Micro Forté Pty Ltd is an Australian electronic entertainment company with development studios in
Canberra and
Sydney. Founded in 1985 by
John De Margheriti
John De Margheriti (born July 1962) is an Italian-born Australian electrical engineer, software developer and entrepreneur. De Margheriti is widely seen as a founding 'father' of Australia's video games industry and Australia's most experienced in ...
at a time when there was little game development presence in Australia, Micro Forté has been closely linked to the growth of the Australian game development industry, with CEO De Margheriti initiating events such as the
Australian Game Developers Conference (AGDC) and founding the
Academy of Interactive Entertainment
The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) is an Australian video games and computer animation school. Founded in 1996, it was one of the world's first institutions to offer qualifications in these industries. The AIE provides courses cover ...
(AIE).
Micro Forté is primarily a developer of
massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are ...
s and
virtual world
A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...
content.
History
Micro Forté's first title developed for
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...
and released in 1986 was the ''
Americas Cup
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...
Sailing Simulation'' for the
Commodore 64 platform. Their second title also developed for Electronic Arts, ''
Demon Stalkers'' was well received following its release in 1987. The sequel ''Fire King'' was published by SSG
Strategic Studies Group
Strategic Studies Group (SSG) is an Australian software development company that makes primarily strategy wargames.
The company was founded by strategy game enthusiasts Ian Trout and Roger Keating. Trout was proprietor of a military books sto ...
in 1989.
For a number of years the company pursued other activities outside the arena of game development, returning in 1994 to game development creating two children's titles ''Nordice'' and ''Bombs Away''.
Micro Forté then developed titles for other international publishers including ''Enemy Infestation'' (Panasonic/Ripcord), ''HotWheels Bash Arena'' (THQ), and ''Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel'' (Interplay). Their most widely known title, ''
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel'' was published by
Interplay and was a squad based tactical game based on the
Fallout (video game)
''Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game'' is a 1997 role-playing video game developed and published by Interplay Productions. In a mid-22nd century post-apocalyptic and retro-futuristic world, decades after a global nuclear war, ''Fallou ...
universe, and achieved scores between 80 and 90 from reviewers and fans alike.
Development of BigWorld Technology
In 1994 when Micro Forté returned to game development, the company began work on Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) technology. The research and development work was supported with a grant from the Australian Government and venture capital received through Allen & Buckeridge.
Micro Forté spent a number of years concentrating their efforts on developing a technology capable of supporting multiple platforms with more players able to participate in limitless worlds and in the same space. The culmination of years of research and development resulted in BigWorld Technology, which is now a separate commercial company.
The
BigWorld company was formed in 1999 and the BigWorld Technology Suite was commercialised and launched in 2002.
List of works
* ''
America's Cup Challenge'' (C-64, Amstrad, Electronic Arts)
* ''
Demon Stalkers'' (C-64, PC, Electronic Arts)
* ''
Fire King'' (C-64, PC, SSG)
* ''Nordice'' (PC game, Emu Multimedia)
* ''Bombs Away'' (PC game, Emu Multimedia)
* ''
Enemy Infestation'' (PC game, Panasonic/Ripcord)
* ''
Kwari'' (PC game)
* ''
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel'' (PC game, Interplay)
* ''Hotwheels: Bash Arena'' (PC game, THQ)
* ''Citizen Zero'' (Xbox MMO for Microsoft, unpublished)
* ''Super Spy Online'' (PC MMO prototype)
See also
*
BigWorld Technology
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Micro Forte
Video game companies of Australia
Video game companies established in 1985
Video game development companies
Companies based in Canberra
Australian companies established in 1985