Magnetic Fields (video game developer)
video game developer
Magnetic Fields was a British game development company founded in February 1982 and best known for developers Shaun Southern and Andrew Morris. The company was originally named "Mr Chip Software" but renamed "Magnetic Fields (Software Design) Ltd." usually simply referred to as "Magnetic Fields", in 1988.
History
Between 1982 and 1984, Magnetic Fields released their games themselves with limited success. In 1984 they ceased publishing games themselves and instead developed for Publishers Mastertronic and then later for Alternative Software, Gremlin Graphics and other publishers. Probably the best known game released under the Mr. Chip Software company name was Trailblazer which led to several sequels and ports to other systems. Most of the other games released under the Mr. Chip Software label were already focused on racing like Kikstart 2, but also some non-racing games such as Proof Of Destruction also found a fanbase. Although early development was focused on the Commodore 64 and VIC-20, the company widened the number of target platforms for their games in the mid 1980s. One of the other platforms included the Commodore 16, which featured a few conversions written by Southern, like a port of Trailblazer and a rewrite of Kikstart, but also a number of unique titles, including Arthur Noid and Bandits at Zero.
“Magnetic Fields (video game developer)” enters the record as video game developer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Magnetic, Fields and video can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Magnetic Fields (video game developer)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Magnetic, Fields and video provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1884327. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982, 1988 and 1984.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Magnetic Fields (video game developer)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Magnetic Fields (video game developer) primary sources, Magnetic Fields (video game developer) archive and Magnetic research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Magnetic Fields (video game developer)”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Magnetic Fields (video game developer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.