A platform game, where you are given the chance of actually creating you own levels. Good, but unfortunately the game itself lacks a lot of thing to make it that playable.
Apart from some simple graphics, a simple main character and a pre-set level – there isn’t much to do other than navigate through created levels. There are no enemies to fight to have much of a playable game at all.
It seems this preview is at quite an early stage in its life, and would likely have included enemies and more graphics in a later build no doubt.
Anonymous contributor has done a lot of digging – most of which follows now. Firstly, they suggest that the game could be of Austrian origin, with “Neiw” backwards being “Wien”, which is German for “Vienna”. The preview intro is also by Varsity, and says that, concerning Ragon Software: “This company’s distributor is Karasoft”.
Karasoft does not seem to be around anymore, but is frequently mentioned in the archives. They seem to have been an Austrian distributor active in the late 1980s and early 90s. An example from Happy Computer issue 1, 1988, page 2. The Gauntlet 2 ad has the following fine print: “Distribution in Österreich: Karasoft”. The same company is mentioned in several ads in the same issue.
In Aktueller Software Markt magazine, issue 8 1986, page 53, a Madness ad mentions the company as being stationed in Wien: “In Österreich: Karasoft – Wien”. Amiga Magazin issue 12 1990, page 8 then had the following to say about Karasoft:
“Karasoft describes itself as the oldest software company for computer entertainment in Central Europe. Accordingly, the selection is mainly for games from Activision to Sublogic and joysticks from Competition to Suncom. But Karasoft also offers educational software from the German Eureka, the American Fisher Price and the Austrian Ingenio.”
The ads all run between 1986 to 1993, giving a possible span for Neiw.
So who’s behind Ragon Software? Further research needed, but possibly an Austrian programmer located in Vienna in the late 80s to early 90s. And in order to have a distributor, as the intro claims, it is likely that Ragon has already published a game or two. As Anonymous Contributor suggests, it is hard to see how Karasoft would be interested in a preview from someone unknown.
A huge thank you to Anonymous Contributor for that amazing information!
It’s unknown if a later version of this game does exist, and there will be trouble trying to find out, as there are no credits to the game to follow up. Another tough one for GTW.
If you know anything about this title, please do get in touch.
Contributions: Anonymous Contributor
Supporting content
Available downloads
- Preview_Neiw.zip (zip)
Gallery
Update history
- 03/10/24 – Some highly detailed links and findings thanks to Anonymous Contributor
- 11/03/23 – Quick tidy up of the page.
