Rowan software

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Rowan Software Ltd.
legal form Limited
founding 1987
resolution December 2002
Reason for dissolution Takeover by Empire Interactive
Seat Runcorn , UKUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom 
Branch Software development

Rowan Software Ltd. is a former British game development company founded in 1987 by Rod Hyde in Runcorn .

Initial works were porting Falcon: The F-16 Fighter Simulation to the Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST as well as programming a Tetris version for the Amstrad CPC and the MSX . From 1990, the company developed its own flight simulations , starting with the Vietnam War settled Flight of the Intruder . This game was based on the novel of the same name by Stephen Coonts , which also formed the basis for the film Flight through Hell , shot the following year . This was followed in 1992 by Reach for the Skies , which themed the Battle of Britain , and in 1994, Dawn Patrol ( First World War ) and Overlord ( aerial warfare during Operation Overlord ). In the latter two games, technical advances through the use of SVGA resolutions, textures and Gouraud shading enabled realistic graphics of dogfights and made Dawn Patrol in particular a sales success.

A rather unusual game was Air Power , released in 1995 . This was not only set in a fictional scenario that focused on battles between primitive aircraft and airships influenced by steampunk , but also included a dynamic campaign game mode in which the player himself had to set goals for missions and campaigns. Similar elements were found in Navy Strike , also published in 1995 , which focused on the carrier-operated McDonnell Douglas F / A-18 fighter-bomber .

With Flying Corps , Rowan returned to the World War I scenario in 1997. In addition to its realism, the game caused a sensation with its historically precisely structured campaigns: In one of the four campaigns, the player took on the role of Lothar von Richthofen , who, in the absence of his brother, tries to score as many kills as possible in the 11th season . A version expanded to include support for 3D accelerator cards with the 3dfx Voodoo Graphics chip appeared in the fall of that year under the title Flying Corps Gold .

The next game appeared in 1999, MiG Alley , which was set in the Korean War and dealt with the fighting between early jet fighters from American ( Lockheed P-80 , North American F-86 ) and Soviet ( Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 ). Again, this game included an extensive campaign mode with strategic planning. The last game to appear in January 2001 was Eagle's Day: The Battle of Britain , which, in addition to the simulation part, let the player plan the eponymous battle in a similar way from a German or British point of view. In December 2002, Rowan Software was bought by Empire Interactive, which had previously been the publisher of the games .

Martin Kenwright, who left the company in 1989 and founded Digital Image Design , also worked for Rowan Software .

Developed games

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