Game development His work on
Elite (1984) included programming in
assembly language. The game is based on an open-ended non-linear game model, and the
3D graphics were revolutionary at the time. Prior to
Elite, he developed
Free Fall, a game set inside a
coriolis space station with the player controlling an alien punching astronaut, described by Bell as "the first ever
Beat 'em up".
Free Fall, also a game for the
BBC Micro, was published by
Acornsoft in 1983. Bell put later
Free Fall and
Elite with the associated
source code for
free download on his website. Bell was a speaker at the 2009
GameCity game festival. Bell mentioned in his speech about the impact of games:You're reaching into the minds and the imaginary spaces of children, and you're to an extent shaping their characters and their life stories. I'm glad [Elite] isn't Doom because I'm glad that even though we didn't really think in these terms, I think its effect on players and on people's lives is good, both in the sense of giving them good memories but also in making people think in different ways and awakening interest.
Subsequent career After the initial success of Elite and having completed ports of it to the
Commodore 64 (1985),
Apple II (1986), and
NES (1991), Bell spent a number of years undertaking personal research. As of 2024 he was still working in Computer Aided Design. ==References==