Difference between revisions of "Microdeal"
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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! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | == 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 | ||
Revision as of 17:02, 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: