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 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."^[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.

In the early 1990s, Delta 4 developed several CD-based games. The Town with No Name, Psycho Killer and The Hound of the Baskervilles were all developed using D.U.N.E. (Developers Universal Non-programming Environment)^[3] and all games were panned by both critics and players.

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 Software, 1986)
• The Boggit (CRL Group, 1986)
• The Big Sleaze (Piranha Software, 1987)
• Murder Off Miami (CRL Group, 1987)
• The Town with No Name (Delta 4/On-Line, 1992)
• Psycho Killer (Delta 4/On-Line, 1992)

Psycho Killer

Psycho Killer
Cover art
Developer(s)	Delta 4
Publisher(s)	On-Line Entertainment
Platform(s)	Commodore CDTV, MS-DOS
Release	1992 (CDTV) and 1993 (MS-DOS).
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, graphic adventure

Psycho Killer is a graphic action-adventure game released by On-Line Entertainment in 1992 for the Commodore CDTV.^[4] A version for MS-DOS was released in 1993.^[5]

The game involves the protagonist (unnamed in game but listed in credits as "John Schulz") going on a quest in order to save a woman (listed as "Sarah Collins") from a murderer ("Morgan James"), and to save himself. The graphics for the game were created using digitised still photographs that were taken in the suburbs of London.^[6][7]

Gameplay of Psycho Killer is restricted to a point-and-click interface, such as clicking certain arrows to go their respective direction.^[6] There are multiple times in the game where the player must respond promptly to a quick time event in order to proceed to the next scene. Failure to do so can result in the game ending with the protagonist's death.^[6][7]

In issue 32 of Amiga Format, the reviewer gave the game 13% and complained of "poor gameplay",^[6] comparing it to an "interactive home movie" and asked who would want to play a game featuring a "spotty herbert who drives a Vauxhall Chevette". The game was reviewed again in issue 39 of the same magazine; the review gave it the same score,^[7] and complained again about the poor gameplay.

Amiga Joker reviewed the game more positively. The magazine gave the game a 3/5,^[8] stating, "with a little bit of goodwill, the game could be described as a interactive movie". The magazine ended the review calling the game "the best pure CD game ever."

Amiga Magazine also reviewed the game positively, but did not give a score. The magazine spoke about the "forgiving reaction time".^[9] The magazine also said that the game is well-tuned to the CDTV. The magazine complained that the mouse pointer was black which made it "impossible to see" during some scenes.