Softdisk was a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

and

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

company based in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

. Founded in 1981, its original products were

disk magazine A disk magazine, colloquially known as a diskmag or diskzine, is a magazine that is distributed in electronic form to be read using computers. These had some popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as periodicals distributed on floppy disk, hence the ...

s (which they termed "magazettes", for "magazine on diskette"). It was affiliated and partly owned by paper magazine ''

Softalk ''Softalk'' () was an American magazine of the early 1980s that focused on the Apple II computer. Published from September 1980 through August 1984, it featured articles about hardware and software associated with the Apple II platform and the p ...

'' at founding, but survived its demise. The company has been known by a variety of names, including ''Softdisk Magazette'', ''Softdisk Publishing'', ''Softdisk, Inc.'', ''Softdisk Internet Services'', ''Softdisk, L.L.C.'', and ''Magazines On Disk''. Softdisk is most well known for being the former workplace of several of the founders of

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

Publications

Publications included ''

Softdisk Softdisk was a software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products were disk magazines (which they termed "magazettes", for "magazine on diskette"). It was affiliated and partly owned by paper mag ...

'' for the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

; '' Loadstar'' for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

; ''Big Blue Disk'', ''The Gamer’s Edge'', and ''PC Business Disk'' for the

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...

; ''

Diskworld ''Diskworld'' () was a disk magazine for the Apple Macintosh computer system, published by Softdisk beginning in 1988. It was a sister publication of ''Softdisk'' for the Apple II, '' Loadstar'' for the Commodore 64, and ''Big Blue Disk'' for t ...

'' (later ''Softdisk for Mac'') and ''DTPublisher'' (specializing in desktop publishing) for the

Apple Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

; ''

Softdisk G-S ''Softdisk'' (), originally ''Softdisk Magazette'', was a disk magazine for the Apple II computer line, published from 1981 through 1995. It was the first publication of the company that was also known as Softdisk, which would go on to publish ...

'' for the

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST ...

; ''Softdisk for Windows'' for the

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

platform, published from 1994-1999; and ''Shareware Spotlight'', a short-lived publication featuring the best Shareware offerings for the PC. By the late 1990s, these publications were discontinued, although ''Loadstar'' had a continued life as an independent company catering to a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

of Commodore buffs.

''Big Blue Disk''

''Big Blue Disk'' was a monthly

that was published by Softdisk for

and compatibles that began publication in 1986. It required 256k of memory. Softdisk was sued by IBM for trademark infringement over the use of the name "Big Blue" in 1989.

Standalone programs and Gamer's Edge

Softdisk is most famous for being the former workplace of several of the founders of

, who worked on a short-lived game subscription product, ''Gamer's Edge''. ''Gamer's Edge'' was a monthly PC game disk started in 1990 by

John Romero John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

. The disk's developers were John Carmack,

, and

Adrian Carmack Adrian Carmack (born May 5, 1969) is an American video game artist and one of four co-founders of id Software, along with Tom Hall, John Romero, and John Carmack (no relation). The founders met while working at Softdisks ''Gamer's Edge'' divi ...

Tom Hall Tom Hall is an American game designer best known for his work with id Software on titles such as '' Doom'' and ''Commander Keen''. Career Hall attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science. In 1987 ...

, then a programmer who worked in the Apple II department of Softdisk, would come in at night to help with the game design. Lane Roathe was the editor. These developers later left Softdisk to found id Software. To complete their contractual obligation to Softdisk, the developers built several more games for Softdisk, including ''

Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion ''Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion'' (also known as ''Dangerous Dave 2'' and under the Froggman title, ''Rooms of Doom'') is a 1991 sequel of the computer game ''Dangerous Dave''. It was created by John Romero, John Carmack, Adrian Carma ...

'', ''

Rescue Rover ''Rescue Rover'' is a puzzle video game that was developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in 1991. The game was distributed as shareware, with the first 10 levels making up the shareware version, and another 20 levels being present in the ...

'', ''

Hovertank 3D ''Hovertank 3D'', also known under a variety of other names (''Hovertank'' or ''Hovertank One''), is a vehicular combat game developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in April 1991. Plot ''Hovertank 3D'' is set during a nuclear war. In ...

'', ''

Rescue Rover 2 ''Rescue Rover'' is a puzzle video game that was developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in 1991. The game was distributed as shareware, with the first 10 levels making up the shareware version, and another 20 levels being present in th ...

'', ''

Tiles of the Dragon ''Tiles of the Dragon'' is mahjong solitaire game for DOS developed by id Software and published by Softdisk Softdisk was a software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products were disk magazines ...

'', ''

Catacomb 3D ''Catacomb 3-D'' (also known as ''Catacomb 3-D: A New Dimension'', ''Catacomb 3-D: The Descent'', and ''Catacombs 3'') is a first-person shooter video game, the third in the '' Catacomb'' series, the first of which to feature 3D computer graphics ...

'' and ''Keen Dreams'' (the "lost" episode of the ''

Commander Keen ''Commander Keen'' is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were originally released for MS-DOS in ...

'' series). Softdisk later hired a new team to create new titles using the

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...

s of the earlier games, including the later founders of

JAM Productions JAM Creative Productions, Inc., is an American company that produces radio jingles, promo music for television, and commercial jingles for advertisers. It has made more radio jingles than any other jingle company and has become part of American ...

. This connection led to Softdisk being mentioned extensively in the earlier parts of the id chronicling book ''

Masters of Doom ''Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture'' is a 2003 book by David Kushner about id Software and its influence on popular culture, focusing chiefly on the video-game company's co-founders John Carmack and John ...

''. Also, some of the earliest employees of

Origin Systems Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott, Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres ...

worked there before moving on: Greg Malone ''( Moebius, Windwalker)'', Dallas Snell (''The Quest'' and ''Ring Quest''), Joel Rea (''The Quest'' and ''Ring Quest''), and Alan Gardner ''(Windwalker,

Ultima VI ''Ultima VI: The False Prophet'', released by Origin Systems in 1990, is the sixth part in the role-playing video game series of '' Ultima''. It is the third and final game in the "Age of Enlightenment" trilogy. ''Ultima VI'' sees the player retu ...

)''. Malone also later worked as a producer for 3D Realms. Softdisk continued to publish video games into the mid-1990s, most notably ''

In Pursuit of Greed ''In Pursuit of Greed'' (also known as ''Assassinators'') is a science fiction-themed first-person shooter (FPS) video game released in 1995 for DOS , developed by Mind Shear Software and published by Softdisk. Release After Mind Shear Software' ...

'', based on an alpha version of the

Doom engine id Tech 1, also known as the ''Doom'' engine, is the game engine that powers the id Software games ''Doom'' and '' Doom II: Hell on Earth''. It is also used in ''Heretic'', '' Hexen: Beyond Heretic'', '' Strife: Quest for the Sigil'', '' Hacx: T ...

derived from ''

Shadowcaster ''ShadowCaster'' is a first-person role-playing video game developed by Raven Software. It was published in 1993 by Origin Systems after Electronic Arts acquired them. A CD-ROM version was released in 1994, featuring two additional levels with ...

'', and ''

Alien Rampage Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

'', based on the original ''Ravager'' side-scroller once being developed by

Apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

Current state

Since 1995, Softdisk had been an

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

Web hosting service A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web ...

, and Internet developer as well, and this eventually became their primary area of business. They have offered local

dialup Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telep ...

service in the Shreveport area, and Web hosting and development services. As of 2006, their Web site redirected to that of Bayou Internet, which had taken over their Internet operations. The downloadstore.com site formerly owned and operated by Softdisk was later run by Flat Rock Software, which also published former Softdisk product Screen Saver Studio and most of the Gamer's Edge titles (as well as on GOG.com). The source code for '' Catacomb'', ''

'' and ''

'' was released by Flat Rock in June 2014 under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...

in a manner similar to those done by id and partners.

References

External links

*
Softdisk Legacy Software Information (Official Site Archive)

Licensed collection of the Apple versions: Softdisk Magazine; Softdisk G-S and UpTime (includes Mac)

''Softdisk''
at MobyGames {{id Software Defunct software companies of the United States Internet service providers of the United States Companies based in Shreveport, Louisiana Software companies established in 1981 Software companies disestablished in 2014 Defunct companies based in Louisiana

Publications

''Big Blue Disk''

Standalone programs and Gamer's Edge

Current state

References

Further reading

External links