Deus Ex Machina

Deus Ex Machina was a computer game designed and created by Mel Croucher and published by Automata UK for the ZX Spectrum in 1984.

The game was the first to be accompanied by a fully synchronised audio cassette tape which contained a voice and music track. The cast included Ian Dury, Jon Pertwee, Donna Bailey, Frankie Howerd, and Mel Croucher (who also composed the music). Andrew Stagg coded the original Spectrum version, and Colin Jones (later known as author/publisher Colin Bradshaw-Jones) was the programmer of the Commodore 64 version.

The game charts the life of a "defect" which has formed in "the machine", from conception, through growth, evolution and eventually death. The progression is loosely based on "The Seven Ages of Man" from the Shakespeare play, As You Like It and includes many quotations and references to this.

A remake of the game went into production in 2010, under the title Deus Ex Machina 2, once again under the design and creation of Mel Croucher.

Source: Wikipedia, "Deus Ex Machina," available under the CC-BY-SA License.