Denton Designs

Denton Designs

Former type	Private
Industry	Video game industry
Fate	Takeover by Rage Software[1]
Predecessor	Imagine Software
Founded	1984[2][3]
Founder(s)	Steve Cain, Ian Weatherburn, Ally Noble, John Gibson, Karen Davies, Graham Everitt[2][3]
Defunct	1995[1]
Headquarters	Liverpool[2][3], United Kingdom
Key people	Steve Cain (Art Designer), Graham Everett (Software Developer), Karen Davies (Art Designer), Ally Noble (Art designer), John Gibson (Gameplay Programmer)[3]
Products	Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Great Escape, Eco, Where Time Stood Still

Denton Designs was a British video games developer based in Liverpool. The company was founded in 1984 and initially specialised in developing software for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer. Amongst the founders were developers who had worked on the unfinished 'Mega game' Bandersnatch for Imagine Software.

History

Denton Designs was founded in September 1985 following the collapse of Imagine Software. Six Imagine staff - Steve Cain, Ian Weatherburn, Ally Noble, John Gibson, Karen Davies and Graham Everitt - made redundant by the company's demise, founded the new software house and carried on where they had left off at Imagine.^[2][3]

When Denton Designs contracted to develop Shadowfire Ian Weatherburn became disillusioned with the fact that the company was no longer operating as it had when they had been part of Imagine, and on providing an ultimatum was sacked by the rest of the directors. He subsequently joined Ocean.^[3]

In March 1986 the company split, with founders Cain, Davis, Everitt and Gibson leaving to join Ian Weatherburn in setting up a new software house. Only Ally Noble of the original founders remained.^[4]

In 1995 Denton Designs was acquired by Rage Software.^[1]

Partial Softography

• Gift from the Gods (1984)
• Bounces (1985)
• Cosmic Wartoad (1985)
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1985)
• Shadowfire (1985)
• Enigma Force (1985)
• The Great Escape (1986)
• The Transformers (1986)
• Eco (1988)
• Where Time Stood Still (1988)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "RAGE SOFTWARE ACQUIRES DENTON DESIGNS". Telecom Paper. 5 December 1995. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/rage-software-acquires-denton-designs. Retrieved 2011-07-27. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Denton Designs". Crash (Newsfield Publications): pp. 30. June 1985. http://www.crashonline.org.uk/17/denton.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-27. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Bourne, Chris (July 1985). "Spirit of Imagine". Sinclair User (EMAP): pp. 58. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=SinclairUser/Issue040/Pages/SinclairUser04000058.jpg. Retrieved 2011-07-27. 
4. ^ "News: Denton Design Splits". Sinclair User (EMAP): pp. 8. March 1986. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=SinclairUser/Issue048/Pages/SinclairUser04800008.jpg. Retrieved 2011-07-27.