Roklan Corporation, also known as Roklan Software, was an American video game developer and publisher based in the Chicago area of Illinois. Active primarily in the early 1980s, the company worked both as a contract developer for other publishers and as a label for its own home computer software. Its best known titles include the Atari 8-bit conversion of Wizard of Wor, the Space Invaders–style game Deluxe Invaders, and the life-simulation game Lifespan, as well as several educational programs such as Reading Flight for the Atari 8-bit family.[1][2]
Roklan Corporation was founded in 1974[3] by businessman Lawrence N. "Larry" Gabriel as a management consulting firm in the Chicago suburbs.[4][5]:20 In the early 1980s, the company formed an internal Computer Technology Group to develop software for home computers and game consoles, including both entertainment and educational titles.[6]:36 Ron Borta, a freelancer turned employee, was later named head of this division; following his exit from Roklan in the 1980s, he went on to co-found Borta Inc.—a developer of games for the Game Boy and other Nintendo consoles—with Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari.[7][8]
Trade directories and magazine product listings placed Roklan at several Chicago-area addresses, including 10600 Higgins Road in Rosemont, Illinois, and 3335 North Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights, Illinois.[9]:96[1]
Contract development
Roklan operated largely as a contract developer,[3] becoming a major third-party developer that created games for Atari's various platforms, including the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and the Atari 8-bit computers.[8][10] The company also created games and utility software for the Apple II, Commodore 64, VIC-20, TRS-80 Models I, II, III and Color Computer and TI-99/4A. By June 1983 the company had over 30 games in its catalog.[10]:140 In January 1983 the company signed a major contract with the American textbook publisher Scott, Foresman and Company to develop over 30 video game titles for a variety of home computer platforms, to be released throughout 1983 and 1984.[11]:50
Games were often published under other companies' labels rather than its own. For example, a 1983 article in the magazine Softline reported that, according to Roklan, the company had programmed the Atari home computer version of Pac-Man for Atari, illustrating its behind-the-scenes role in licensed conversions.[12] This Pac-Man conversion was programmed by Borta; despite it selling very well—allegedly generating upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue—Borta was paid only $25,000 due to his flat-rate contract. For his conversion of Donkey Kong for the Intellivision, Borta was granted a generous royalty for his work, earning him around $1million.[7]
Other contemporary sources credit Roklan with developing home versions of Midway arcade titles such as Gorf and Wizard of Wor for various platforms on behalf of publishers including CBS Video Games and Coleco.[13]
Publishing label
Alongside its contract work, Roklan published a line of games and educational software—and even hardware—under its own name, most visibly for the Atari 8-bit computers. A review of Deluxe Invaders in Creative Computing noted that the company planned further Atari releases including Gorf and Wizard of Wor and a hybrid trackball–joystick peripheral.[14] The trackball was eventually released as the Un-roller in 1983, to mixed reviews. Creative Computing wrote: "If I were to offer an award for the strangest controller ever invented, the new Roklan Un-Roller Controller would certainly win hands down."[15]:76Electronic Games's Tracie Forman found that the Un-roller was "a victim of its own design. Part joystick and part trac[k]ball, it doesn't really measure up in either category".[16]:86
Antic magazine's "New Products" column introduced Lifespan as a "simulation game" on cartridge that followed the birth and development of a character through a series of life events, and in the same issue described Reading Flight as an educational adventure program for readers aged ten to twelve, both published by Roklan from its Arlington Heights office.[1] Roklan also published games such as Diamond Mine and Castle Hassle on disk and cartridge for the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 platforms.[17]
A January 1983 issue of the trade newsletter Arcade Express noted that Roklan had already published Deluxe Space Invaders (another name for Deluxe Invaders), Wizard of Wor and Gorf for the Atari 400 and 800 computers and announced that cartridge versions of all three games were forthcoming, as well as an Apple II disk version of Wizard of Wor.[2]
The company grew to a peak staff of about forty employees in 1982.[18] Many of its employees were hired on a freelance basis.[3] The company declared bankruptcy and shut down around 1984.[19]:80[20]
Games
Arcade conversions
Deluxe Invaders (Atari 8-bit, 1981) – a Space Invaders style fixed shooter that expanded on the original arcade design with additional play options.[21][14]
Gorf (Atari 2600, Atari 400/800 and other platforms, early 1980s) – Roklan developed several home versions of Midway's fixed shooter for publishers including CBS Video Games and Coleco.[13]:139
Wizard of Wor (Atari 8-bit family and Atari 5200, 1982–1983) – Roklan's version of the Midway maze shooter was first released for Atari computers and later adapted for the Atari 5200; sources describe the computer and console versions as effectively identical.[13]:151
Original and educational titles
Deluxe Invaders – although based on Space Invaders, contemporary reviewers treated it as a distinct title and credited Roklan as both developer and publisher on Atari computers.[21][14]
Lifespan (Atari 8-bit, 1983) – a multi-stage action game that portrays episodes across a human life span; contemporary reviews in magazines such as Electronic Games and Softline highlighted its unusual structure and ambitions.[22][23]:50
Reading Flight (Atari 8-bit, 1983) – an educational reading-comprehension program with multiple narrative scenarios aimed at preteens.[1]
Diamond Mine (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, 1983) – a top-down arcade game in which players dig through scrolling mine shafts while avoiding hazards.[17]:135
Castle Hassle, Da' Fuzz, Journey to the Planets and other titles credited to Roklan as publisher on Atari 8-bit and Commodore systems.[24]:34
Reception and legacy
Deluxe Invaders received strong contemporary reviews. In a review for Electronic Games, the magazine called it "by far the best Space Invaders program" for home computers and praised its closer resemblance to the arcade original compared with Atari's own port.[21] The 1983 edition of Personal Computers & Games similarly recommended Roklan's version as the preferred home recreation of Space Invaders.[25]
Roklan's Atari 8-bit version of Gorf also drew positive coverage. Reviewer Mark S. Murley in Hi-Res Magazine wrote that the game had "survived the passage from the arcade to your home computer" and credited Roklan with an exceptional job on the conversion.[26]:74 Other magazines recommended either Gorf or Wizard of Wor on home systems as among the best available arcade-style games for those platforms.[27][28]:72
Lifespan attracted attention for its unconventional structure and themes. Electronic Games described it as a multi-scenario action game that uses arcade-style play to frame an analogy of a person's life experiences, and other commentators have highlighted it as an early example of experimental or art-oriented computer games.[22][23]
Although Roklan itself ceased operations by the mid-1980s, its conversions of Gorf and Wizard of Wor continue to be discussed in retrospectives on early home computer games.[29]
↑Levitan, Susan; Martin Levitan (September 1983). "Educational Software: The New Frontier". Videogaming and Computer Gaming Illustrated. Ion International. pp.19–22, 58 – via the Internet Archive.
↑McCullaugh, Jim (May 1983). "The Educational Software Explosion". Software Merchandising. Vol.2, no.5. Eastman Publishing. pp.26–36 – via the Internet Archive.
123Goldstein, Leigh (November 1982). "Computer Gaming– Deluxe Invaders". Electronic Games. Vol.1, no.9. Reese Communications. p.78 – via the Internet Archive.
12Forman, Tracy (March 1984). "Computer Gaming– Lifespan". Electronic Games. Vol.2, no.12. Reese Communications. pp.38–40 – via the Internet Archive.
12Staff writer (March 1983). "New Stuff". Softline. Vol.2, no.4. Softalk Publishing. pp.50–51 – via the Internet Archive.
↑Staff writer (September 1983). "Chip Ahoy: A Preview of Upcoming Games". Videogaming and Computer Gaming Illustrated. Ion International. pp.33–34 – via the Internet Archive.
↑Editors of Consumer Guide (1983). Personal Computers & Games. Publications International. p.47. ISBN0-517-41595-X.
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