computer person decided to tickle the ivories as the music was composed by industry legend Russell Lieblich, who also worked on the music based Master of the Lamps flying carpet game. In fact the sound on the game was sterling in general, and essential to further creating this little virtual world.