Archer Maclean Obituary

Archer Maclean was a British video game programmer. He was the author of Dropzone which he developed for the Atari 8-bit family and was ported to other systems.

Maclean showed interest in electronics from an early age, being self-taught by way of dismantling electronic devices. In 1972, he dismantled a television. In 1975, he commenced working part-time in a television repair shop in Brentwood, Essex.

Archer also created International Karate and the sequel IK+ which was developed for the Commodore 64 and ported to systems. He was also known for his series of snooker and pool games, which commenced with Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker in 1991.

Maclean left Awesome Studios-the Studio he helped formed and established in July 2005 and ran Awesome Play.

Maclean died on December 24, 2022, at the age of 60.