Anita Sinclair

Co-founder & Managing Director

Co-founded Magnetic Scrolls in London in 1984 with Ken Gordon. Served as Managing Director throughout the studio's active life, overseeing creative direction, business relationships, and the crucial partnership with Rainbird Software that sustained the classic catalogue. Sinclair's role was central to establishing and maintaining the studio's reputation for quality.

IFWiki profile →

Ken Gordon

Co-founder & Technical Director

Co-founded Magnetic Scrolls in 1984; led technical development of the parser engine and the Magnetic Windows display system — the proprietary multi-window technology that reached its fullest realisation in Wonderland (1990).

In 2017, Gordon launched Strand Games to produce enhanced remaster versions of the Magnetic Scrolls catalogue for iOS and Android. The first remaster, The Guild of Thieves, is available now. Further titles are in progress.

Strand Games → · IFWiki profile →

Hugh Steers

Technical Contributor

An early technical contributor to Magnetic Scrolls, working on the core engine and interpreter. Mentioned in Rob Steggles's memoir as a key figure in the studio's technical foundations.

Rob Steggles

Writer - The Pawn, Corruption & others

Primary writer on The Pawn (1985) and co-writer (with Michael Bywater) on Corruption (1988). Also contributed to other titles and remained closely associated with the studio throughout its active years.

Steggles later wrote an extensive first-person memoir of life at Magnetic Scrolls, documenting the studio's history, working practices, personalities, and the development of individual games. It is an indispensable primary source, hosted on the Magnetic Scrolls Memorial.

Read the memoir at Magnetic Scrolls Memorial →

Michael Bywater

Writer - Jinxter, Corruption

A noted British satirist and journalist, Bywater wrote Jinxter (1987) with Rob Steggles and contributed to Corruption (1988). His background in comedy and political satire gave both games their distinctive register: Jinxter's playful absurdism and Corruption's dark irony.

Bywater was also a co-writer on Douglas Adams's Bureaucracy (Infocom, 1987) — an intersection of two of the most literary voices in 1980s interactive fiction.

Georgina Sinclair

Writer - Fish!, Wonderland

Wrote Fish! (1988, with Michael Bywater) and Wonderland (1990) — the studio's most technically ambitious and final original title. The breadth of register across these two games — comedic body-swapping spy thriller and dreamlike Carroll adaptation — demonstrates her versatility.

Tim Findley

Writer - The Guild of Thieves, Myth

Wrote The Guild of Thieves (1987) — generally regarded as the Magnetic Scrolls critical peak — and Myth (1989). The Guild of Thieves in particular demonstrated puzzle design of remarkable elegance: a coherent, internally consistent world in which every object had its place and purpose.

Linda Bishop

Writer - Additional contributions

Credited as a writer on one or more Magnetic Scrolls titles. Full credits available via MobyGames.

Geoff Quilley

Illustrator - The Pawn, The Guild of Thieves

Created the hand-painted interior illustrations for The Pawn (1985) and The Guild of Thieves (1987). Quilley's classical painterly style — warm earth tones, careful composition, the atmosphere of Victorian book illustration — defined the Magnetic Scrolls visual identity in its most celebrated form.

His work remains among the finest visual art produced for any text adventure game. The full illustration sets are archived at the Magnetic Scrolls Memorial.

Terry Humphries

Illustrator - Jinxter, Corruption

Painted the interior illustrations for Jinxter (1987) and Corruption (1988). Where Quilley's work was classical and muted, Humphries brought a more vivid and contemporary register — suited to Jinxter's comic Britain and Corruption's angular City landscapes.

Alan Hunnisett

Illustrator - Fish!, Myth

Created illustrations for Fish! (1988) and Myth (1989), handling the considerable tonal range demanded by an absurdist spy comedy and a Greek mythology epic.

Ghislaine Selby

Illustrator - Wonderland

Created the illustrations for Wonderland (1990) — the studio's most visually elaborate title, enabled by the Magnetic Windows technology. Selby's style shifted away from the naturalism of Quilley and Humphries toward the surreal and dreamlike, appropriate to Lewis Carroll's source material and the multi-window display that gave each image room to breathe.