Delta 4
Delta 4 was a British software developer created by Fergus McNeill, writing and publishing interactive fiction.[1]
Delta 4 designed games between 1984 and 1992. Some were self-published, others were released by CRL Group, Piranha, Silversoft or On-line. 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."[1]) 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.[1] Published in 1985, it received a Sinclair User Classic award.[2] They also published Robin of Sherlock.
Games developed
- Sherwood Forest (Delta 4, 1984)
- The Dragonstar Trilogy (Delta 4, 1984)
- Quest for the Holy Joystick (Delta 4, 1984)
- Return of the Holy Joystick (Delta 4, 1984)
- Bored of the Rings (Delta 4/CRL Group, 1985)
- Robin of Sherlock (Silversoft, 1985)
- Galaxias (Delta 4, 1986)
- The Colour of Magic (Piranha Games, 1986)
- The Boggit (CRL Group, 1986)
- The Big Sleaze (Piranha, 1987)
- Murder Off Miami (CRL Group, 1987)
- The Town with No Name (Delta 4/On-line, 1992)
- Psycho Killer (Delta 4/On-line, 1992)
References
- 1 2 3 "Hit Squad". Sinclair User (45). December 1985. Archived from the original on September 12, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ↑ "Adventure". Sinclair User (40). July 1985. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
The humour can be fairly schoolboyish at times and there are a couple of occasions when it is both distasteful and unnecessarily unpleasant. On the whole though the game is great fun and well-produced too.