Atari Program Exchange (APX) was a division of
Atari, Inc. that sold software via mail-order for
Atari 8-bit computers
The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...
from 1981 until 1984. Quarterly APX catalogs were sent to all registered Atari 8-bit owners. APX encouraged any programmer, not just professionals, to submit video games, educational software, applications, and utilities. A few internally developed Atari products were sold through APX, such as
Atari Pascal, the developer handbook ''
De Re Atari'', and a port of the arcade video game ''
Kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
''.
If accepted, a submitted program was added to the catalog with credit given to the programmer. The top submissions of the quarter in each category were recognized. One program each year received the top honor: the Atari Star award. APX releases ''
Eastern Front (1941)
''Eastern Front (1941)'' is a computer wargame for Atari 8-bit computers created by Chris Crawford (game designer), Chris Crawford and published through the Atari Program Exchange (APX) in 1981. A scenario editor and assembly language source co ...
'', ''
Caverns of Mars'', and Atari Star winner ''
Typo Attack'', were moved to Atari's official product line.
The brainchild of Dale Yocum, the Atari Program Exchange started in February 1981. In 1982 its management was taken over by Fred Thorlin, who operated it until it closed. APX published quarterly catalogs until 1984, when new Atari CEO
James J. Morgan closed down the mail-order division. Some APX software was later picked up by
Antic Software and branded as "APX Classics".
History
When Atari first launched the
Atari 8-bit computers
The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...
in late 1979, the company kept most of the hardware details secret.
It intended to be the primary supplier of software for the platform, as had been the case with the
Atari Video Computer System console. By the end of the first year on the market increasingly sophisticated applications from outside Atari were nonetheless becoming available. There were, however, a limited number of distribution channels at the time.
Dale Yocum approached Atari with the idea of setting up their own third-party publishing arm. With Atari's distribution capabilities the products would be seen by many more prospective customers, and at the same time, Atari would make money with every sale, money that would otherwise be lost.
Chris Crawford later stated:
Catalogs
Atari mailed catalogs to all computer owners who sent in warranty cards.
The first issue of the catalog, dated summer 1981, stated that while "Atari offers a wide variety of useful and entertaining software ... we've come across other interesting software deserving public recognition ...
PXwill make such software available quickly and inexpensively ... We'll keep costs down
y usingsimple packaging and we'll rely on user-written documentation ... What we'll offer, then, is a lot of interesting software quickly and inexpensively".
The quarterly publication included descriptions and screenshots of each program, and advertisements for
computer magazine
Computer magazines are about computers and related subjects, such as networking and the Internet. Most computer magazines offer (or offered) advice, some offer programming tutorials, reviews of the latest technologies, and advertisements.
...
s. Other products sold included the book ''
De Re Atari'' and various peripherals. Many APX programs were games, but it distributed a wide variety of applications, utilities, programming tools, and educational software.
Discontinuation
According to Atari CEO James Morgan, APX was losing money in its mail-order business so that part was shut down:
The final catalog, dated Winter 1983–84, was much smaller than previous catalogs. After the discontinuation of APX, ''
Antic
Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display.
Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977–1978 b ...
'' magazine published some former APX titles as ''APX Classics from Antic'' and continued soliciting new submissions as
Antic Software. The Antic Software catalog was bound into issues of the magazine and later included
Atari ST
Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...
products.
Products
Atari Star winners
In 1981 APX announced an award program, the Atari Star, with quarterly and yearly cash awards. All programs submitted for publishing were eligible. The annual grand prize for the best program was a trophy and $25,000.
The first winner was the educational game ''
My First Alphabet'' by Fernando Herrera. He used the money to cofound video game developer and publisher
First Star Software
First Star Software, Inc. was a Chappaqua, New York based video game development, publishing and licensing company, founded by Richard Spitalny (who remains the company's president), Billy Blake, Peter Jablon, and Fernando Herrera in 1982. It is ...
which sold several of his games, including ''
Astro Chase
''Astro Chase'' is a multidirectional shooter written by Fernando Herrera for Atari 8-bit computers. It was published by First Star Software in 1982 as the company's first game. Parker Brothers licensed it, releasing cartridge versions for the ...
'' and ''
Bristles''.
The 1982 winner was ''
Typo Attack'' by David Buehler, a game designed to improve touch typing skill. Atari published it as a cartridge in 1984.
The 1983 winner was ''
Getaway!'' by Mark Reid, a maze chase game taking place across a large, scrolling city map. According to Reid, there was talk of moving the game into Atari's product line, but Atari's troubles stemming from the
video game crash of 1983
The video game crash of 1983 (known in Japan as the Atari shock) was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985 in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including market saturatio ...
kept this from happening.
Other games
Wargame ''
Eastern Front (1941)
''Eastern Front (1941)'' is a computer wargame for Atari 8-bit computers created by Chris Crawford (game designer), Chris Crawford and published through the Atari Program Exchange (APX) in 1981. A scenario editor and assembly language source co ...
'', written by
Chris Crawford, was the Atari Program Exchange's most popular program.
The
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
for ''Eastern Front'', and a scenario editor, were sold separately. ''Eastern Front '' and vertically scrolling shooter ''
Caverns of Mars'' were both converted to
ROM cartridge
A ROM cartridge, usually referred to in context simply as a cartridge, cart, cassette, or card, is a replaceable part designed to be connected to a consumer electronics device such as a home computer, video game console or, to a lesser extent, ...
s and became part of the official Atari product line. One of Crawford's later games, ''
Excalibur
Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur that may possess magical powers or be associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Its first reliably datable appearance is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. E ...
'', was also sold through APX.
John Palevich's ''
Dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance and personal grooming, refined language and leisurely hobbies. A dandy could be a self-made man both in person and ''persona'', who emulated the aristocratic style of l ...
'' inspired the arcade game ''
Gauntlet'' and became the home game ''Dark Chambers''.
Atari distributed two licensed arcade ports through APX: 1978's ''
Avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...
'', credited to Dennis Koble who wrote the original arcade game, and 1982 platform game ''
Kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
'',
which was uncredited.
Developer tools
The book ''De Re Atari: A Guide to Effective Programming'' (1982) was the first time Atari widely published information about the internals of the Atari 8-bit computers. It was serialized in ''
BYTE
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...
'' prior to publication, then sold through APX as loose pages intended to be put in a
three-ring binder.
Dunion's Debugging tool, or DDT, is a machine language debugger which was later incorporated into the
MAC/65 assembler from
Optimized Systems Software
Optimized Systems Software (OSS) was a company that produced disk operating systems, programming languages with integrated development environments, and applications primarily for Atari 8-bit computers. The founders of OSS previously developed A ...
. The author, Jim Dunion, contributed to ''De Re Atari''.
The
Atari Pascal Language System is a version of the
Pascal programming language designed for an unreleased, higher-spec Atari computer model. It was relegated to the Atari Program Exchange and sold without support. The software requires two floppy drives which greatly reduced its audience.
''Dandy'' author Jack Palevich ported
Small-C
Small-C is both a subset of the C programming language, suitable for resource-limited microcomputers and embedded systems, and an implementation of that subset. Originally valuable as an early compiler for microcomputer systems available during t ...
to the Atari 8-bit computers which was published by APX as
Deep Blue C. The source code was sold separately as Deep Blue Secrets.
References
{{reflist
External links
APX info at Atari Archivesincluding scans of catalogs and list of programs
Defunct software companies of the United States
Atari 8-bit computers