Superscape was a British technology company known for their 3D products. It was
the evolution of video game developer Incentive Software, founded in 1983 and
best known for their groundbreaking 3D titles such as Driller, Total Eclipse,
and Castle Master. Their Freescape engine could render solid 3D geometry on the
8-bit consumer PCs of the 1980's - a feat that was previously considered
impossible. Realizing the potential in licensing out their technology to the
enterprise sector, they rebranded to Dimension International in 1989 and began
work on a newer, more powerful 3D engine; the last game to be released with the
Freescape engine was 3D Construction Kit II in 1992.

The first public demonstration of the new engine came in the form of a benchmark
for VGA PCs, originally released in September 1990. According to its
documentation, the benchmark was powered by the company's "Superscape Alternate
Realities System". In March 1991, the benchmark was followed up with an
interactive demo that advertised "Superscape Virtual Reality Solutions" for
businesses. Later in January 1992, the demo was updated to advertise a suite of
"Desktop VR" products, including an authoring tool for virtual worlds called
Virtual Reality Toolkit (VRT), and an application for viewing said worlds titled
Superscape Visualiser. The company also offered virtual world creation services.

The official release date of the Superscape VR suite is unclear; it apparently
hit the market in October 1991, although it saw use in the real world as early
as March (that being for two pilot episodes of the game show CyberZone). Early
Usenet postings praised its speed and ease of use compared to other "budget VR"
options, although some lamented its steep price and frame-based dynamics (ie.
the speed of moving objects was dependent on the CPU rather than a consistent
time unit). This sentiment largely persisted through the software's lifespan.

As enterprise-targeted software, it saw plenty of use in training and
simulations, though this was mostly limited to domestic borders. In an effort to
change that, Dimension rebranded as Superscape in 1994 and began an expansion
into the US market and beyond.

1996 marked another shift in business strategy as Superscape began a return to
the consumer market with the release of the Viscape browser plug-in. Hoping to
leverage their 3D engine as a competitor to then-underpowered VRML, they
released cheaper tiers of their authoring software and established high-profile
partnerships with corporations such as Microsoft, Intel, and Xerox (Intel in
particular became one of the most frequent sponsors of Viscape projects). They
also struck a deal with The LEGO Group to develop LEGO Creator - their first
video game in nearly a decade.

Although on the surface Superscape appeared to be booming, in reality they were
embroiled in a financial nightmare. The company had not turned a profit since
1993, and their web initiatives had done little to pay off the massive debt they
had incurred. These issues only worsened as Superscape's corporate partnerships
proved futile, VRML 2.0 emerged as a viable alternative to their own proprietary
formats, and the overall hype surrounding 3D webpages dwindled. Merely a year
after Viscape's release, the plugin was updated with support for VRML worlds,
and by 1999, all three tiers of their authoring software had stopped receiving
updates.

Around the turn of the century - likely as a result of their dire financial
situation - Superscape began a radical transformation into a cellphone video
game developer, leveraging their extensive 3D background to empower the
fledgling mobile gaming industry. All of their authoring products were
officially discontinued, while Viscape and the LEGO Creator series (which used
the Superscape engine) stuck around until 2001. Despite this new direction,
however, they continued to experiment with 3D web technologies for a few more
years. e-Visualiser - a 3D Java applet intended for the online marketing space -
existed at one point but was apparently unsuccessful, while a proper successor
to the Superscape engine was in development but never saw the light of day. The
company's new ventures ultimately proved far more effective, and Superscape
would enjoy several years of prosperity until they were acquired by Glu Mobile
in 2007.

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FURTHER READING

    To learn more about Superscape's early days as Incentive Software, I
    recommend this article by Retro Gamer:
    https://www.retrogamer.net/profiles/company/incentive-software/

    A compiled list of articles and press releases pertaining to Superscape can
    be found here:
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vS1UrJdSLpIPMOY-7JtADjhAgMDwqe-Pv9wc9zCZP6l-FWeBuRNin6axNgRHSKp1xmNt8xGd2k_vFwN/pubhtml

    Superscape's list of "World Partners" from 1997 can be found here:
    https://web.archive.org/web/19970709182701id_/http://www.viscape.com/partners/text.htm