Sensible Software

Sensible Software was a highly regarded software house in the nineties from the United Kingdom that released several games, amongst those the popular "Sensible Soccer" series and "Cannon Fodder".

The "trademark" of the Sensible Software's games were the pin-like characters, used in "Sensible Soccer", "Cannon Fodder" (although slightly different), and "Sensible Golf".

Background

One of the most successful British Computer game developers of all time Sensible Software was formed in Chelmsford, Essex, UK in 1986 by two former school friends Jon Hare (A.K.A. Jovial Jops) and Chris Yates (A.K.A. Cuddly Krix). After cutting their teeth for 9 months at LT Software in Basildon, Essex Jon and Chris set up Sensible Software in March of 1986. Sensible Software released games initially for the ZX Spectrum and later the Commodore 64, clinching market praise with "Parallax", "SEUCK" and "Wizball" (later to be voted 'Game of the Decade' by Zzap64 magazine). At the time, the pair's output was well known among gamers for its high quality and offbeat sense of humour.

In 1988 Martin Galway joined the team and Sensible Software became a 3-man partnership. That summer they released "Microprose Soccer", their first venture into football games. Galway left in 1990 to join Origin Systems in the USA, and over the next few years the company swapped the 8 bit machines for the more powerful Amiga and Atari ST, where games such as "Mega Lo Mania", "Sensible Soccer", and "Cannon Fodder" became classics and with the rise of the 16-bit home console market "Sensible" became a household name for a generation of school and college aged British young men as they racked up 7 number one hit games winning numerous industry awards in the process. Sensible's games were also ported onto a wide range of platforms including the PC, Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo.

However, while Sensible had a strong presence on the machines that dominated the late 80s and early 90s they never really repeated this success on the newer machines such as the Sony PlayStation that came to prominence in the mid '90s. Their trademark look of cute 2D characters had slipped out of vogue with the advent of cheap 3D rendering abilities and titles such as "Actua Soccer" and "FIFA" turned to 2.5D and 3D gradually shoving the Sensible Soccer series into the sidelines despite Sensible's belated attempt to convert the game to 3D in 1998.

"Sensible Golf", a simple golf video game (not a simulation), in classic Sensible style, did not perform well in the market and with most of Sensible's staffing resources having been thrown into a very progressive but politically unreleasable political hot potato of a game called Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll that had initially been signed by Warner International Entertainment and subsequently dropped by their purchasers, GT Software, Sensible's days were looking numbered and the owners were looking for a smooth exit.

Though never finished, this final epic project was discussed in certain sections of the media outside of the game press. It was featured in a Independent on Sunday article [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970706/ai_n14126654] [http://forum.sensiblesoccer.info/index.php?PHPSESSID=3fb1c3432bcc9eb8b218381d6b5b93d2&topic=1253.0] in the summer of 1997. Two years later in 1999, the pre-rendered music videos - created for the game - were showcased within a feature piece on Ex Machina, a show covering the CG animation scene on .tv.

Another cancelled game that was being developed during this final development period was a PlayStation action game titled Have a Nice Day. Though screenshots of the game have never been released, it's understood the title was an FPS shooter, inspired somewhat by the simplicity of Reload, a "first generation" Playstation title by Gremlin. Jon Hare has spoken about the project in various interviews [http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/world/ctw/jops.htm] [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?story=6937] [http://www.c64.com/interviews/hare.html] , but has never discussed in-depth, the game's content and gameplay features. Aside from the likelihood that the game contained themes as controversial as Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll, in an interview with Total Video Game's Derek dela Fuente, Jon did mention that the title had "hit some technical barriers" during its development. Sensible were not known to have worked on the PlayStation hardware before, which may have made getting to grips with the console's problematic 3D libraries a huge issue for the inexperienced team.

Sensible Software was eventually sold in 1999 to veteran UK games publishers Codemasters and since this date Jon Hare has maintained a close working relationship with Codemasters designing many games for them including a variety of updates of both Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder.

List of games

External links

* [http://www.purplesensi.co.uk Purple Sensi]
* [http://www.codemasters.com Codemasters site]