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Death Wake

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Deathwake was a war simulation / tactics game in the form of a map screen and several sub games. The concept was dictated by the publisher, Quicksilva, but the actual game designed on the hoof by the development team at the newly formed Binary Design studio.

The team were given 8 weeks to design and develop the game, on all three formats, but it actually took about 12.

The game appears to have been re-released at some point on the Bug-Byte label, as a budget release, although nobody bothered to tell us at the time.

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Death Wake screen shot 1 Death Wake screen shot 2

Project details

Started:

Tue, 01 Oct 1985

Development studio:

Binary Design

Main client / publisher:

Quicksilva

Status:

Finished

Proper Pickford Bros game?

No, either a work-for-hire project, or we aren't claiming much credit for this game.

Core studio team:

John Pickford

Programmer

Paul Ranson

Programmer

Jim Baguley

Programmer

Pete Harrison

Graphic Artist

David Whittaker

Music and Sound Effects

Ste Pickford

Font

Death Wake ZX Spectrum UK cover

Platform:

ZX Spectrum

Territory:

United Kingdom

Release date:

Wed, 01 Jan 1986

Title:

Death Wake

Publisher:

Quicksilva

Developer:

Binary Design

Sales:

5,000

» Download this game!

John Pickford

Programmer

Death Wake Amstrad CPC UK cover

Platform:

Amstrad CPC

Territory:

United Kingdom

Release date:

Wed, 01 Jan 1986

Title:

Death Wake

Publisher:

Quicksilva

Developer:

Binary Design

Sales:

5,000

» Download this game!

Paul Ranson

Programmer

Death Wake Commodore 64 UK cover

Platform:

Commodore 64

Territory:

United Kingdom

Release date:

Wed, 01 Jan 1986

Title:

Death Wake

Publisher:

Quicksilva

Developer:

Binary Design

Sales:

5,000

Jim Baguley

Programmer

Death Wake ZX Spectrum UK cover

Platform:

ZX Spectrum

Territory:

United Kingdom

Release date:

Fri, 01 Jan 1988

Title:

Death Wake

Publisher:

Bug-Byte

Developer:

Binary Design

Sales:

2,500

John Pickford

Programmer

Death Wake Commodore 64 UK cover

Platform:

Commodore 64

Territory:

United Kingdom

Release date:

Fri, 01 Jan 1988

Title:

Death Wake

Publisher:

Bug-Byte

Developer:

Binary Design

Sales:

2,500

Jim Baguley

Programmer

Death Wake Amstrad CPC UK cover

Platform:

Amstrad CPC

Territory:

United Kingdom

Release date:

Fri, 01 Jan 1988

Title:

Death Wake

Publisher:

Bug-Byte

Developer:

Binary Design

Sales:

2,500

Paul Ranson

Programmer

Ste Pickford

I only did the font for this game. I loved designing fonts, and it was always quite tricky to design a readable font in 8x8 pixels, so I think what happened was that John took one I'd done at home into work with him and used that in the game, rather than one designed by the artist. Besides, the deadline was so tight for this game I suspect Pete was glad of any help which reduced his workload. I was, of course, delighted that some of my pixels ended up in a game published by the declining, but still reputable, Quicksilva, as it meant I could show off at school.

 

† Sales Estimates
Almost all sales estimates given are educated guesses. Being lowly developers we rarely had access to the publisher's sales infomation, and in many cases hadno contact with the publisher whatsoever after each game was completed. Even in cases where we were the owners of the development studio and on royalty deals, for various reasonsit was very rare that we received accurate sales figures from the publishers involved. We'd be delighted to correct any errors, or hear more accurate sales figures for any of the titles here.Please email the webmaster if you know something we don't!

‡ Downloads
We don't condone video game piracy. We would prefer that all our games were still available for purchase by those who wanted them,but unfortunately most of our games are not commercially available in any form, with the IP or code in the hands of defunct commercialentities with neither the will nor the ability to commercially exploit these products, if not forgotten about completely. In such cases we're happy for the game to be madeavailable free for enthusiasts to download, rather than being consigned to the dustbin of history. If you would like us to remove a link,please email the webmaster to explain why.

Credits
The credits listed are accurate to the best of our recollection, but if we've made any errors or ommissions (quite likely!) please email the webmaster to let us know and we'll try to make a correction as soon as possible.