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Magnetic Scrolls
Magnetic Scrolls was a British video game developer active between 1984 and 1990. A pioneer of audiovisually elaborate text adventure games, it was one of the two largest and most acclaimed interactive fiction developers of the 1980s. ''Magnetic Scrolls'' was one of the first game developers to use graphics and animation in its text adventure games, which set it apart from other companies in the genre. The company's games were known for their complex puzzles, intricate storylines, and immersive gameplay. Some of the most popular games developed by Magnetic Scrolls include The Pawn, The Guild of Thieves, and Jinxter. History Formation Formed by Anita Sinclair, Ken Gordon and Hugh Steers in 1984, London-based Magnetic Scrolls initially dabbled with development on the Sinclair QL home computer before deciding to take advantage of the emerging Atari ST and Amiga gaming platforms. Having secured a publication deal with Rainbird, a British software label owned by Telecomsoft, they b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adventure International
Adventure International was an American video game publishing company that existed from 1979 until 1986. It was started by Scott and Alexis Adams. Their games were notable for being the first implementation of the adventure genre to run on a microcomputer system. The adventure game concept originally came from ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' which ran strictly on large mainframe systems at the time. History After the success of Adams' first text adventure, '' Adventureland,'' other games followed rapidly, with Adventure International (or "AI") releasing about two games a year. Initially the games were drawn from the founders' imaginations, with themes ranging from fantasy to horror and sometimes science fiction. Some of the later games were written by Scott Adams with other collaborators. In 1980, five of the company's games were ported to the VIC-20. Developer Neil Harris recalled: " r sales guys could not figure out what they were gonna do with them. 'What are these games? I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems ''Jabberwocky'' (1871) and ''The Hunting of the Snark'' (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense. Carroll came from a family of high-church Anglicanism, Anglicans, and developed a long relationship with Christ Church, Oxford, where he lived for most of his life as a scholar and teacher. Alice Liddell, the daughter of Christ Church's dean Henry Liddell, is widely identified as the original inspiration for ''Alice in Wonderland'', though Carroll always denied this. An avid puzzler, Carroll created the word ladder puzzle (which he then called "Doublets"), which he published in his weekly column for ''Vanity Fair ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwood Studios co-founder Brett Sperry and ''Earthworm Jim'' creators David Perry and Doug TenNapel. Others include video game composer Tommy Tallarico and animators Bill Kroyer and Andy Luckey. Formed as Virgin Games in 1983, and built around a small development team called the Gang of Five, the company grew significantly after purchasing budget label Mastertronic in 1987. As Virgin's video game division grew into a multimedia powerhouse, it crossed over to other industries from toys to film to education. To highlight its focus beyond video games and on multimedia, the publisher was renamed Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1993. As result of a growing trend throughout the 1990s of media companies, movie studios and telecom firms invest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myth (1989 Video Game)
''Myth'' is an interactive fiction game by Magnetic Scrolls released in 1989. Some versions have static graphics. The game was only released in limited numbers to members of the Official Secrets adventuring club. Plot Zeus has ordered the gods of Olympus to perform various tasks to impress humanity. As Poseidon, the player's mission is to steal the Helmet of Invisibility from Hades Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also .... References External links * ''Myth''at Lemon 64 ''Myth''at Lemon Amiga * 1980s interactive fiction 1989 video games Amiga games Amstrad PCW games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games DOS games Magnetic Scrolls games Single-player video games Video games based on Greek mythology Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fish!
''Fish!'' is a text adventure game by Magnetic Scrolls released in 1988. The game was designed by John Molloy, Phil South and Peter Kemp with contributions by Rob Steggles. Plot According to the game scenario, the Inter-Dimensional Espionage sends operatives throughout the dimensions to fight evil. This is done by possessing someone's body and controlling his actions. The player is Agent 10 who enjoys his leave of absence in the body of a goldfish. He learns that an inter-dimensional terrorist group named the Seven Deadly Fins have stolen a focus wheel. In the first part of the game, the player can visit three dimensions (a forest with a smithy, a hippie van near an abbey and a recording studio). Once the three parts of the wheel are gathered, he learns that the Fins are threatening to take over the water-world of Hydropolis by evaporating the ocean of that planet. The player must warp to Hydropolis to foil the Seven Deadly Fins. The player possesses Dr. Roach, who is in charg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corruption (interactive Fiction)
''Corruption'' is an interactive fiction game by Magnetic Scrolls released in 1988. In this game, a successful stockbroker suddenly finds himself embroiled in a world of crime and danger. Gameplay The game is a text adventure with static graphics in all versions except for the Spectrum +3. It focuses primarily on character interaction instead of object interaction. The Amiga version has a " speech mode", though '' Computer Gaming World'' noted it only as a novelty. Development The working title of the game was "Upon Westminster Bridge". Reception The game was voted Best 8-bit Adventure Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards. ''ACE''s reviewer The Pilgrim called it "a game that combines powerful programming, wry humour, and a compelling plot all at once. No doubt about it, ''Corruption'' is Magnetic Scrolls' best yet." In ''Computer and Video Games'', Keith Campbell wrote that "the game has very much the same feel as the Infocom mysteries, like ''Suspect'', although I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Bywater
Michael Bywater (born 11 May 1953) is an English non-fiction writer and broadcaster. He has worked for many London newspapers and periodicals and contributed to the design of computer games. Biography Bywater was educated at the independent Nottingham High School and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was a long-running columnist for ''The Independent on Sunday'' and an early futurist for ''The Observer''. He spent ten years on the staff of ''Punch'', where he wrote a regular computer column and the anonymous "Bargepole" column. He wrote regularly for ''The Times'' and had been a contributing editor to ''Cosmopolitan'' and ''Woman's Journal''. He also writes regularly on high-tech subjects for ''The Daily Telegraph'' and a wide variety of technology magazines. He is termed a cultural critic for the ''New Statesman''. In 1998 he was part of BBC Radio 4's five-part political satire programme ''Cartoons, Lampoons, and Buffoons''. He also supervises on the ''Tragedy'' paper for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour'' and ''ZX82'', it was launched as the ''ZX Spectrum'' to highlight the machine's colour display, which differed from the black and white display of its predecessor, the ZX81. The Spectrum was released as six different models, ranging from the entry level with 16 Kilobyte, KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 KB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; altogether they sold over 5 million units worldwide (not counting List of ZX Spectrum clones, unofficial clones). The Spectrum was among the first home computers in the United Kingdom aimed at a mainstream audience, and it thus had similar significance to the Commodore 64 in the US and the Thomson MO5 in France. The introduction of the ZX Spect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016. The company was founded as Activision, Inc. on October 1, 1979 in Sunnyvale, California, by former Atari game developers upset at their treatment by Atari in order to develop their own games for the popular Atari 2600 home video game console. Activision was the first independent, third-party, console video game developer. The video game crash of 1983, in part created by too many new companies trying to follow in Activision's footsteps without the expertise of Activision's founders, hurt Activision's position in console games and forced the company to diversify into games for home computers, including the acquisition of Infocom. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CRL Group
CRL Group plc is a defunct British video game development and publishing company. Originally CRL stood for "Computer Rentals Limited". It was based in King's Yard, London and run by Clem Chambers. at World of Spectrum They released a number of notable adventure games based on horror stories. '' Dracula'' and ''Frankenstein'' were rated 15 certificate by the British Board of Film Censors for their graphics depicting bloody scenes; Dracula was the first game to be rated by the BBFC. ''Jack the Ripper'' was the first game to receive an 18 certificate, ''Wolfman'' also gained an 18 certificate. CRL-published games that achieved critical success include ''Tau Ceti'' and ''Academy''. The 1984 game of the series ''Terrahawks'' was one of the first video games based on a TV show. Games 1982 * ''Rescue'' 1983 *''3D Desert Patrol'' *''Alien Maze'' *''Bomber'' *''Caveman'' *''Crawler'' *''Derby Day'' *''Draughts'' *''Escape from Manhattan'' *''Galactic Patrol'' *''Grand National'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delta 4
Delta 4 was a British software developer created by Fergus McNeill, writing and publishing interactive fiction. Delta 4 designed games between 1984 and 1992. Some were self-published, others were released by CRL Group, Piranha Software, Silversoft, or On-Line Entertainment. Delta 4 were also credited with providing the code for Jonathan Nash's tape magazine '' YS2'' which was given away free with ''Your Sinclair'' magazine and published by Future Publishing. History Delta 4 was formed by McNeill with a few friends whilst still at school. Their debut text adventure games were the ''Dragonstar'' trilogy ("...like '' Classic Adventure'' but without the interesting bits.") and two ''Holy Joystick'' comedy adventures, self-published in 1984. Gilsoft's '' The Quill'' was the design software. Their first critical success was ''Bored of the Rings'', inspired by the ''Harvard Lampoon'' novel of the same name. Published in 1985, it received a ''Sinclair User'' Classic award. They a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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