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 computers and Commodore 64.
Akalabeth: World of Doom is a role-playing video game created in 1979 for the Apple II by Richard Garriott, and published by California Pacific Computer Company in 1980. 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.
Choplifter is a military-themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers the same year, and also to the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, MSX, and Thomson computers.
Level 9 was a British developer of computer software, active between 1981 and 1991. Founded by Mike, Nicholas and Pete Austin, the company produced software for the BBC Micro, Nascom, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Oric, Atari 8-bit computers, Camputers Lynx, RML 380Z, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Amiga, Apple II, Memotech MTX, and Enterprise platforms and is best known for its successful text adventure games until a general decline in the text adventure market forced their closure in June 1991.
Softporn Adventure is a comedic, adult-oriented text adventure game produced for the Apple II in 1981. The game was created by Charles Benton and released by On-Line Systems, later renamed Sierra On-Line. Years later, Softporn Adventure was remade and expanded as Leisure Suit Larry series of adult-oriented video games, and the first entry in that series, 1987's Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, was a nearly direct graphical adaptation of Softporn Adventure. Another graphical version was released as Las Vegas for various Japanese computers in 1986 by Starcraft.
Transylvania was the name of a trilogy of computer games released for several home computers of the 1980s. The games were graphic adventure games created by Antonio Antiochia and produced by Penguin Software/Polarware.
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.
Spy's Demise is an action game written by Alan Zeldin for the Apple II and published by Penguin Software in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, TI-99/4A, and Vector-06c. The game contains a puzzle which at the time of release could be solved for a Spy's Demise T-shirt. According to Antic magazine in June 1984, only four people had solved it. The game was followed by a 1983 sequel, The Spy Strikes Back.
Sneakers is a fixed shooter video game for the Apple II written by Mark Turmell and published by Sirius Software in 1981. A version for Atari 8-bit computers was released the same year. Sneakers was Turmell's first published game. He was later the lead designer and programmer of 1993's NBA Jam.
Jawbreaker is a Pac-Man clone programmed by John Harris for Atari 8-bit computers and published by On-Line Systems. Released in 1981 before an official version of Pac-Man was available, it was widely lauded by reviewers and became a major seller. The story of its creation and Harris's Atari 8-bit implementation of Frogger form a portion of Steven Levy's 1984 book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.
Mark Pelczarski wrote and published some of the earliest digital multimedia computer software. In 1979 while teaching computer science at Northern Illinois University, he self-published Magic Paintbrush, which was one of the first digital paint programs for the Apple II, the first consumer computer that had color graphics capabilities.
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.
The Coveted Mirror is a graphic adventure for the Apple II published in 1983 by Penguin Software. It was created by Eagle Berns and Holly Thomason. A version with a more advanced text parser was released in 1986 and ported to additional systems.
The Quest is a graphic fantasy text adventure released in 1983 by Penguin Software. It was designed by Dallas Snell for the Apple II and was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and Mac.
Transylvania is an adventure video game published by Penguin Software. It was released for the Apple II in 1982 followed by ports to the Atari 8-bit computers and Commodore 64. A Mac conversion was published in 1984, then versions for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS in 1985.
The Graphics Magician, subtitled Picture Painter, is a utility for drawing bitmapped images and playing them back from user-developed programs. It was written for the Apple II by Penguin Software founder Mark Pelczarski and Jon Niedfeldt, and published by Penguin Software in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, and IBM PC. The routines for playing back graphics and animation were written by David Lubar and Chris Jochumson. Graphics Magician doesn't store images in their final form, but records the commands used to create them using a "tiny vector graphics-like language." The software plays them back to re-create the image. Images can be layered based on when each shape is drawn.
Track Attack is a train-themed action game written by Chris Jochumson for the Apple II. It was published in 1982 by Broderbund, as was a port for Atari 8-bit computers by Bill Hooper. Track Attack contains both overhead maze levels and side-scrolling platform game levels. In the latter, the player controls a character who runs along the top of a train, performing acrobatic leaps between the cars. Jochumson co-authored The Arcade Machine which was released the same year.
Seafox is a shoot 'em up written by Ed Hobbs and published by Broderbund in 1982 for the Apple II and as a cartridge for Atari 8-bit computers. A VIC-20 port, also on cartridge, was released in 1983.
Margot Comstock was co-founder and editor of Softalk magazine, which was influential in the Apple II community, as part of a growing personal computing movement.
