Human Engineered Software (HES, also known as HesWare) was an American software developer and publisher from 1980 until 1984. The company sold video games and educational and productivity software, in addition to several hardware products. It focused on 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 ...

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

, and

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

home computers.

History

The company was located in

Brisbane, California Brisbane (pron. , unlike Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) is a small city located in California in the northern part of San Mateo County on the lower slopes of San Bruno Mountain. It is located on the southern border of San Francisco, on the ...

. Published titles included games, educational and productivity programs. Among them were ''

Project Space Station ''Project Space Station'' is a simulation game written for the Commodore 64 computer published in 1985 by HESware. It was ported to the Apple II and DOS. Summary In the game the player is put in control of NASA and tasked with building and main ...

'', ''Mr. TNT'',

Turtle Graphics In computer graphics, turtle graphics are vector graphics using a relative cursor (the "turtle") upon a Cartesian plane (x and y axis). Turtle graphics is a key feature of the Logo programming language. Overview The turtle has three attribut ...

by David Malmberg, several

Jeff Minter Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an independent English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 19 ...

games (Llamasoft), such as '' Attack of the Mutant Camels'', ''

Gridrunner ''Gridrunner'' is a fixed shooter video game written by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft for the VIC-20 in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore PET and Dragon 32. Many remakes and sequels hav ...

'', '' Hes Games'', and HesMon, Graphics BASIC, 64Forth (a

cartridge Cartridge may refer to: Objects * Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition * ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device * Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators Other uses * Cartridge (surname), a ...

-based

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotla ...

implementation), and the HesModem and HesModem II. The company was started by Jay Balakrishnan and Cy Shuster in 1980. The company was founded in Balakrishnan's apartment in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he took down the door to his bedroom, put it across two file cabinets, and used that as a desk for his development (winding the cables around the doorknob). With research into the

PET A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence ...

ROM, Balakrishnan wrote the first 8K 6502 Assembler, HESbal (HES Basic Assembler Language) in

BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...

, and an accompanying text editor, HESedit. Having HESbal allowed numerous creative follow-on products, such as HEScom, software and a user

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

cable that allowed VIC20 programs to be saved to a PET hard disk (since the first VIC20 didn't have a hard disk). Shuster soldered the HEScom cables in his garage and wrote HESlister, a print utility for BASIC programs, that he ported from a

TRS-80 Model I The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...

to the PET, to the VIC, and later to the IBM PC. HESware published

OMNIWRITER OmniWriter is a word processor for the Commodore 64 home computer HESware. Called the "dean of Commodore 64 word-processing programs" in Stewart Brand's '' Whole Earth Software Catalog and Review'', OmniWritersold at a list price of USD$79. It was ...

, a

word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Word processor (electronic device), Early word processors were stand-alone devices ded ...

for the

. Game writers

Lawrence Holland Lawrence Holland is an American video game designer and founder of the now defunct Totally Games. He is best known for the ''Star Wars: X-Wing'' series published by LucasArts. Early life His interest in computer programming started when his co ...

and Ron Gilbert, who later worked for

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as ...

, started their careers at HES.

Demise

By early 1984

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...

reported that HES was tied with

Broderbund Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits ''Choplifter'', ''Lode Runner'', ''Karateka'', and '' ...

as the world's tenth-largest microcomputer-software company and largest entertainment-software company, with $13 million in 1983 sales. In October 1984, HES filed for bankruptcy. It was reported that Avant Garde Publishing Corp would buy HES in a straight cash deal, but later detailed that the offer was blocked in bankruptcy court and HES shut down.

References

Commodore 64 Defunct video game companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in San Mateo County, California Software companies established in 1980 Software companies disestablished in 1984 Video game companies established in 1980 Video game companies disestablished in 1984 Companies disestablished in 1984 1980 establishments in California 1984 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area American companies disestablished in 1984 American companies established in 1980 {{US-videogame-company-stub