Brian Howarth is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

video game designer and computer programmer. He wrote many

interactive fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

computer games in the early 1980s in a series called ''Mysterious Adventures''. He was born in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in 1953. After leaving school he worked as a telephone engineer until 1981. Howarth was initially inspired to write computer moderated adventures by the role-playing game

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

, and the UK television show

The Adventure Game ''The Adventure Game'' was a game show originally broadcast on UK television channels BBC1 and BBC2 between 24 May 1980 and 18 February 1986. The story in each show was that the two celebrity contestants and a member of the public had travel ...

. His first adventures were written on the

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer developed by American company Tandy Corporation and sold through their Radio Shack stores. Launched in 1977, it is ...

, taking his cues from the works of

Scott Adams Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is an American author and cartoonist. He is the creator of the ''Dilbert'' comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of business, commentary, and satire. Adams worked in various corporate r ...

. After becoming frustrated with the

BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

programming language, he learnt

machine language In computer programming, machine code is computer code consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). For conventional binary computers, machine code is the binaryOn nonb ...

to create his first adventure, ''The Golden Baton'', which was published by Molimerx in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

. Following this success, Molimerx encouraged Howarth to produce two more titles, ''The Time Machine'' and ''Arrow of Death''. In 1982 Howarth finished developing his own

interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

, based on Scott Adams' '' Adventureland''

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

published in '' Byte magazine''. This used a database format which would speed up development of new adventures. He ported his games from the original TRS-80 format to the

BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...

under his own label, Digital Fantasia, as Molimerx were not planning to support other platforms. Digital Fantasia operated a mail order service and software shop, staffed by family and friends. The Mysterious Adventures titles were later ported to the

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was introduced as a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers, to provide many of the features of that more expensive mach ...

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

Commodore 16 The Commodore 16 is a home computer made by Commodore International with a 6502-compatible 7501 or 8501 CPU, released in 1984 and intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20. A cost-reduced version, the Commodore 116, was ...

and, with added graphics, to the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

and released by Channel 8 Software and later

Paxman Promotions Prism Leisure Corporation Plc was a distribution and publishing company that primarily focused on reissues and compilations, often at low prices. The company was located in Enfield, Middlesex, United Kingdom until it was placed into administrat ...

. Howarth also created games based on the film ''

Gremlins ''Gremlins'' is a 1984 American black comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voic ...

'' and the TV shows ''

Robin of Sherwood ''Robin of Sherwood'' is a British television series, based on the legend of Robin Hood. Created by Richard Carpenter, it was produced by HTV in association with Goldcrest, and ran from 28 April 1984 to 28 June 1986 on the ITV network. In th ...

'' and ''

Super Gran ''Super Gran'' is a Scottish fictional series about a grandmother with superpowers. Initially a series of books written by Forrest Wilson, a children's television show was adapted by Jenny McDade and produced by Tyne Tees Television for Ch ...

'' in 1985. After working on the arcade game Theme Park Mystery and SSI's Heroes of the Lance Howarth relocated to the USA in July 1990 after securing a position with the publisher Cinemaware. The company went out of business in 1991 but Howarth continued working on console titles for a company set up by Cinemaware co-founder Bob Jacobs. More recently Howarth has worked on creating applications for tablets and iPhones.

Mysterious Adventures

These are the games in the ''Mysterious Adventures'' series. *''The Golden Baton'',

, in machine code *''The Time Machine'',

, in machine code *''Arrow of Death part 1'',

, in machine code *''Arrow of Death part 2'',

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, in Scott Adams database *''Escape from Pulsar 7'',

(with Wherner Barnes), in Scott Adams database *''Circus'',

(with Wherner Barnes), in Scott Adams database *''The Feasibility Experiment'',

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

(with Wherner Barnes), in Scott Adams database *''The Wizard of Akyrz'',

(with Cliff J. Ogden), in Scott Adams database *''

Perseus and Andromeda In Greek mythology, Andromeda (; or ) is the daughter of Cepheus, the king of Aethiopia, and his wife, Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia boasts that she (or Andromeda) is more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon sends the sea monster Cetus to rava ...

'',

, in Scott Adams database *''Ten Little Indians'',

, (with Wherner Barnes), in Scott Adams database *'' Waxworks'',

, (with Cliff J. Ogden), in Scott Adams database ''The Feasibility Experiment'' was one of

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

magazine's 20 strangest moments in videogaming, calling it a "glorious stream-of-consciousness ramble".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howarth, Brian Video game programmers Interactive fiction writers Living people People from Blackpool British video game designers 1953 births