DNA OF DIGITAL FANTASIA

SCOTT ADAMS’ influence

As one of the most influential adventure game creators, Scott Adams inspired a great many developers and Brian Howarth was no exception. Having being introduced to Scott’s games, Brian went on to develop a near-identical engine that allowed him to quickly and easily write his own similar titles.

TRS-80

The TRS-80 was Brian’s first computer and the one on which he produced his first adventures. Even though Digital Fantasia did not publish those games (Britain wrote them for Molimerx to sort), the machine remains a key part of the company’s DNA since it was on that computer he learned the tricks of the trade.

BBC micro

Brian Howarth noted the introduction of the BBC

Micro with much interest. As one of the many new 8-bits appearing at that time, he saw the potential for his adventures on it. When publisher Molimerx ruled out porting to anything other than DOS, Brian set up Digital Fantasia to target the new market.

Brief descriptions

Although the scene-setting text at the beginning of the adventures was lengthy, the descriptions of the various locations within the games themselves were brief and to the point. Brian felt elaborating would add little and that it would only make the titles overly verbose. Besides, the versions with graphics were selling better.

Business Acumen

Or, in some respects, not too much of it, given that the company folded rather quickly. The games did live on, however, thanks to a royalties-based publishing deal with Channel 8 Software, based in nearby Preston. Digital Fantasia, which was located in Blackpool, closed soon after the deal was struck.