Fergus McNeill

Fergus McNeill is a British author. He was the creator of several well-known text adventures in the 1980s.

He started out writing Quilled games for the ZX Spectrum as a teenager. His early successes included Bored of the Rings and Quest for the Holy Joystick, published through his own mail-order Delta 4 label.

Interest from mainstream publishers soon followed and saw the Delta 4 games released through companies such as Silversoft, CRL and Piranha. A deal with the latter gave Fergus the opportunity to collaborate with author Terry Pratchett on the very first Discworld game, The Colour of Magic.

Fergus had various projects commissioned by Activision under the Abstract Concepts name but only one, Mindfighter was released. The game was a collaboration with author Anna Popkess and used the SWAN; a system specially written for Abstract Concepts by Tim Gilberts.

Fergus went on to have an extensive career in the games industry, including stints with the Advanced Media Group, On-Line Entertainment, SCi, Smoking Gun Productions and Iomo.

Outside of his games industry work, he is the author of the contemporary crime thrillers 'Eye Contact', 'Knife Edge' 'Cut Out' and 'Broken Fall'; published through Hodder & Stoughton.

Author Credits

• The Dragonstar Trilogy (publishers: Delta 4 and Zenobi Software; Spectrum).
• Return of the Joystick (publishers: Delta 4, Zenobi Software; Spectrum).
• Robin of Sherlock (publishers: CRL Group PLC, Delta 4, Zenobi Software; Spectrum).
• Quest for the Holy Joystick (with Jason Somerville, artist: Mad Mac, publishers: Delta 4, Zenobi Software; 1984; Spectrum).
• Sherwood Forest (publishers: Delta 4, Zenobi Software; 1984; Spectrum).
• Bored of the Rings (publishers: CRL Group PLC, Delta 4, Zenobi Software; 1985; Spectrum).
• The Boggit (with Judith Child, publishers: CRL Group PLC, Delta 4, Zenobi Software; 1986; Spectrum).
• The Colour of Magic (with Colin Buckett and Judith Child, publisher: Piranha; 1986; Spectrum).
• Galaxias (publisher: Delta 4; 1986; Spectrum).
• The Big Sleaze (publishers: CRL Group PLC, Delta 4, Zenobi Software; 1987; Spectrum).
• Murder Off Miami (with Jason Somerville, publishers: CRL Group PLC, Delta 4; 1987; Spectrum).

Games implemented

• Mindfighter (designer: Anna Popkess, publisher: Activision; 1988; Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Commodore 64, Spectrum, MS-DOS).

Interviews

• Fergus is now Abstract - interview with Fergus McNeill and Anna Popkess. Your Sinclair #32, August 1988.
• Chatting Bored Of The Rings and more with Fergus McNeill By Graeme Mason.
• The Classic Adventurer - Issue 2. (2018)

Links

• Fergus McNeill's Blog.
• Fergus McNeill (archived) - his former Delta4-related website.
• Fergus McNeill (archived) - at Baf's Guide.
• Fergus McNeill (as author) - at IFDB.