Spunout software

Spunout software was established in Cornwall, UK in 1994. They where a small independent developer of video games for the Commodore Amiga platform.

About the Development Team

The development team comprised of Moosehound/Moosie (Zeth Ward), BennyB/Acidbottle (Ben Brown) and Will.

Amiga development was undertaken by Moosie & Benny. Most PC development was handled by Will, although no PC titles where ever released. All music, graphics, programming and design where handled by the co-founders of the studio Moosie and Benny.

Development took place on computers and several titles where released between 1994 and 1997. Development platforms used where Sensible Software's Shoot'em up Construction Kit aka SEUCK, Europress's AMOS Pro and Acid Software's Blitz Basic

Although no major publishers picked up the titles they still distributed titles via local specialist retailers and the public domain markets. Several titles appeared for review in the industry stalwart of the times Amiga Format.

Titles released by the company where :-

Horace Goes E'ing - 1995

The Further Adventures of Horace (aka Horace takes a Trip) - triple pack including Horace Classic, Horace Goes E'ing and Horace in Space - 1995

Bong Brix - 1996

Blizzard's Lair - Xmas 1996

SpinBrix - 1997

Several other titles where in the R & D phase but where never released.

The company went on hiatus when the co-founders stopped development in early 1998 to pursue other career paths.

About the Games

Horace Goes E'ing

This was a surreal take on the shoot-em up genre. Borrowing the lead character from the classic Horace spectrum series you went on a vertically scrolling journey through various psychedelic lands and fought bizarre forms of medications and trippy looking aliens. This product was never fully released as it was then rolled into the package The Further Adventures of Horace aka Horace Takes a Trip. Released late 1995 this was produced using SEUCK

Horace Takes a Trip

This package contained 3 SEUCK made shooting games set in different 'worlds'. The first part was set in classic spectrum games of the 80's like Horace Goes Skiiing, Sensible Soccer, Ghostbusters and many others. The second title is as it was when in stand alone format (see above). The third title was set in space using several clichés taken from classics like Xenon Xevious, Raiden etc.

A review for this title appeared in Amiga Format - the review was not very favourable but stated that several aspects of the graphics accurately captured the games it was replicating and was a nostalgic trip.

Bong Brix

Bong Brix was an Arkanoid and Batty inspired title and was the first title to be written by the developers in AMOS Pro. The title featured the standard bat and ball fair but also a enemy "bong" floated around the screen intercepting the ball and making it more difficult to predict the pattern of the ball. This was another title reviewed by Amiga Format this time receiving a more favourable review but it was hampered by a technical glitch in the review code sent to the magazine which failed to take into account of the clock speed of the machine it was running on. So if you used an Amiga 500 it ran too slowly and if you used an accelerated Amiga 1200 or it ran far to quickly. This was addressed in the released version.

Blizzard's Lair

This title was a side scrolling shoot-em up game in the style of Team 17's Project-X. This was a wintry based scroller with parallax scrolling and frenetic shooting action. The title was produced to coincide with Xmas 1996 and was one of the better selling games the studio produced even though it never went out to magazines for review.

Spin Brix

This was to be the last title released by Spunout Software. This title took around 8 months of development time. It was a Tetris clone that ran in the highest resolution that the Amiga support and used a full colour palette of 4096 colours (Amiga's HAM mode). It introduced several new brick styles into the game and contained both single and dual player modes. It also contained a secret game revealed via the level code insertion screen. Featuring a remix of the Prodigy's "out of Space" track on the intro / title screen. Please see this external reference for the original nfo file that shipped with the title here for more information.

Notes and Facts

Both Bong Brix and Spinbrix could be purchased on the Amiga format cover CD editions

Spinbrix had a hidden game accessed by typing BONG in the level number screen

Horace Goes E'ing / Takes a Trip became a cult rarity in the Amiga Public Domain scene many years after release

The graphics from the Classic Horace level from Horace Takes a Trip can be seen in the G of the Amiga Format Readers Games Graphic in the magazine

A 3D Eye of the Beholder game was in development when the team ceased in early 1998 along with 2 other titles

Sources and Resources of further information

Amiga Format :
Issue No: 104 Month: December 1997
Release Date: Wednesday October 29th Price: £5.99 (CD-ROM), £4.50 (2 Disks)
Editor: Nick Veitch Page Count: 116
Also see This link to AF online Archive
Spin Brix was featured on the cover CD.

Issue No: 90 Month: November 1996
Release Date: ? Price: £4.50 (2 disks) £5.50 (CD-ROM)
Editor: Nick Veitch Page Count: 116
Also see This link to AF online Archive

Horace Takes a Trip is referenced in this article

Spinbrix NFO hosted online at this location

Spin Brix and Bong Brix can be found as part of the TOSEC project here

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