Working out of his Woodland Hills, California apartment, Steffin programmed educational software, while Pederson favored games. The games he created while completing his studies at UCLA. Edu-Ware's first products were Perception, followed by Compu-Read, which Steffin had begun programming before starting Edu-Ware, with the intention of selling it to Programma International. Software store Rainbow Computing, enticed by Pederson's concept for a new role-playing video game called Space, gave him his first Apple II computer, which he used to write the strategy gameTerrorist and the educational program Compu-Spell, for which Pederson wrote the first version of Edu-Ware's EWS graphics engine for generating text on the Apple's high-resolution graphics screen.
The company expanded beyond the two founders when it hired Mike Lieberman, who had also worked at the student radio station, as a sales manager, and contracted game developer David Mullich, who met Steffin while working at Rainbow Computing. After writing several games for Edu-Ware as a freelancer, he joined Edu-Ware on completing his studies at California State University, Northridge in 1980, and as his first assignment created the ground-breaking adventure gameThe Prisoner, the product for which Edu-Ware is best remembered today. The game was also a financial success for the company, which moved into actual office space, at 22222 Sherman Way in Canoga Park, California, by the year's end.[3] Sometime later, the company relocated to a larger facility overlooking the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, California.
Sherwin Steffin (fourth from right) at a celebration of On-Line Systems' first anniversary, 1981.
Edu-Ware may be most noted for what it failed to publish rather than what it did publish: Ken Williams originally shopped the first graphical adventure, Mystery House to Edu-Ware in 1980. Unhappy with how the negotiations were proceeding, he formed On-line Systems to publish the game.[4] On-line Systems became Sierra On-line and Sierra became extremely successful, based largely on their reputation in the graphic adventure genre.
While The Prisoner remained Edu-Ware's best-selling individual product during its first two years of business, educational software remained its primary focus. The Compu-Math series, consisting of three programs designed by Steffin and programmed by Mullich for teaching elementary mathematics, unveiled Edu-Ware's vision of teaching by objectives and measuring learning through pretesting and post-testing. The company's educational approach was perfected in 1981 with the release of the first in the Algebra series, in which learners choose the cognitive approach by which they want to learn. The Algebra series greatly surpassed The Prisoner in sales and became Edu-Ware's greatest source of revenue.
Despite the company's successes, by 1982 it was obvious to Steffin and Pederson that they could not continue running the company themselves. Rapidly climbing marketing costs and heavier competition from rivals like Davidson & Associates and Spinnaker Software were taking their toll. For the 1.5 million dollar software company to survive, Edu-Ware needed more management strength and expertise.[5] In July 1983 Management Science America, then the world's largest independent software manufacturer, announced that it was purchasing Edu-Ware for a combination of cash and MSA stock, valued at $1.5 million, plus a percentage of future earnings. Having previously specialized in mainframe computer software, MSA saw the purchase as its entry into educational software, which it saw as a future growth market.[6]
However, the relationship soon soured as Edu-Ware's marketing was taken over by MSA's Peachtree Software accounting software division, and the Edu-Ware brand identity was slowly extinguished. The final straw came when Personal Computing hit the newsstands in October 1984. The issue featured a well-publicized peach-scented insert that unfolded into eight pages, 32-inches wide, displaying a shelf of 67 Peachtree Software products, all in identical packaging. This included 45 Edu-Ware products that were virtually indistinguishable from the accounting software packaging, the only difference being that the Edu-Ware products had the word 'Education' on the box, even for the Edu-Ware games like Prisoner 2.[7]
Steffin's protests over how MSA was handling Edu-Ware caused him to be fired in August 1984. The next month, he filed a lawsuit against MSA, claiming the company had violated securities laws in making fraudulent representations to Edu-Ware's stockholders in order to buy the latter's stock and for the promise of future payments not materialized. Steffin further claimed he was to be employed by Edu-Ware for four years after the sale, and charged that MSA undercut Edu-Ware sales to diminish the payments it had promised. He said MSA sabotaged the company by holding some products off the market, eliminating advertising and discontinuing use of the Edu-Ware name.[8]
Two months after Steffin filed his lawsuit, MSA announced plans to sell its retail microcomputer software group of Peachtree Software, DesignWare, and Eduware, which together lost $2 million that year. MSA cited the millions of dollars Peachtree Software had spent on advertising and promotion, including the expensive peach-scented insert, as a reason for selling off the group.[9] In March 1985 Encyclopædia Britannica announced that it had purchased Designware and Edu-Ware from MSA for an undisclosed sum. The EduWare development team was to be disbanded, and DesignWare would handle both the development and marketing of Edu-Ware and Designware products.[10]
Steffin started another software publishing company, BrainPower, along with sales manager Lieberman, while Pederson, who had left Edu-Ware several months earlier, went on to other ventures. Mullich and a few other remaining Edu-Ware employees acquired two of the computer games in development, an adventure game called Wilderness: A Survival Adventure and a space flight simulator called Tranquility Base, and formed their own game company, Electric Transit.
Besides Mullich, another notable Edu-Ware alumni include former Apple Computer evangelist Guy Kawasaki, who was director of marketing at the company,[11] and NASA official Wesley Huntress, who developed Rendezvous: A Spaceflight Simulator.[12]
Products and labels
Advertisement for some of the software succeeding Edu-Ware's Edu-Pak 1 (1981).
However, the photocopied documentation that was packaged in a zip-lock bag with each of Edu-Ware's early products outlined the company's goal of creating software that fell into two distinct categories: K-12 educational products that aimed to provide computer aided instruction that went beyond "random drill and practice routines', and entertainment products which were “often more intellectually powerful, and educational, than the educational products themselves".
Most of the programs in Edu-Ware's initial product line were not typical of the intellectually challenging computer games and structured, pedagogically sound educational software for which the company would later become known. Quickly designed and programmed in Applesoft BASIC primarily by co-founder Sherwin Steffin,[2] most of these text-based programs were dropped from Edu-Ware's catalog when the company began developing products featuring high-resolution graphics in 1981.
While many of the company's initial efforts fell short of that vision and were soon dropped from future catalogues, several early products typified the Edu-Ware experience, including its speed reading program Compu-Read, and its science fictionrole-playing video gameSpace.
E.S.P. is a game giving players the opportunity to find out whether they possess extrasensory perception. While displaying a constantly changing graphic design on the screen, the program briefly flashes emotionally charged words, randomly chosen from a word list, on the screen. The program then asks a series of questions to determine if the player's attitudes have been influenced by the subliminal messages. A file-builder is included to allow players to insert new words in the data base.
The program was offered in both a stand-alone disk version and a compendium, along with E.S.P. and Zintar, called Party-Pak I. However, Edu-Ware dropped the game from its product line by the time its August 1, 1980 catalog was issued.
Metri-Vert is an analytical program performing metric conversion calculations for length/distance, area, volume weight and temperature. The program features a display page storing up to twenty conversions for easy reading and recall.
Perception is a puzzle game consisting of three games designed to challenge and improve players' visual skills. The first involves using game paddles to draw lines matching those drawn by the computer. The second, based on a World War II test for spy candidates, tests players' power of observation by showing them only small glimpses of an abstract object as a narrow mask travels over it and then asking them to choose from among several objects what they had just seen. The third modules tests player's visual memory by requiring them to distinguish sizes of identical shapes. Players have control over the shape, display time, and presentation format.
Originally developed by Steffin before founding Edu-Ware, he wrote a second version of the program soon after establishing the publishing company. The program was offered as both a stand-alone versions, and in a compendium, along with Statistics and Compu-Read, called Edu-Pak I. Edu-Ware upgraded the program to high resolution graphics using its EWS3 graphics engine in 1982, renaming it Perception 3.0, which was featured in the company's catalogs until 1984.
Rescue is a low-resolution graphics action game in which the player uses game paddles move his spaceship to intercept with a damaged ship randomly floating around the screen. The program was offered in both disk and cassette stand-alone versions, as well as in a compendium, along with War, called Rescue/War, but was dropped from Edu-Ware's catalog by 1980.
However, Edu-Ware dropped the game from its product line by the time its March 1, 1980 catalog was issued.
Statistics is an analytical program performing many of the statistical calculations ordinarily found in FORTRAN driven SPSS programs of the time. Calculations performed by the program included mean, variance, standard deviation, Pearson correlation, normal distribution, Chi-square test, and T-Test.
The program was offered in both disk and cassette stand-alone versions, as well as in a compendium, along with Perception and Compu-Read, called Edu-Pak I.
Originally developed by Steffin before founding Edu-Ware, the company upgraded the program to high resolution graphics using its EWS3 graphics engine in 1982, renaming it Statistics 3.0, which was featured in the company's catalogs until 1984.
Story Teller is a word game in which players are asked to type in a series of names, animals, colors, phrases and other words with which the program constructs a story. Edu-Ware described it as being "more than just a mad-libs game" because it described and made use of all parts of speech.[13]
Subliminal is a game testing whether players are influenced by subliminal messages. While the player is watching a constantly changing graphic design, the program quickly flashes an emotionally changed word on the screen. The player then answers a series of questions to determine whether his attitudes has been affected by the subliminal message. The program includes a file builder for modifying the data base from which the program randomly chooses the words to display.
The program was offered in both disk and cassette stand-alone versions, as well as in a compendium, along with Zintar, called Party-Pak I. However, Edu-Ware dropped the game from its product line by the time its August 1, 1980 catalog was issued.
Text File Editor is a program allowing users to create, combine or manipulate sequential text files. The program was advertised as useful for "unlocking the secrets" hidden in the files of Compu-Read, Network, Subliminal, and Zintar.
Unisolve: The Electronics Designer is an analytical program that calculates 24 equations encountered in engineering and design, including transmission line formulae, reactance, coil-winding models and modulation percentages.
War is a numeric strategy game occurring in ten rounds. In each round, the program would display a number on the screen and allow the player to type another number in response. The program would then use both numbers in a formula to determine the winner for that round, and the side that won the most number of rounds would win the game. The challenge for the player was to determine the formula the program was using to determine the winner in each round.
The program was offered in both disk and cassette stand-alone versions, as well as in a compendium, along with Rescue, called Rescue/War, but was dropped from Edu-Ware's product line by the time its March 1, 1980 catalog was issued.
Zintar is a drinking game in which players are instructed by the computer (randomly) to "take hits" while watching a series of color and black & white graphics. A scoreboard kept track and designated the player who had been assigned the most hits as "The Mayor". It was Pederson's first Apple II program written strictly for fun; Sherwin Steffin supplied the graphics. Edu-Ware offered it for sale after being encouraged by an early mail order distributor. This controversial party game was advertised in Edu-Ware's catalogs as being banned by Apple II retailer Rainbow Computing. However, Edu-Ware dropped the game from its product line by the time its August 1, 1980 catalog was issued.
Science of Learning
In 1981, Edu-Ware formalized the distinction between its educational and entertainment products by creating two separate product lines, each with its own packaging. The Science of Learning product line consisted of no-nonsense tutorials such as the Compu-Spell, Compu-Math and Algebra series. In each, the learner is given specific, measurable learning objectives; then pre-tested to assess current skill levels before being presented with sequenced learning modules; after which he is post-tested to determine what he has learned. Several of these products featured a classroom management module, which measured the individual progress of an entire classroom of students and provide teacher control over the learning process.
While Edu-Ware's attempts at applying formal learning theory were often praised, its no-nonsense approach to learning had its critics. For example, a review of Compu-Math: Arithmetic Skills complained that the program is "devoid of the fun aspect that makes computerized learning human and inspiring. The sole reinforcement is an ever-increasing complexity of the problems".[14]
Although most of Edu-Ware's Science of Learning products were developed internally, by 1982 the company was attracting outside educators such as Judith S. Priven, Ed.M., who developed several PSAT/SAT products; Neil Bennett, Ph.D., who created an interactive tutorial for teaching BASIC programming; and M. David Merill, who created the first of an unfinished comprehensive series to teach poetry.
Interactive Fantasies
Advertisement for Edu-Ware's Interactive Fantasies line of video games.
While educational software was Edu-Ware's bread and butter, its innovative games are what the company is remembered for today. The goal of Edu-Ware's games was to "test, challenge and perhaps inspire that closet intellectual in all of us."[15] Dubbed Interactive Fantasies, they tackled such weighty topics as the oil crisis (Windfall), television programming (Network), and global terrorism (Terrorist). Noted one magazine reviewer, "there is that residual element of reality that makes Edu-Ware stuff so good".[16]
Many of Edu-Ware's games were written by game designerDavid Mullich. The most famous of these was Prisoner 2, an update that added graphics to their earlier game The Prisoner. The game was Mullich's homage to the Patrick McGoohan 1967 TV series The Prisoner, which had recently been rebroadcast in the United States. The game was Edu-Ware's most critically acclaimed title, and was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers and IBM PC computers. While the game was one of Edu-Ware's best-selling titles: it proved too outside the mainstream to be considered a true hit.
Interactive Simulations
In 1982, Edu-Ware introduced a third brand, Interactive Simulations, when it released Rendezvous: A Space Shuttle Simulation, developed by NASA scientist Wesley Huntress. Accompanied by a thick "Spacecraft Operations" manual with a chapter on use in the classroom, this flight simulator was marketed as being as educational as it was fun to play but still was able to have been used in an educational setting.
Dragonware
While the typical Edu-Ware educational product adopted a very serious tone in its instruction, developer John Conrad had created a series of educational products such as Introduction to Counting and Spelling and Reading Primer for Edu-Ware that was designed for the younger learner and thus more playful than the typical Edu-Ware product.
However, two of Conrad's later products, Spelling Bee Games and Webster’s Numbers, fell so far into the realm of edutainment that Edu-Ware created a fourth product line for them in 1983. The Dragonware line featured a dragon mascot named Webster, who was to be the child's companion in this series of educational games.
Edu-Ware's final products – the comprehensive Learning to Read literacy series, the final chapter in the Empirerole-playing video game saga, a Tranquility Baselunar lander simulator, and a children's game called Merry Canned Nightmare’s and Dreams – would each have fit well into its Science of Learning, Interactive Fantasies, Interactive Simulations, and Dragonware brands, respectively.
However, Edu-Ware's new owner, MSA, decided to strip Edu-Ware of all its brands and marketed the entire software line in identical packaging, bearing the logo of its Peachtree Software accounting software division. All of the products were promoted as being educational software – even such games as Prisoner 2 – until the product line was sold to Encyclopædia Britannica in 1985.
Originally programmed by Steffin before starting Edu-Ware, it became Edu-Ware's longest-selling title together with its 1981 hi-res graphics remake, Compu-Read 3.0.
The concept proposal for Edu-Ware's first role-playing video game convinced Rainbow Computing to give Pederson his first computer. Replaced by Empire I: World Builders in 1981 when Game Designers Workshop sued Edu-Ware for copyright infringement.
Arguably Edu-Ware's best-remembered title, and Mullich's first as an Edu-Ware employee. It remained Edu-Ware's greatest seller until the release of the first in the Algebra series. Remade with hi-res graphics in 1982 as Prisoner 2.
Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. Shareware is often offered as a download from a website. Shareware differs from freeware, which is fully-featured software distributed at no cost to the user but without source code being made available; and free and open-source software, in which the source code is freely available for anyone to inspect and alter.
An application program is a computer program designed to carry out a specific task other than one relating to the operation of the computer itself, typically to be used by end-users. Word processors, media players, and accounting software are examples. The collective noun "application software" refers to all applications collectively. The other principal classifications of software are system software, relating to the operation of the computer, and utility software ("utilities").
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.
Spinnaker Software Corporation was a software company founded in 1982 known primarily for its line of non-curriculum based educational software, which was a major seller during the 1980s. It was founded by chairman Bill Bowman and president C. David Seuss.
David Mullich is an American game producer and designer. He created the 1980 adventure game The Prisoner, produced the 1995 adaptation I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, and developed Heroes of Might and Magic III and Heroes of Might and Magic IV.
Star Wars: DroidWorks is a 1998 edutainment computer game and the premiere title from LucasArts subsidiary Lucas Learning. It uses the same engine as LucasArts' previous title Star Wars: Jedi Knight. The creators aimed to create a game that would be both appealing and nonviolent. The game's original release date was moved up by months, which resulted in the development team cutting some planned game features.
The Prisoner is an adventure game for the Apple II published by Edu-Ware in 1980. It is loosely based on the 1960s television series The Prisoner and incorporates that show's themes about the loss of individuality in a technological, controlling society. The player's role is that of an intelligence agent who has resigned from his job for reasons known only to himself, and who has been abducted to an isolated island community that seems designed to be his own personal prison. The island's authorities will use any means—including coercion, disorientation, deception, and frustration—to learn why their prisoner has resigned, and every character, location, and apparent escape route seem to be part of a grand scheme to trick the player into revealing a code number representing the prisoner's reason for resigning. The game occasionally breaks the fourth wall by acknowledging that a game is being played.
The Prisoner 2 is a video game published in 1982 by Edu-Ware. It is a remake of the 1980 game The Prisoner.
Compu-Read is an educational program originally developed by Sherwin Steffin of Edu-Ware Services in 1979 for the Apple II. It consists of four modules training the user in rapidly increasing comprehension and retention: Character Recognition, High-speed word recognition, Synonyms; Sentence Comprehension. In each, the user the initial difficulty level, and the computer matches the display speed to the user's performance.
Compu-Math was a series of mathematics tutorials developed and published by Edu-Ware Services in the 1980s. Each program in the Compu-Math series begins with a diagnostic Pre-Test, which presents learners with mathematics problems to determine their current skill level in the subject and then recommends the appropriate learning module. Each learning module begins by specifying the instructional objectives for that module and proceeds to teach those specific goals using shaping and cueing methods, and finishes by testing to verify that learners have indeed learned the skills being taught by the module.
Space is a text-based role-playing video game for the Apple II designed by Steven Pederson and Sherwin Steffin of Edu-Ware Services. It was one of the first science fiction RPGs to appear on personal computers. An expansion pack, Space II by David Mullich, was released in the same year.
Terrorist is a real-time, two-player strategy game developed by Steven Pederson of Edu-Ware Services for the Apple II and published in 1980. One player plays the government authority, while the other plays a terrorist organization in three scenarios: the capture of a building and taking of hostages, air piracy, and nuclear blackmail. Players make their moves at the same time through the use of game paddles. Winner and loser is judged by an elaborate scoring system based upon the government player's societal values and the terrorist player's goals.
Windfall: The Oil Crisis Game is a real-time business simulation game written by David Mullich and published by Edu-Ware in 1980 for the Apple II. Based upon queuing theory and released after the 1979 energy crisis, the game puts the player in the role of chief executive of Engulf Oil, setting gas prices and worker salaries, monitoring gas station lines, scheduling oil tanker arrivals, and negotiating oil prices with OPEC countries in a race against the clock to maximize profits. As with most Edu-Ware games, Windfall has an educational aspect, demonstrating the delicate balance in complex systems.
Network is a real-time, two player business simulation game developed by David Mullich for the Apple II and published by Edu-Ware in 1980.
Compu-Spell is educational software developed by Sherwin Steffin and Steven Pederson of Edu-Ware Services for the Apple II in 1980.
California Pacific Computer Co. was a computer software and game publisher active from 1979 to 1986, founded in Davis, California by Alvin Remmers. Its software was published exclusively for the Apple II computer and was an early commercial outlet for several important game designers including Richard Garriott, Bill Budge, and Michael Pondsmith.
Rendezvous: A Space Shuttle Simulation, is a space simulator published 1982 by Edu-Ware, and developed by Titan Computer Products and NASA scientist Wesley Huntress.
Madeline is a series of educational point-and-click adventure video games which were developed during the mid-1990s for Windows and Mac systems. The games are an extension of the Madeline series of children's books by Ludwig Bemelmans, which describe the adventures of a young French girl. The video-game series was produced concurrently with a TV series of the same name, with characters and voice actors from the show.
Math Rabbit is a spin-off of the Reader Rabbit educational video game series. It was published by The Learning Company in 1986 for MS-DOS and Apple II. A Deluxe version was released in 1993 for MS-DOS, Mac, and Windows 3.x. In 1997, a remake was released for Windows and Mac as Reader Rabbit's Math 1. The final remake for Windows and Macintosh was published 1998 is Reader Rabbit's Math Ages 4-6, with a personalized version released in 1999.
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