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Fergus McNeill (born in 1969) is a Scottish author and interactive entertainment developer. He has designed and created games since the early 1980s, working with companies such as CRL, Silversoft, Macmillan Group, Activision, SCi Eidos and EA. He was a founder member of TIGA and is a member of the Crime Writers' Association^[1] and BAFTA. He is the author of a series of contemporary crime thrillers published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Background

McNeill, born in 1969,^[2] grew up in Scotland, living in Helensburgh^[3] and later in Fintry. When he was 11, his family moved to Hampshire, England, where he attended Swanmore Secondary School. Whilst there, he wrote his first games, which attracted coverage in the specialist computer press,^[4] and this led to him abandoning college plans in order to pursue a full-time career in the games industry.

Career

McNeill started developing adventure games using The Quill software. Initially, these were sold by mail-order under the Delta 4 brand, before publishing deals with CRL and Silversoft brought the titles to a larger audience. This led to McNeill working with Terry Pratchett to create the first Discworld game^[5] and, later on, adapting Murder off Miami by Dennis Wheatley.^[6] After an affiliate label deal with Activision,^[7] McNeill set up a new studio for SCi in Southampton, focusing on PC games. While there, he oversaw development on movie tie-ins including The Lawnmower Man, and scripted the award-winning Kingdom O' Magic. He also co-produced (and provided the race announcer's voice-over for) Stainless Software's controversial racing game Carmageddon.^[8]

After SCi, he moved to Smoking Gun Productions, where he worked on a range of football management titles and interactive DVD games,^[9] before joining InfoSpace / IOMO as studio director in 2005. Two years later, McNeill and other staff from IOMO relaunched the studio as FinBlade.^[10] In 2019 he took on the role of game director at Stainless Games.

Books

In 2011, he signed a three-book deal with Hodder & Stoughton.^[11]

Eye Contact (Detective Harland series #1) first published in 2012
Knife Edge (Detective Harland series #2) first published in 2013
Cut Out (Detective Harland series #3) first published in 2014

A Detective Harland novella entitled Broken Fall was released in 2015.

A standalone historical thriller, Ashes of America, was published in 2019.

The standalone crime thriller Up Close and Fatal was published in 2022.

Games

Early interactive fiction titles and PC CD games

Sherwood Forest - Delta 4
The Dragonstar Trilogy - Delta 4
Quest for the Holy Joystick - Delta 4
Return of the Holy Joystick - Delta 4
Bored of the Rings^[12] - Delta 4 / CRL / SilverSoft
Robin of Sherlock^[13] - Delta 4 / CRL / SilverSoft
Galaxias - Delta 4
The Colour of Magic - Delta 4 / Piranha Software
The Boggit - Delta 4 / CRL
The Big Sleaze^[14] - Delta 4 / Piranha Software
Murder off Miami - CRL
Mindfighter - Abstract Concepts / Activision
The Smirking Horror - Delta 4 / Destiny
The Town with No Name - Delta 4
Psycho Killer - Delta 4
The Lawnmower Man - SCi
Cyberwar - SCi
XS - SCi
Kingdom O' Magic - SCi
Carmageddon (co-producer for SCi) - Stainless Software / SCi
Robosaurs versus the Space Ba$tards - Smoking Gun Productions
Space Ba$tards: Sudden Justice - Smoking Gun Productions
Club Manager series - Smoking Gun Productions

More recently^[when?], McNeill has worked on the following apps:

Battleship - FinBlade / EA
Battleship for iPad - FinBlade / EA
Deadliest Catch - FinBlade / HandsOn
Grooveyard - FinBlade
Movie Quiz - FinBlade
Ninja Ranch - FinBlade / AppyNation
Pictureka! - FinBlade / EA
Red Bull GP - FinBlade / SSP / Red Bull
The Men Who Stare At Goats - FinBlade / SSP / Momentum Pictures
Tennis Slam - FinBlade
WordSearch - FinBlade
Fry - Virtually Stephen Fry - HeadCastLabs
Puzzler World - Puzzler Media
Link-a-Pix - Puzzler Media
Crosswords - Puzzler Media
Wordsearch - Puzzler Media
Pathfinder - Puzzler Media
Sudoku - Puzzler Media
Puzzle Paradise - Puzzler Media
Puzzler - Puzzler Media
Name Game - Puzzler Media

Awards

Golden Joystick Award (runner up, 1985)^[15]
Sinclair User Classic Award (5 times)^[16]
Amtix Accolade Award (1986)^[17]
Crash Smash Award (twice)^[18]
CGR Golden Triad Award (1996)^[19]

References

^ "Crime Writers Association: Links to members' web pages". Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
^ Heroes Centre Archived 12 July 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Award-winning interactive entertainment developer & Author.
^ The Lochside Press, Key figure in games industry backs Heroes project
^ Micro Adventurer Magazine, issue 17
^ Gamebase64, The Colour of Magic
^ "Planet Sinclair: The Sinclair Industry: Publishers: Delta 4". Nvg.ntnu.no. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
^ "Fergus McNeill Interview" (PDF). The Classic Adventurer. No. 2. 2018. p. 22. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
^ "Carmageddon Splat Pack - Credits". allgame. 3 October 2010. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
^ "News: Rangers Football Coach announced". Gamershell.com. 27 March 2002. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
^ Obrien, Stuart (6 August 2007). "FinBlade opens its doors | Mobile Entertainment". Mobile-ent.biz. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
^ "Hodder buys thriller from games developer". The Bookseller. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
^ "Sinclair User 40 - Adventure". Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
^ "Sinclair User 46 - Adventure". Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
^ "CRASH 43 - Big Sleaze".
^ Bored of the Rings, Adventure Game of the Year category: Golden Joystick Award#1985
^ Sinclair User magazine, issue 40 (July 1985), issue 46 (January 1986), issue 53 (August 1986), issue 57 (December 1986), issue 65 (August 1987)
^ Amtix magazine, issue 11 (September 1986)
^ Crash magazine, issue 32 (September 1986), issue 43 (August 1987)
^ Computer Game Review magazine, March 1996