The first computer used in Switzerland was the Zuse Z4, an electromechanical calculating machine that was developed in Germany during the Second World War, expanded after the end of the war, and made available on loan to the Institute for Applied Mathematics at ETH Zurich in the early 1950s.

Smaky was one of the first personal computers, developed in 1974. It was created at the Laboratory of Microcomputing (LAMI) of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) by Jean-Daniel Nicoud and further developed by other EPFL students as well as the company Epsitec. The name Smaky is derived from the English words “smart” and “keyboard.”

Linel released its first original game, Insanity Fight, in 1987 after several years of primarily importing software from the UK. The technically impressive shoot-’em-up—developed by young programmer Christian Haller—was praised for its groundbreaking parallax scrolling and was quickly nominated for “Best Shoot-em-up 1987 on the Amiga.” Although it appeared only on the Amiga and therefore missed key markets, Insanity Fight remains a defining early title for Linel.