Tusovka - The story of the company Delta 4 sozdavavshiey games for the ZX Spectrum in the 80's.

<b>Tusovka</b> - The story of the company Delta 4 sozdavavshiey games for the ZX Spectrum in the 80's.

(C) A.N.D.Y.
Music: MAGIC LAND (C) Mr.Z / LS (R) DGN



     Being a big fan of the genre Games Adventure, I spent a 
lot of time (as his, and in Internet'e) to search for new games 
and information about their creators. My efforts were not 
wasted, and in this issue, we present a great article on

Company Delta 4 and of its leader - Fergus McNeill,
including a rather "fresh" interviews with him. In the future 
we expect to continue to acquaint you with outstanding 
personalities from the world of the Spectrum. 



  Information from the official web-site Delta 4.

Translation - DIO-GEN



     Willful, bizarre disaster - Delta 4, emerged in 1984 as a 
result of certain events in the industry for home computers and 
not a punishment from God, as some believe. These events 
included an appearance on Sir Clive Sinclair's market with an 
affordable home Computer ZX Spectrum, the emergence of the now

classic game "Hobbit" by Melbourne House and systems to create 
text adventyur "The Quill", which has developed Gillsoft. This 
lethal cocktail of hardware and software became

catalyst for a group of 16 year olds out of high school 
Swanmore to the south of England to start creating a software 
house (or a program room, to be exact). 



     Established in the process of learning and frequent wild 
parties, the early Delta 4 had an informal structure, which at 
various times included Fergus McNeill, Judith Child, Colin 
Buckett, Jason Somerville, Ian Willis, Jonthan Walker and 
Andrew "Spud" Sprunt. Worked secretly in the bedroom Fergus'a, 
where the young company has experimented with many 
inconspicuous games, before resorting to parody. Making fun of 
other games for the Spectrum "Quest For The Holy Joystick ", 
written by Delta 4, there was a British computer press and 
earned enough income (` 50!) To finance continued, "Return Of 
The Joystick", then there was a release great game "Bored Of 
The Ring". Edition, together with CRL / Silversoft 
aforementioned "Bored", "Robin Of Sherlock "and" The Boggit ", 
attracted many thousands or of unsuspecting customers, but the 
worst was yet to come ... 


     Inviting Macmillian Publishers for the publication of their
new games under the guise of Piranha, Delta 4 tricked
Terry Pratchett'a, author of underlying
"The Colors Of Magic". Fortunately, this did not prevent
Terry later become one of the most brilliant and most 
successful comedy writers of all time. 


     Last game, published under the name Delta 4,
became "The Big Sleaze", drawing a detective novel by Chandler, 
published by Pyranha. After that, the sister company Abstract 
Concepts has committed itself to development of more serious 
games genre "adventure". Were developed by many names, but not 
all were released because of an unexpected break in relations 
with the publishers Activision (but that's another story). 



     Today, Delta 4 - just a vague memory
phantom from the past, which is used managers
planning to scare young game developers. But the spirit of
living in other titles such as "Kingdom Of
Magic "or a particularly disdainful of the release
Smoking Gun Productions. Meanwhile, everyone who needs this 
sort of humor, can console himself a parody of "Star Wars", 
located on the web-site Delta 4. Hurrah!




                 *



                             Fergus McNeill

                               in 16 years.



     Born in 1969 in Glasgow, Fergus McNeill led a pleasant 
(though no accidents) life until then, until the early 80's is 
not founded a company Delta 4. Months of correspondence could 
result in nausea, generated label stamps on envelopes, if not 
two-page article in the journal "Micro-Adventurer", which 
appeared when 16-year-old Fergus was in school. This article 
praised the first Delta 4 parody - "Quest For Holy Joystick"

and was an incentive for further action.

     After leaving school with only qualifications (such as
our help) and a bundle of CAMEL'a, Fergus in order
experiment a few weeks attended college before entering into 
transactions with Silversoft / CRL Group, which brought him 
back to the computer (and a bar with drinks) for a long time.


     After releasing a few games, he met Anna Popkess (Anna 
Popkess) and worked with her on the game "Mindfighter" for 
Abstract Concepts. All went well until one of the newspapers 
did not publish a fatal horoscope: "Fish - today is your 
publisher breaks all the links leaving you without funds to 
your current projects ... " 

     Never believed horoscopes, Fergus was unpleasantly 
surprised when Activision announced the 100% cessation of 
support for his projects. Left without a publisher, Fergus 
joined forces with comrades belonging to Matthew Wilkinson 
(Matthew Wilkinson) Advanced Media Group, which provided 
audio-video services for corporate clients.


     After some time, Fergus returned to the world
computer games. He has worked on producing
first CD-ROM games. It took him a few years,
but could not prevent it a little late getting married in 1991 
Anne Popkess. 

     After a year or more, a series of
bizarre and random events, whose vertices
began outreach Patrick Thistle Football Club from the first
League Scotland. But more significant was the leadership of 
Fergus development studios in Southampton for Sales Curve 
interactive. Starting with games on CD-ROM, "The Lawnmower Man" 
("The Lawnmower Man") and "CyberWar", SCi staff grew to 50 
people. The result of this was the release of very successful 
projects like "Kingdom O'Magic "and" Carmageddon "to an 
unsuspecting public. 

     After leaving SCi, Fergus with former colleagues founded 
the firm "Smoking Gun Productions" and is currently working on 
new projects in the area Internet'ovskih games, not regretting 
it. 

     Fergus McNeill is now living in Southampton
with wife Anna and son Cameron.



                 *



                            Fergus McNeill

                            photo 1997



       INTERVIEW WITH FERGUS McNEILL

(C) Philip Bee / December 1997 /
Translation - DIO-GEN



 - How and on what computers you get started?
 - My parents saw nothing wrong in buying
I ZX81, and noticing that this is a time to reassure me, 
eventually I bought Spectrum in 1948 with rubber keyboard when 
the computer has become popular. They could not imagine the 
consequences! 

 - When you first saw the Spectrum, and what would
   Are your first impressions?
 - It was in the store Boots or WHSmith (I forgot). First 
impression - a rubber keyboard is pleasant to the touch. ;) 


 - Which games were the first?
 - Just do not tell you what game I bought first. But
First acquisitions included exactly Hungry Horace,
Psion Flight Simulator, Greedy Gulch and The Hobbit.


 - What did you do on the Speccy?
 - Hmm ... Well, some games, and articles in magazines and
to order.

 - What do you think about their games? There are among them

   favorite?
 - Oh-oh-oh! Modesty does not allow me ... But if you
insist ... Some of them seem to me absolutely terrible, etc. 
But there are one or two games, which I was pleased. My 
favorite by them will remain forever - The Boggit and The Big 
Sleaze. I am pleased with them both - for many reasons.


 - How do you have left Spectrum? This is your strong operator
   chalilo?
 - Shimmering portal opens, and I stepped into the ...
Indeed, I left the Spectrum is very slow.
It started with writing multiplatform toy
and after some time, publishers no longer interested in the 
Spectrum-version programs. For me it was very hard to leave 
your favorite car, but we all must work to live (sounds Symphony

orchestra performing funeral music ...)


 - What are you doing now?
 - Well, now I leave the Sales Curve interactive (the company 
that brought you "Carmageddon" and "Kingdom O'Magic "), but I 
can not say that I'm going to do next. Please visit my 
web-site, where you will find brief information. 

 - What do you like / not like about the Speccy?
 - Good things: The Hobbit, Design Design, Ultimate
Play The Game. Bad things: Dodgy add-on keyboard,
ZX Microdrives (which flipped).


 - Your favorite game on Spectrum'e and why?
 - The Hobbit: When I first sat down for this game, I
knew what to do to survive. And I believe
that these characters were alive, they really live inside my 
computer! Dark Star: a shooter of the highest class with a 
proportional table Records and space aliens to Border! As

they do it?


 - The best in your opinion, coders / artists / musicians
   you're on Spectrum'e?
 - Hmmm ... Well, you asked! I'll be a diplomat and call people 
who wrote the above games (well, of course, Level 9). 


 - You use an emulator to play their

   old toys (or anything else)?
 - Sure. Many people like to watch in SCi,
When Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold.

 - What was the last game for the Speccy have you written?

   Left something unfinished? (And if so,

   what is the likelihood that we will see it?)
 - Tough question. In recent days, Delta 4, we wrote things on 
the Amstrad PCW and convert them to many machines. The last 
game was called (among other things) "The Smirking Horror", but 
you'll never see it on Spectrum'e. : (Nevertheless, pre-release 
This game was converted for the Atari ST and available to 
anyone who wants it to play (and has an emulator) on the 
web-site by Delta 4.  (Editor's note: we tried to run the game 
"The Smirking Horror "on a few emulators, Atari, but

unfortunately without success. :-( The program does not find a 
single overlay file.) 


 - You do not want now to write a new game for

   Spectrum, just to "revive old"?
 - No. If you do play in the style of Delta 4 today
it should be something like "Kingdom O'Magic",
but for me it's a very big project, which, moreover, will be 
hard to finance. 

 - Are there any plans for sequels / sequel of your

   old games?
 - "Kingdom Of Magic" has been called the unofficial
continuation of "Bored Of The Rings" and "The Boggit",
but at the moment - no. I began to develop
a parody of "Star Wars" for the Level 9 (sadly, she never sees 
the light of day), and the idea and characters from her again 
come alive in the book that I write. Again, for more 
information, visit my web-site.



 - For the PC easier to write than Speccy: less than an
   paratnyh restrictions, etc.?
 - Oh, no! Spectrum was much easier in this
scheme because it was only a SPECTRUM (at least, for a long 
time), and the PC has never had a single standard. Hardware 
requirements change faster than you can tweak the design! 

 - What do you think about modern games? They can

   compete with the classics?
 - Hmm ... depends on the game. I think that in the past
Spectrum days (in the West. - Ed.) true
cool game can be counted on the fingers, but they
were. Names such as "Blade Runner", "Full Throttle",
"Warcraft II", "Carmageddon" and "Jedi Knight" very
nice ... But better they than the old "Ultimate
Classics "? Do not know ...


 - The most vivid recollection of the past?
 - Alcohol. You can not imagine how much vodka was drunk during 
her years in the Delta 4! 


 - Thanks for the interview.


P.S. The Annex to this issue of the Journal you will find 
adapted for TR-DOS game "Galaxias", written by Delta 4 in 1986. 



odki was drunk during her years in the Delta 4!


 - Thanks for the interview.


P.S. The Annex to this issue of the Journal you will find 
adapted for TR-DOS game "Galaxias", written by Delta 4 in 1986. 



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