History
The company was founded by Alvin Earl Remmers (1942-2022), who had previously been in the tie-dye shirts business and started using early microcomputers to keep track of SKUs. While traveling to computer stores in California, Remmers saw a copy of Super Invader (1979) for the Apple II. He discovered that the game had not been widely distributed so he created California Pacific Computer to act as a collector and publisher for Apple II programs. [1] Super Invader sold over 20,000 units and would be named the highest selling Apple II program by 1980. [2]
Early on, Remmers came up with the concept of promoting the names of the software authors as advertising for his products. After making the acquaintance of Bill Budge while looking to copy protect the floppy disk version of Super Invader, they published three of his games in a collection titled Bill Budge’s Trilogy of Games (1980) and later four in Bill Budge’s Space Album (1980). [1] After discovering Akalabeth: World of Doom (1980), he collaborated with Softalk magazine to identify the author under the pseudonym of “Lord British” [1] – a name that Remmers said he originated.
California Pacific served as a distributor for early microcomputer software. Their short-lived Oakland office distributed the operating system CP/M and they also served as the agents for early game companies Sirius Software and Strategic Simulations Inc. [1] The publisher was known for its high quality packaging, though their games were distributed in sealed plastic bags rather than retail boxes. They used the label "Top of the Orchard Software" on many of their advertisements and disks. Much of the art was provided by Michael Pondsmith – future creator of the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG – and Denis Loubet, who later worked with Origin Systems. Steve Gibson developed the copy protection for their later products.
California Pacific was able to keep the loyalty of their collaborators through generous royalties paid to the programmers. In 1981 they published Ultima (1981) the first in a long-running game series. However, publicizing the authors without employing them proved to weaken the company's negotiating position. This compounded on top of the changing economics of computer distribution which made California Pacific’s product less profitable. Lastly, Remmers suffered issues with addiction which led to tensions between him and the authors, leaving the company bereft by the end of 1981.
The company published several further games, the last few under the "Progame" label. Remmers sought addiction treatment and changed businesses. Later in life he became a documentary filmmaker before passing away in 2022. [3]
Asteroids is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases.
Pinball Construction Set is a video game by Bill Budge written for the Apple II. It was originally published in 1982 through Budge's own company, BudgeCo, then was released by Electronic Arts in 1983 along with ports to the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64.
Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux is a British-born American video game developer, entrepreneur and space tourist.
Akalabeth: World of Doom is a role-playing video game released in 1979 for the Apple II. It was published by California Pacific Computer Company in 1980. Richard Garriott designed the game as a hobbyist project, which is now recognized as one of the earliest known examples of a role-playing video game and as a predecessor of the Ultima series of games that started Garriott's career. Garriott is the sole author of the game, with the exception of title artwork by Keith Zabalaoui.
Ultima, later known as Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness or simply Ultima I, is the first game in the Ultima series of role-playing video games created by Richard Garriott, originally released for the Apple II. It was first published in the United States by California Pacific Computer Company, which registered a copyright for the game on September 2, 1980 and officially released it in June 1981. Since its release, the game has been completely re-coded and ported to many different platforms. The 1986 re-code of Ultima is the most commonly known and available version of the game.
Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress, released on August 24, 1982, for the Apple II, is the second role-playing video game in the Ultima series, and the second installment in Ultima's "Age of Darkness" trilogy.
1979 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Space Invaders Part II and Super Speed Race, along with new titles such as Asteroids, Football, Galaxian, Head On, Heiankyo Alien, Monaco GP, Sheriff and Warrior. For the second year in a row, the highest-grossing video game was Taito's arcade game Space Invaders and the best-selling home system was the Atari Video Computer System.
Bill Budge is a retired American video game programmer and designer. He is best known for the Apple II games Raster Blaster (1981) and Pinball Construction Set (1983).
Creative Computing was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format than the rather technically oriented Byte.
Softalk was an American magazine of the early 1980s that focused on the Apple II computer. Published from September 1980 through August 1984, it featured articles about hardware and software associated with the Apple II platform and the people and companies who made them. The name was originally used on a newsletter of Apple Software pioneer company, Softape, who in 1980 changed its name to Artsci Inc.
Sirius Software was a California-based publisher of video games for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and VIC-20. Most games were written for the Apple II, then ported to other systems. The company was founded in 1980 by Jerry Jewell and Terry Bradley and released over 160 games before folding in 1984. Sirius also developed games for the Atari 2600 which were published in 1982 and 1983 by 20th Century Fox Video Games. Fox's failure to pay Sirius resulted in company's downfall. Nasir Gebelli wrote some of the early hits from Sirius, establishing his reputation as an Apple II game programmer.
Bill Budge's Raster Blaster is a pioneering home computer pinball simulation written by Bill Budge for the Apple II and published in 1981 by Budge's company, BudgeCo. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family. Raster Blaster resembles the Williams Firepower table from 1980.
Apple Panic is a game for the Apple II programmed by Ben Serki and published by Broderbund Software in 1981. Apple Panic is an unauthorized version of the 1980 arcade game Space Panic, the first game with ladders and platforms. While the arcade original remained obscure, Apple Panic became a top seller for home computers. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, VIC-20, IBM PC, and TRS-80.
Nasir Gebelli is an Iranian-American programmer and video game designer usually credited in his games as simply Nasir. Gebelli wrote Apple II games for Sirius Software, created his own company Gebelli Software, and worked for Squaresoft. He became known in the early 1980s for producing fast action games for the Apple II, including 3D shooters.
Super Invader is a fixed shooter video game written by Japanese programmer M. Hata for the Apple II and published by Creative Computing Software in November 1979. Super Invader is a clone of Space Invaders.
Bill Budge's Space Album is a collection of four Apple II action games written by Bill Budge and published by California Pacific in 1980. The games are Death Star, Asteroids, Tail Gunner, and Solar Shootout. Death Star was based around a scenario similar to the Death Star "trench battle" that formed the climax of the 1977 film, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Asteroids was a variant of the popular arcade video game of the same title.
Apple-Oids is a clone of Atari, Inc.'s Asteroids arcade video game. It was written by Tom Luhrs for the Apple II and published by California Pacific Computer Company in 1980. The asteroids in Apple-oids are in the shape of apples.
Adventure in Time is a text adventure for the Apple II published in 1981 by Phoenix Software. An Atari 8-bit family version was released in 1983.
Black Belt is a 1984 video game published by Earthware Computer Services for the Apple II and Commodore 64. A taekwondo simulator, this title allows a player to spar with another human or computer opponent while strictly adhering to the rules of the sport including scoring and penalties. Black Belt is the fourth game from Earthware and the second programmed by Kevin Ryan for the company. The game was released as an educational supplement to real life taekwondo training.
Aquatron is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Justin Gray and published by Sierra On-Line for the Apple II and Atari 8-bit family in 1983. Aquatron's gameplay is inspired by the 1981 arcade game, Defender.
