Difference between revisions of "Microdeal"

From The Dragon Archive
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John Symes the founder of Microdeal now runs a car dealership in Bournemouth [http://www.symesmini.com] . His contact details are also on here for information on Microdeal!
 
John Symes the founder of Microdeal now runs a car dealership in Bournemouth [http://www.symesmini.com] . His contact details are also on here for information on Microdeal!
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== Software ==
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DISK TELEWRITER (DISKETTE UPGRADE)
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 +
TAPE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
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 +
TAPE AIRBALL
 +
 +
TAPE ALCATRAZ II
 +
 +
TAPE AQUANAUT 471
 +
 +
TAPE ATHLETYX
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 +
TAPE BACKGAMMON
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 +
TAPE BEAM RIDER
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 +
TAPE CASHMAN
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 +
TAPE CAVERNS OF DOOM
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 +
TAPE CHAMBERS
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 +
TAPE CO-RES EDITOR / ASSEMBLER
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 +
TAPE COSMIC ZAP
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 +
TAPE CRASH
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TAPE CRAZY PAINTER
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 +
TAPE CUTHBERT AND THE GOLDEN CHALICE
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TAPE CUTHBERT GOES DIGGING
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TAPE CUTHBERT GOES WALKABOUT
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 +
TAPE CUTHBERT IN SPACE
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TAPE CUTHBERT IN THE COOLER
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TAPE CUTHBERT IN THE JUNGLE
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TAPE CUTHBERT IN THE MINES
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TAPE DANGER RANGER
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TAPE DEFENSE
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TAPE DEMOLITION DERBY
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 +
TAPE DEMON SEED
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 +
TAPE DEVIL ASSAULT
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 +
TAPE DONKEY KING
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 +
TAPE DOWNLAND
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TAPE DRACONIAN
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TAPE DRAGON HAWK
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TAPE DRAGON INVADERS
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TAPE DUNGEON RAID
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TAPE EIGHT BALL
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TAPE ESCAPE
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TAPE FILMASTR
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TAPE FLIPPER
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TAPE FROGGER
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TAPE FURY
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TAPE GALACTIC AMBUSH
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TAPE GALAGON
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TAPE GLAXXONS
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TAPE GOLF
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TAPE GRABBER
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TAPE INTERGALACTIC FORCE
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TAPE INVADERS REVENGE
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 +
TAPE JERUSALEM ADVENTURE 2
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 +
TAPE KATERPILLAR ATTACK
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 +
TAPE KEYS OF THE WIZARD
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TAPE KING TUT
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TAPE LIGHT PEN
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TAPE LUNAR ROVER PATROL
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TAPE MACHINE LANGUAGE TUTORIAL
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TAPE MANSION ADVENTURE 1
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TAPE MODULE MAN
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TAPE MOROCCO GRAND PRIX
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TAPE MR DIG
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TAPE MUDPIES
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TAPE PENGON
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TAPE PHANTOM SLAYER
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TAPE PINBALL
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TAPE PLANET INVASION
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TAPE PROGRAM PACK 1
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TAPE PROGRAM PACK 2
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TAPE PROGRAM PACK 3
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TAPE PROGRAM PACK 4
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TAPE PROGRAM PACK 5
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TAPE PROGRAMMERS UTILITIES
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TAPE RACER BALL
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TAPE RAINBOW WRITER
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TAPE ROMMEL 3D
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TAPE SCARFMAN
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TAPE SHOCKTROOPER
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TAPE SKRAMBLE
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TAPE SPACE FIGHTER
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TAPE SPACE MONOPOLY
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TAPE SPACE RAIDERS
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TAPE SPACE SHUTTLE
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TAPE SPACE WAR
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TAPE SPACE WREK
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TAPE SPEED RACER
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TAPE STAR SPORES
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TAPE STONE RAIDER II
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TAPE STORM
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TAPE SYZYGY
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TAPE TALKING ANDROID ATTACK
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TAPE TANGLE WOOD
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TAPE TELE-ARTIST
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TAPE TELE-FORTH
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TAPE TELEMOD
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TAPE TELE-TUTOR 1
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TAPE TELE-TUTOR 2
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TAPE TELEWRITER
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)
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TAPE THE DARK PIT
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TAPE THE DRAGON COMPOSER
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TAPE THE KING
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TAPE THE VORTEX FACTOR
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TAPE TIME BANDIT
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TAPE TOUCH TYPING TUTOR
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TAPE TOUCHSTONE
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TAPE TREKBOER
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TAPE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE 4
 +
 +
TAPE WILLIAMSBURG ADVENTURE 3
 +
 +
TAPE WIZARD'S QUEST
 +
 +
TAPE WORLDS OF FLIGHT
  
  

Revision as of 16:02, 18 March 2009

Microdeal was a British software company which operated during the 1980s and early 1990s from its base at Truro Road in the town of St Austell, Cornwall. The company, founded by John Symes was one of the major producers of games and other software for the 8-bit home computers of the time, in particular the Dragon 32 and the similar Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer ("CoCo").

The 8-bit software market dwindled toward the end of the 1980s and Symes officially announced that Microdeal would no longer publish for the Dragon and Tandy machines on 1 January 1988; from this point they would concentrate on the newer generation of 16-bit computers, the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, with their remaining stock of Dragon and Tandy software to be sold off by a company called Computape. The companies publishing licences were sold to Hi-Soft and it ceased trading in the early 1990s.

Activities

Some of Microdeal's software was produced in-house by the company's own programmers (including Steve Bak, Rita Jay and Ed Scio) but they also licensed software from foreign sources, such as the American Tom Mix Software and Spectral Associates, and published the works of independent programmers (notably Ken Kalish who was responsible for some of their most successful titles). Much of the software brought to Britain from the US was originally written for the Tandy CoCo (which was the more popular machine there) and converted to work with the Dragon. These conversions were contracted out to a company called Northern Software Consultants where they were handled by lead programmer Chas Robertson. Chas also designed the dongle device that was experimentally used for copy protection of a single Microdeal title, Buzzard Bait. Some of Microdeal's licenced games were renamed for the British market. For example, they released a series of games based around the company mascot Cuthbert (Cuthbert Goes Digging, Cuthbert in the Jungle, etc). The original members of this series were written in-house by Steve Bak, but later additions were completely unrelated. Rather, they were renamed titles from several different sources - the graphical limitations of computers at that time meant that a character was unrecognisable and could be given any convenient name. Microdeal also had a brand called Pocket Money Software, which published simpler games submitted by users at a lower price than the main titles. While some Pocket Money games were arguably of poor quality, others were among the company's most popular titles.

Microdeal also sold Cuthbert-branded blank media (tapes, disks, etc), re-boxed and sometimes adapted hardware (such as joysticks) made by other companies and published an occasional semi-informative, semi-promotional magazine called The Cuthbert Chronicle. They also accounted for most of the advertising space and reviews of Dragon User magazine.

John Symes the founder of Microdeal now runs a car dealership in Bournemouth [1] . His contact details are also on here for information on Microdeal!


Software

DISK TELEWRITER (DISKETTE UPGRADE)

TAPE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

TAPE AIRBALL

TAPE ALCATRAZ II

TAPE AQUANAUT 471

TAPE ATHLETYX

TAPE BACKGAMMON

TAPE BEAM RIDER

TAPE CASHMAN

TAPE CAVERNS OF DOOM

TAPE CHAMBERS

TAPE CO-RES EDITOR / ASSEMBLER

TAPE COSMIC ZAP

TAPE CRASH

TAPE CRAZY PAINTER

TAPE CUTHBERT AND THE GOLDEN CHALICE

TAPE CUTHBERT GOES DIGGING

TAPE CUTHBERT GOES WALKABOUT

TAPE CUTHBERT IN SPACE

TAPE CUTHBERT IN THE COOLER

TAPE CUTHBERT IN THE JUNGLE

TAPE CUTHBERT IN THE MINES

TAPE DANGER RANGER

TAPE DEFENSE

TAPE DEMOLITION DERBY

TAPE DEMON SEED

TAPE DEVIL ASSAULT

TAPE DONKEY KING

TAPE DOWNLAND

TAPE DRACONIAN

TAPE DRAGON HAWK

TAPE DRAGON INVADERS

TAPE DUNGEON RAID

TAPE EIGHT BALL

TAPE ESCAPE

TAPE FILMASTR

TAPE FLIPPER

TAPE FROGGER

TAPE FURY

TAPE GALACTIC AMBUSH

TAPE GALAGON

TAPE GLAXXONS

TAPE GOLF

TAPE GRABBER

TAPE INTERGALACTIC FORCE

TAPE INVADERS REVENGE

TAPE JERUSALEM ADVENTURE 2

TAPE KATERPILLAR ATTACK

TAPE KEYS OF THE WIZARD

TAPE KING TUT

TAPE LIGHT PEN

TAPE LUNAR ROVER PATROL

TAPE MACHINE LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

TAPE MANSION ADVENTURE 1

TAPE MODULE MAN

TAPE MOROCCO GRAND PRIX

TAPE MR DIG

TAPE MUDPIES

TAPE PENGON

TAPE PHANTOM SLAYER

TAPE PINBALL

TAPE PLANET INVASION

TAPE PROGRAM PACK 1

TAPE PROGRAM PACK 2

TAPE PROGRAM PACK 3

TAPE PROGRAM PACK 4

TAPE PROGRAM PACK 5

TAPE PROGRAMMERS UTILITIES

TAPE RACER BALL

TAPE RAINBOW WRITER

TAPE ROMMEL 3D

TAPE SCARFMAN

TAPE SHOCKTROOPER

TAPE SKRAMBLE

TAPE SPACE FIGHTER

TAPE SPACE MONOPOLY

TAPE SPACE RAIDERS

TAPE SPACE SHUTTLE

TAPE SPACE WAR

TAPE SPACE WREK

TAPE SPEED RACER

TAPE STAR SPORES

TAPE STONE RAIDER II

TAPE STORM

TAPE SYZYGY

TAPE TALKING ANDROID ATTACK

TAPE TANGLE WOOD

TAPE TELE-ARTIST

TAPE TELE-FORTH

TAPE TELEMOD

TAPE TELE-TUTOR 1

TAPE TELE-TUTOR 2

TAPE TELEWRITER ) TAPE THE DARK PIT

TAPE THE DRAGON COMPOSER

TAPE THE KING

TAPE THE VORTEX FACTOR

TAPE TIME BANDIT

TAPE TOUCH TYPING TUTOR

TAPE TOUCHSTONE

TAPE TREKBOER

TAPE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE 4

TAPE WILLIAMSBURG ADVENTURE 3

TAPE WIZARD'S QUEST

TAPE WORLDS OF FLIGHT


Search Downloads

Click below to search the downloads section for Microdeal software:

Disks

Tapes