Start with the TI-99/4a
I started my computing
life with a TI-99/4a in 1981, the year it was introduced. What sold
me on the TI-99/4a was the speech synthesizer which a TI Representative
was demoing at a local department store. The TI-99/a was an expensive piece
of machinery back then-- I think I paid $350-400 for the console and another
$100 for the speech synthesizer. After a week of playing around, programming
and composing digital music, I returned to the store and purchased the tape
cassette recorder so I could actually save my programs on tape. The
Rep remembered me but seemed unconvinced that within a week I could have
already mastered TI-Basic. I returned days later with my cassette tape of
programs and showed him, thus starting my computing life as a programmer.
For the first several
years I did music programs with graphics. My first online service was "The
Source" and I won first prize in a programming contest on it for my
graphical music program "Siegfried's Funeral Music" (by composer
Richard Wagner) in 1983. For those who don't know, the "Source"
eventually merged into CompuServe which eventually turned into AOL with
the birth of the internet. I also ventured into the BBS (bulletin board
system) world long before the days of the internet (I want to say around
1984) with a Cal-Tex BBS system. The "KBGB BBS" ran for
about 3 years and featured TE-2 16-color for TI systems that logged on as
well as text graphics, online games and a message forum for all users.
Online games ranged from a Beatles trivia multiple choice quiz to a role-playing
Old West reenactment.
In the heyday of my
BBS, I was introduced to TI-99 user groups and started a membership in the
San Fernando Valley 99ers. I began assembling the many music-graphic
programs I had written and started to create shareware disks. The most popular
of these was the text graphic images of my BBS's monthly "Girlie Calendar"
I owe a debt of gratitude
to Jim Peterson, after studying many of his programs I learned how to expand
the TI’s musical octave range and added voice to my music programs. This
started my series of “singing” disks which included musical and song from
musicals such as South Pacific, the Music Man and Wizard of OZ. I cringe
at the thought of hearing the TI sing through Patsy Cline’s hits, but yes,
I take full responsibility for that horror, too.
The Asgard Years
Its funny how one perceives
things, I always assume my shareware music disks were popular for their
music but I soon discovered that it was the graphics and animation that
really caught people’s attention. I found this to be true after Asgard
Software contacted me about making clipart for the popular TI-Artist program.
I started by creating a typefaces. One doesn’t think too much about
typefaces now with the huge array of TTF and PFM fonts, but back then there
wasn’t anything available.
With the Tunnels of
Doom Editor being released I started creating hybrid adventures on my “still”
favorite TI-99 game. Asgard ended up marketing some of these as well
in their Doom game collections. My first solo commercial release was “Disk
of Dinosaurs” which started the “Disk of” series. The “Disk of” series
in many ways was a forerunner to what companies would eventually called
“multimedia”. They were theme-based packages which consisted of images/clipart,
music, educational text materials and in later volumes, a game. My last
release through Asgard was “Disk of Pyrates”. After that release,
I decided I wanted more control over how my products were packaged and markets
and of course there was only one way to do that… form your own company.
Notung Software
Since I had come from
a Nordic sounding company (Asgard) it seemed appropriate that I stuck with
the theme. “Notung” (the name of Siegmund and Siefried’s sword), seemed
like a good choice. Notung translated into English means “needful” (which
I was at the time) and the logo concept of a sword through the diskette
cemented my choice in company names. I threw together what projects and
shareware programs I hadn’t released and long-time friend, Ray Kazmer, joined
in under the Notung banner and my company was up and running at the start
of 1990.
I released more of “Disk
of” series (Son of Disk of Dinosaurs, Bride of Disk of Dinosaurs,
Disk of Horrors”) and started my own typeface collection with “Fonts and
Borders” to moderate success.
TI Casino
I gave my father a TI-99/4a
for Christmas along with many of the better gambling game programs on disk.
While he liked the present , he complained that the games were too confusing;
he couldn’t keep track of what key presses worked with what games and there
was no way to pass your winnings from one game to the next. After
looking at the programs, I decided it would be less work to start from scratch
than fix the existing games—and that’s how TI Casino was born. I guessing
I have some bragging rights in that TI Casino was the first “casino” (multiple
gaming tables) based game I’m aware of on any computer. TI Casino was clearly
Notung Software’s break-through product and became my best selling TI product
of all time.
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