Incentive Software
 | |
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Ian Andrew |
| Successor | Superscape |
| Headquarters | , United Kingdom |
Incentive Software Ltd. was a British video game developer and publisher founded by Ian Andrew in 1983.[1] Programmers included Sean Ellis, Stephen Northcott and Ian's brother Chris Andrew.
Later games were based on the company's Freescape rendering engine. Developed in-house, Freescape is considered to be one of the first proprietary 3D engines to be used in video games, although the engine was not used commercially outside of Incentive's own titles.[2] The project was originally thought to be so ambitious that according to Ian Andrew, the company struggled to recruit programmers for the project, with many believing that it could not be achieved.
According to Paul Gregory (graphics artist for Major Developments, Incentive's in-house design team),[3] Freescape was developed by Chris Andrew starting in September 1986 on an Amstrad CPC, as it was the most suitable development system with 128K memory and had adequate power to run 3D environments. Due to the engine's success, it was later ported to all the dominant systems of the era: ZX Spectrum, IBM PC, Commodore 64, Amiga, and Atari ST. Freescape development ended in 1992 with the release 3D Construction Kit II.
The company was renamed Dimension International as it moved into the VR field in 1995 with its next-generation Superscape VRT engine,[4][5][6] then later changed name again to Superscape.[7]
List of titles
[edit]The following games were published and/or developed by Incentive Software:
| Year | Title | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Splat! | Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum |
| Mountains of Ket[8] | ZX Spectrum | |
| 1984 | BBC/Electron, ZX Spectrum | |
| 1984 | Millionaire[9] | Amstrad CPC, BBC/Electron, ZX Spectrum |
| Temple of Vran[10] | ZX Spectrum | |
| The Final Mission[11] | ZX Spectrum | |
| Confuzion | Amstrad CPC, BBC/Electron, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | |
| Back Track | Dragon 32 | |
| 1985 | Moon Cresta | Amstrad CPC, BBC, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum |
| Eddie Steady Go! | Dragon 32 | |
| 1986 | The Graphic Adventure Creator[12] | Amstrad CPC, BBC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum |
| The Ket Trilogy [13] | Amstrad CPC, BBC/Electron, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, | |
| Winter Wonderland | Amstrad CPC, BBC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | |
| Dragon's Tooth | BBC | |
| The Legend of the Apache Gold | Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | |
| 1987 | The Adventure Creator[14] | Electron |
| Driller [15] | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum | |
| Karyssia: Queen of Diamonds | ZX Spectrum | |
| 1988 | The ST Adventure Creator [16] | Atari ST |
| Dark Side | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum | |
| Total Eclipse | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum | |
| 1990 | Castle Master | Amiga,[17] Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum |
| Castle Master II: The Crypt | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum | |
| Total Eclipse II: The Sphinx Jinx | Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | |
| 1991 | 3D Construction Kit[18][19] | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum |
| 1992 | 3D Construction Kit II[20] | Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC |
References
[edit]- ^ Incentive Software's first game Splat was released in 1983, and reviewed in Crash Magazine Issue 1, 1984, page 89-90.
- ^ "Exploring the Freescape". IGN. 22 October 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
- ^ Retro Gamer 22, Incentive article, page 26
- ^ "Virtual Reality (1995 Archive) - "VR - Virtually Here" - by Linda Von Schweber & Erick Von Schweber - Infomaniacs". www.infomaniacs.com.
- ^ "A Star-Studded Site | Computer Graphics World". www.cgw.com.
- ^ "PC Mag". Ziff Davis, Inc. 14 March 1995 – via Google Books.
- ^ "The Westin Tokyo's Web Site Traffic Increases by 45% With Interactive 3D From Superscape(R) / March 1999".
- ^ Part 1 of The Ket Trilogy
- ^ "The Glasgow Herald". The Glasgow Herald – via Google Books.
- ^ Part 2 of The Ket Trilogy
- ^ Part 3 of The Ket Trilogy
- ^ Dillon, Roberto (3 December 2014). Ready: A Commodore 64 Retrospective. Springer. ISBN 9789812873415 – via Google Books.
- ^ ports of Mountains of Ket, Temple of Vran and The Final Mission
- ^ text-only version of The Graphic Adventure Creator
- ^ Released as Space Station Oblivion in the United States
- ^ 16-bit version of The Graphic Adventure Creator
- ^ This version has some differences in maps and enigmas compared to the 8 bit versions
- ^ Released as Virtual Reality Studio in the United States
- ^ Abend, Pablo; Beil, Benjamin; Ossa, Vanessa (28 April 2020). Playful Participatory Practices: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783658286194 – via Google Books.
- ^ Released as Virtual Reality Studio II in the United States
External links
[edit]- Incentive Software Archived 21 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine at MobyGames
- Adventureland - Incentive Software Ltd
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