Incentive Software
IndustryVideo games
Founded1983
FounderIan Andrew
SuccessorSuperscape
Headquarters
Reading, Berkshire
,
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

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

  1. ^ Incentive Software's first game Splat was released in 1983, and reviewed in Crash Magazine Issue 1, 1984, page 89-90.
  2. ^ "Exploring the Freescape". IGN. 22 October 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  3. ^ Retro Gamer 22, Incentive article, page 26
  4. ^ "Virtual Reality (1995 Archive) - "VR - Virtually Here" - by Linda Von Schweber & Erick Von Schweber - Infomaniacs". www.infomaniacs.com.
  5. ^ "A Star-Studded Site | Computer Graphics World". www.cgw.com.
  6. ^ "PC Mag". Ziff Davis, Inc. 14 March 1995 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ "The Westin Tokyo's Web Site Traffic Increases by 45% With Interactive 3D From Superscape(R) / March 1999".
  8. ^ Part 1 of The Ket Trilogy
  9. ^ "The Glasgow Herald". The Glasgow Herald – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Part 2 of The Ket Trilogy
  11. ^ Part 3 of The Ket Trilogy
  12. ^ Dillon, Roberto (3 December 2014). Ready: A Commodore 64 Retrospective. Springer. ISBN 9789812873415 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ ports of Mountains of Ket, Temple of Vran and The Final Mission
  14. ^ text-only version of The Graphic Adventure Creator
  15. ^ Released as Space Station Oblivion in the United States
  16. ^ 16-bit version of The Graphic Adventure Creator
  17. ^ This version has some differences in maps and enigmas compared to the 8 bit versions
  18. ^ Released as Virtual Reality Studio in the United States
  19. ^ Abend, Pablo; Beil, Benjamin; Ossa, Vanessa (28 April 2020). Playful Participatory Practices: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783658286194 – via Google Books.
  20. ^ Released as Virtual Reality Studio II in the United States

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