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Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 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 Colou ...
and
VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the ...
. The company rose quickly to prominence and was noted for its polished, high-budget approach to packaging and advertising (at a time when this was not commonplace in the British software industry), as well as its self-promotion and ambition. Following Imagine's high-profile demise under mounting debts in 1984, the name was bought and used as a label by
Ocean Software Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. ...
until the late 1980s.


History


Founding and early success

Imagine Software was founded in 1982 by former members of
Bug-Byte Bug-Byte Software Ltd. was a video game company founded in 1980 by Tony Baden and Tony Milner, two Oxford chemistry graduates. It was one of the first to develop a range of 8-bit computer games during the early 1980s, for Sinclair, Commodore and ...
including Mark Butler, David Lawson and Eugene Evans. Butler and Evans had previously worked at Microdigital, one of the first computer stores in the UK. The owner of Microdigital, Bruce Everiss, was invited to join the company to run the company day-to-day and run the PR department. Imagine Software produced several very successful games, including
Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
for the
Vic 20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the P ...
and
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 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 Colou ...
, throughout 1982 and 1983, but some games shipped with serious, game-breaking bugs. The company grew in size through this period, at one point employing upwards of 80 people, a large number for its time, and splashed out large sums of money on company cars and the founding of a racing team to race in the Isle of Man TT race.


Financial troubles and demise

Rumours of Imagine's financial situation began to circulate in December 1983 following the revelations that an estimated £50,000 of its advertising bills had not been paid. The following year the debts mounted, with further advertising and tape duplication bills going unpaid, and Imagine was forced to sell the rights to its games to Beau Jolly in order to raise money. The company then achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed the following year by a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
documentary crew while in the process of going spectacularly
bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places * Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazin ...
. Mark Butler also made an appearance on Thames Television's ''Daytime'' programme in 1984, talking about his experience of having been a millionaire who lost his money at a young age. On 28 June 1984 a
writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...
was issued against Imagine by
VNU Business Press Nielsen Holdings plc is an American information, data and market measurement firm. Nielsen operates in over 100 countries and employs approximately 44,000 people worldwide. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and use ...
for money owed for advertising in ''
Personal Computer Games ''Personal Computer Games'' was a multi-format UK computer games magazine of the early/mid-1980s published by Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen, VNU. History ''Personal Computer Games'' was launched in July 1983. The magazine was part of VNU ...
'' magazine, and the company was wound up on 9 July 1984 at the High Court in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
after it was unable to raise the £10,000 required to pay this debt (though by this time its total debts ran to hundreds of thousands of pounds).


Legacy

Former programmers went on to establish
Psygnosis Psygnosis Limited (known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Hetherington, Jonathan Ell ...
and
Denton Designs Denton Designs was a British video game developer based in Liverpool. The company was founded in 1984 and initially specialised in developing software for the ZX Spectrum home computer. Amongst the founders were developers who had worked on the ...
. The company's back catalogue was owned by Beau Jolly, who in turn later sold those rights to Subvert, while rights to the Imagine label were acquired by
Ocean Software Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. ...
, which primarily used it to publish home computer conversions of popular arcade games.


In other media

The ''
Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction ...
''
interactive film An interactive film is a video game or other interactive media that has characteristics of a cinematic film. In the video game industry, the term refers to a movie game, a video game that presents its gameplay in a cinematic, scripted manner, ...
''
Bandersnatch A bandersnatch is a fictional creature in Lewis Carroll's 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'' and his 1874 poem ''The Hunting of the Snark''. Although neither work describes the appearance of a bandersnatch in great detail, in ''The Hunting ...
'', released in 2018, alludes to Imagine Software and the failed work to produce ''Bandersnatch''. The film starts on 9 July 1984, the date of Imagine's closure, and includes a shot of the cover of ''
Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...
'' reporting on the closure. Within the film, the fictional software company Tuckersoft, which had developed both Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum games, places its financial future on the attempt to produce ''Bandersnatch'', and in some scenarios falls into bankruptcy after the game fails to appear.


Megagames

Imagine had intended to develop six so-called "Megagames", the most well-known of which were ''Psyclapse'' and ''
Bandersnatch A bandersnatch is a fictional creature in Lewis Carroll's 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'' and his 1874 poem ''The Hunting of the Snark''. Although neither work describes the appearance of a bandersnatch in great detail, in ''The Hunting ...
''. These games were designed to push the boundaries of the hardware of the time, even to the extent that they were intended to be released with a hardware add-on which would have increased the capabilities of the computer, as well as guarding against
piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
. The games were advertised heavily and would have retailed at around £30 – an expensive price tag when the average price of a game at the time was £7.20 – but Imagine's collapse meant that they remained
vaporware In the computer industry, vaporware (or vapourware) is a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late or never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled. Use of the word has broade ...
and never saw the light of day. During the BBC documentary it was revealed that ''Psyclapse'' was little more than a paper sketch, though the name was later used for a sub-label of
Psygnosis Psygnosis Limited (known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Hetherington, Jonathan Ell ...
. Most of the concepts originally intended for ''Bandersnatch'' eventually appeared in another Psygnosis game, ''
Brataccas ''Brataccas'' is a science fiction action-adventure game released in 1985 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh. It was the first game published by Psygnosis. ''Brataccas'' is built on the remains of the much-hyped vaporware project ''Bandersn ...
'', for the 16-bit Atari ST, Amiga and
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
computers.


Games

*''
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'', 1982 *'' Wacky Waiters'', 1982 *'' Frantic'', 1982 *'' Catcha Snatcha'', 1983 *'' Schizoids'', 1983 *'' Ah Diddums'', 1983 *'' Molar Maul'', 1983 *''
Jumping Jack __NOTOC__ A jumping jack, also known as a star jump and called a side-straddle hop in the US military, is a physical jumping exercise performed by jumping to a position with the legs spread wide and the hands going overhead, sometimes in a clap, a ...
'' aka ''Leggit!'', 1983 *''
Zip Zap ''Zip Zap'' is an action game developed by Ian Weatherburn for Imagine Software and released for the ZX Spectrum in 1983. Gameplay The player controls a robot sent to an unexplored planet called Hallucinor with the job of investigating it ahead ...
'', 1983 *'' Zzoom'', 1983 *'' Bewitched'', 1983 *'' Stonkers'', 1983 *'' Alchemist'', 1983 *''
Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, mean ...
'', 1984 *'' Cosmic Cruiser'', 1984 *'' BC Bill'', 1984


References

{{reflist


External links


The Bubble Bursts
- article from ''
CRASH Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...
'' documenting the fall of Imagine Software
Imagine Software
profile on MobyGames Defunct companies based in Liverpool Video game companies established in 1982 Video game companies disestablished in 1984 Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies 1982 establishments in England 1984 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1984 British companies established in 1982