David Jones (programmer)

David Jones is a former freelance computer game programmer who was prolific in the mid-to-late 1980s. He is best known for the creation of the cult computer game character Magic Knight[1] in his 1985 game Finders Keepers for the Mastertronic budget label and released on the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX and Commodore 64.[2] He later went on to work for Psygnosis and Acclaim.

Finders Keepers spawned three cult sequels: Spellbound (1985), Knight Tyme (1986) and Stormbringer (1987).

In 2019, Jones donated the Tandy TRS-80 Model III computer that he used to create the Magic Knight series of games to The Centre for Computing History.[3] Also donated were many floppy disks, and a hard disk that containing source code and assets for many of his games. The data will be preserved as part of the Centre's ongoing video game preservation work.[4]

As of 2019, Jones is a Games Lecturer at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.[5]

  1. ^ Peter Parrish (19 October 2007). "Spellbound Retro Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
  2. ^ "David Jones". computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Magic Knight Computer Preserved at Museum". computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  4. ^ "David Jones video game preservation case study". computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  5. ^ "David Jones". computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.