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Pete Cooke (born 1956) is a British computer games programmer, best known for his work published in the 1980s for the 8-bit home computers, especially the ZX Spectrum.

His software was often recognisable in its use of a point and click GUI. As most Spectrum users did not own a mouse the pointer was manipulated by keyboard or joystick.

Cooke's games were often innovative. For example, Tau Ceti (released 1985) featured a form of solid 3D graphics but was also set on a planet with day and night cycles with dynamically drawn shadows. Micronaut One (released 1987) was set inside futuristic biocomputers with the player controlling a microscopic craft attempting to clear the tunnels of an insect-like life form called Scrim. This game also used fast-moving 3D graphics as well as featuring an enemy that went through a realistic (if speeded-up) life-cycle, beginning each level as eggs and progressing to larvae and eventually adult Scrim which would then lay more eggs. Even Cooke's more straightforward games, like the 1988 shoot 'em up Earthlight, featured their own complexities and technical gimmicks.

As well as these games, Cooke programmed the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions of Stunt Car Racer and also released a game for the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST in 1990 called Tower of Babel.

He now works at Leicester College as an IT lecturer and he teaches students how to create computer games using Microsoft XNA.^{[citation needed]}

Recently he has created and released unique and interesting games for Apple Devices (iOS) and over the last 2 years he has created and launched both Zenfit and Everything Must Go (See below for the links to the games on the App Store).

Notable games

Urban Upstart (1983)
Ski Star 2000 (1985)
Tau Ceti (1985)
Juggernaut (1985)
Micronaut One (1987)
Brainstorm (1987)
Academy (1987)
Earthlight (1988)
Zolyx (1988)
A Whole New Ball Game (1989)
Stunt Car Racer – ZX Spectrum conversion of Geoff Crammond's game (1989)
Tower Of Babel (1990)
Zenfit (iOS) (2012)
Everything Must Go (iOS) (2013)

External links

Template:WoS pub
Feature on Pete Cooke from a 1987 issue of Crash magazine.
Zenfit on Apple App Store Zenfit on Apple App Store.
Everything Must Go on Apple App Store Everything Must Go on Apple App Store.

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-'''Pete Cooke''' (born 1956) is a famous{{weasel-inline|date=June 2013}} [[United Kingdom|British]] computer games programmer, best known for his work published in the 1980s for the [[8-bit]] home computers, especially the [[ZX Spectrum]].
+'''Pete Cooke''' (born 1956) is a [[United Kingdom|British]] computer games programmer, best known for his work published in the 1980s for the [[8-bit]] home computers, especially the [[ZX Spectrum]].
-His software is often instantly recognisable{{weasel-inline|date=June 2013}} thanks to his use of his own point and click [[GUI]] in many of his games. This is manipulated by [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]] or [[joystick]] since it was rare for Spectrum owners to use a [[mouse (computing)|mouse]].
+His software was often recognisable in its use of a point and click [[GUI]]. As most Spectrum users did not own a [[mouse (computing)|mouse]] the pointer was manipulated by [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]] or [[joystick]].
-Cooke's games were notable for being extremely innovative and ahead of their time.{{weasel-inline|date=June 2013}} ''[[Tau Ceti (computer game)|Tau Ceti]]'' (released 1985), for example, featured not only a form of solid [[3D computer graphics|3D graphics]] but was also set on a planet with night and day cycles and shadows. ''[[Micronaut One (computer game)|Micronaut One]]'' (released 1987) was imaginatively set inside futuristic biocomputers with the player controlling a microscopic craft and attempting to clear the tunnels of the biocomputers of an insect-like life form called Scrim. This game also used fast-moving 3D graphics as well as featuring an enemy that went through a realistic (if speeded-up) life-cycle, beginning each level as [[Egg (biology)|eggs]] and progressing to [[larva]]e and eventually adult skrim which would then lay more eggs. Even Cooke's more straightforward games, like the 1988 shoot 'em up ''[[Earthlight (computer game)|Earthlight]]'', featured their own complexities and technical gimmicks.
+Cooke's games were often innovative. For example, ''[[Tau Ceti (computer game)|Tau Ceti]]'' (released 1985) featured a form of solid [[3D computer graphics|3D graphics]] but was also set on a planet with day and night cycles with dynamically drawn shadows. ''[[Micronaut One (computer game)|Micronaut One]]'' (released 1987) was set inside futuristic biocomputers with the player controlling a microscopic craft attempting to clear the tunnels of an insect-like life form called Scrim. This game also used fast-moving 3D graphics as well as featuring an enemy that went through a realistic (if speeded-up) life-cycle, beginning each level as [[Egg (biology)|eggs]] and progressing to [[larva]]e and eventually adult Scrim which would then lay more eggs. Even Cooke's more straightforward games, like the 1988 shoot 'em up ''[[Earthlight (computer game)|Earthlight]]'', featured their own complexities and technical gimmicks.
 As well as these games, Cooke programmed the ZX Spectrum and [[Amstrad CPC]] versions of ''[[Stunt Car Racer]]'' and also released a game for the 16-bit [[Amiga]] and [[Atari ST]] in 1990 called ''[[Tower Of Babel (computer game)|Tower of Babel]]''.