The History of Cinemaware

Established in 1985 under the name Master Designer Software, Cinemaware adopted its present name a year later. The company quickly became a leader in the field of computer games for the Amiga, Apple IIGS, C64 and PC. If you owned one of these systems in the late 80s, you probably played one of Cinemaware's classics. Its most widely known title is Defender of the Crown, a medieval strategy-conquest-adventure hybrid set in England. Like many of its other games such as It Came from the Desert and Rocket Ranger, it borrowed its look and feel from the golden years of Hollywood.

In only 6 years Cinemaware managed to release 14 games on multiple platforms. Many of these helped shape some of the most successful titles of the following decade. However, by the beginning of the 1990s, the market was undergoing a drastic shift away from the platforms on which Cinemaware's games were most successful. More powerful consoles and IBM-compatibles were produced, and Cinemaware (along with many other successful developers around this time) was forced to close its doors in 1991. It looked like the rapid changes had consigned Cinemaware to the past.

However, in early 2000 two veteran game designers, Lars Fuhrken-Batista and Sean Vesce (who worked on hits such as Mechwarrior 2 and Interstate '76) banded together and reformed Cinemaware in Redwood City, California. They are currently creating a sequel to the Cinemaware's first game (originally released in 1986), Defender of the Crown.

Daniel Gardiner