Sensible Past and Present

Jon and Chris, met and became friends as two 15 yr olds, in 1981. They were soon working together as they formed a rather unsuccessful rock band. (the inspiration behind Sex 'n Drugs 'n Rock 'n Roll ?). After dropping out of college they took up positions at a computer firm in Basildon called LT Software, in 1985. Chris was working as a programmer and Jon was doing the odd graphics jobs, and after six months they had completed their first game, Sodov the Sorcerer Spectrum ZX, before working together again to produce their first orignal game, Twister, again on the Spectrum.

It was at this point that the two decided to take the plunge and break out on their own. Sensible Software was formed, and their first game soon followed. This game was called Parallax, and gave them their big break, as they earned a £1000 deal with Ocean publishers - an event which signalled the arrival of Sensible Software, and prompted some champaigne and cigar celebrations from the two good friends.

Their first major accolade soon followed as Zzap 64 gave Sensible Software's off-the-wall shoot-em-up, Wizball the accolade of Game of the decade.

Sensibles desire for innovation and originality was already apparent. Following the highly successful Wizball, came a product idea which has yet to be copied. The product was called Shoot-em-up Construction kit, and gave the user the chance to create their own games, requiring absolutely no knowledge of computer programming. This product brought about yet more accolades for Sensible, as it was awarded with the State of the art for highly original software in 1987.

1987 saw Sensibles first venture into the world of football, the genre which was to make them a household name throughout the 1990's. Their first game was however produced for publishers Microprose, and was therefore entitled Microprose Soccer, however the highly playable nature of the game, and the fact that it too received several awards and accolades suggests that this could really have been, the first ever 'Sensible Soccer'. It was widely regarded as the best football game on the Commodore 64, and continued to enhance Sensibles already very excellent reputation for quality software.

International 3D tennis signalled the end of an era, as it was Sensibles final game on the Commodore 64.

Originality and creativity were again at the forefront in Sensibles first two 16bit creations - Mega lo mania, and Wizkid - A God game with a difference, featuring digitized speech, and a very surreal effort, vaguely resembling a platformer, and an insight into the mind of Jon Hare, perhaps.

But then came the game which made Sensible HUGE. It was of course Sensible Soccer, and it gained immediate recognition for it's simplicity and irresistable playability. It received rave reviews from every respectable member of the gaming community, and became an instant classic. The success of the series was seized upon by Sensible Software, as several new and updated versions were released, each seeing new, refreshing ideas added, and eventually culminating in possibly the most comprehensive game ever seen on the Amiga - Sensible World Of Soccer. With over 1,500,000 sales in Europe alone, the Sensible Soccer series remains Sensible Softwares most valued asset.

With another successful series with the Cannon Fodder series - another original and innovative product, Sensible spent an incredible 50 weeks at No. 1 in the charts between 1992 and 1994.

Sadly, Sensibles final game on 16 bit machines was a huge disappointment. Sensible Golf may have been a good idea - A golf game without all the technical details, but for once, Sensible failed to pull it off, and this was quite possibly their worst game to date.

Sensible Software then went into hiding, to research and prepare for their forray into the high end of the market.

After two years out of the limelight, with no new, original games rolling off the press (only 96/97 updates to SWOS, and PC conversions of other Sensible Software games), Sensible Software returned with more of a disappointing fizzle, than a bang in 1998.

The first in the new series of Sensible Soccers was being produced under the working title of SWOS 2000, but when GT forced Sensible Softwares hand, into rush releasing a version for the World Cup, things started to turn sour. Sensible Soccer World Cup 98 crashed into the PC games chart at number 5, but it wasn't long before criticisms were levelled at a game, which Sensible Software themselves, admitted was not the finished article. Many Sensible Soccer fans felt that the game didn't live up to it's predecessors, and that Sensible had abandoned the principles which had made the old series so popular.

This, along with the fact that they failed to find a publisher willing to publish their adult orientated Sex 'n Drugs 'n Rock 'n Roll meant that difficult times lay ahead for Sensible Software. Over £2 million was spent on developing SnDnRnR to 75% completion, along with a lot of time and effort, and to have to dump it on the scrap heap was a bitter pill to swallow for Jon and co. (For more information - go to the section of the site devoted to it)

October '98 saw the release of Sensible Soccer 98 European Club Edition but, despite a reduced price, and some excellent reviews, the game failed to make the top ten. No doubt the problems with it's predecessor hit sales badly, and the much improved version of the new Sensi, continued to receive a mixed reaction from Sensible Soccer fans.

And so Sensible were plunged into financial crisis, and had to shut down production, despite plans for further releases in the future, including, as exclusively revealed by Sensi-Sational a while ago - Sensible Soccer '98 Management Edition (this has not been confirmed by Sensible Software).

This prompted SensiSational and SWOS 24/7 webmasters into action, and the SOS - Save Our Sensible campaign was launched with an aim to allow Sensible fans to show their support, and perhaps, just perhaps to get something done about the problem. The response was phenomenal, with five people signing the message board within a day of the campaign starting (out of around 20 visitors), and there are currently around 50 messages on there.

If you want to know more about the SOS campaign, then click here.

Just as we had started to despair, the news broke that Sensible would live on, as a subsidiary company of Codemasters - UK publishing, and programming giants. Work has, apparantly already begun on a new Sensi product, in the Codemasters offices, but as yet, no details have been released. Hope amongst many Sensi fans, is that the game being produced will be some incarnation of the popular Sensible Soccer series, but only time will tell.