Incentive Software Ltd. was a British video game developer and publisher founded by Ian Andrew in 1983.Incentive Software's first game Splat was released in 1983, and reviewed in Crash Magazine Issue 1, 1984, page 89-90. 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. 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),Retro Gamer 22, Incentive article, page 26 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 of 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, then later changed name again to Superscape.
List of titles
The following games were published and/or developed by Incentive Software:
YearTitlePlatform 1983 Splat! Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum Mountains of KetPart 1 of The Ket Trilogy ZX Spectrum 1984 BBC/Electron, ZX Spectrum 1984 Millionaire Amstrad CPC, BBC/Electron, ZX Spectrum Temple of VranPart 2 of The Ket Trilogy ZX Spectrum The Final MissionPart 3 of The Ket Trilogy 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 Amstrad CPC, BBC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum The Ket Trilogyports of Mountains of Ket, Temple of Vran and The Final Mission 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 Creatortext-only version of The Graphic Adventure Creator Electron DrillerReleased as Space Station Oblivion in the United States Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum Karyssia: Queen of Diamonds ZX Spectrum 1988 The ST Adventure Creator16-bit version of The Graphic Adventure Creator 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,This version has some differences in maps and enigmas compared to the 8 bit versions 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 KitReleased as Virtual Reality Studio in the United States Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum 1992 3D Construction Kit IIReleased as Virtual Reality Studio II in the United States Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC
References
External links Incentive Software at MobyGames Adventureland - Incentive Software Ltd