| Deus Ex Machina | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Automata UK |
| Designer(s) | Mel Croucher |
| Platform(s) | ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX |
| Release date(s) | 1984 |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media/distribution | Cassette tape |
Deus Ex Machina was a computer game designed and created by Mel Croucher and published by Automata UK for the ZX Spectrum in October 1984.
The game was the first to be accompanied by a fully synchronised audio cassette tape which contained a voice and music track. The cast included Ian Dury, Jon Pertwee, Donna Bailey, Frankie Howerd, and Mel Croucher (who also composed the music). Andrew Stagg coded the original Spectrum version, and Colin Jones (later known as author/publisher Colin Bradshaw-Jones) was the programmer of the Commodore 64 version.
The game charts the life of a "defect" which has formed in "the machine", from conception, through growth, evolution and eventually death. The progression is loosely based on "The Seven Ages of Man" from the Shakespeare play, As You Like It and includes many quotations and references to this.
Despite critical acclaim at the time, the game did not sell well as there were issues with distributing the game to retailers; the wholesale distributors required delivery of the game on credit but Automata was unable to support this due to the financial arrangements with their production team and soundtrack cast.
A re-imagining of the game went into production in 2010, under the title Deus Ex Machina 2, once again under the design and creation of Mel Croucher, and produced by Portuguese games publisher Quirkafleeg. The new cast is led by Sir Christopher Lee as The Programmer, with Chyna Whyne as The Machine, Chris Madin as The Defect, and original Ian Dury session vocals. The developer is vectrLab, a Portuguese videogame development company.
In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.[1]
The game's name is derived from the Latin expression deus ex machina, literally meaning "god from the machine", and used to indicate "a person or event which provides a sudden, unexpected solution to a story".