Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American video game development and publishing company founded in 1981 by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant.
It initially focused on the
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, ...
, then later developed 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 ...
and other systems. The company was purchased by
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 '' ...
in late 1984, and the Synapse label retired in 1985.
After some initial releases directly based on existing games, such as clones of Sega's ''
Head On'' and a variant of Atari Inc's ''
Avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...
'', 1982's ''
Shamus'' established Synapse as a creator of high quality action games. It was followed by additional well-received games including ''
Rainbow Walker'', ''
Blue Max'', and ''
The Pharaoh's Curse'', and some others based on unusual concepts, like ''
Necromancer
Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...
'' and ''
Alley Cat''. First-person game ''
Dimension X'' was promoted for its "altered perspective scrolling" technology, then released in a cut-down form over nine months later to disappointing reviews. The company also sold databases, a
6502
The MOS Technology 6502 (typically pronounced "sixty-five-oh-two" or "six-five-oh-two") William Mensch and the moderator both pronounce the 6502 microprocessor as ''"sixty-five-oh-two"''. is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by a small te ...
assembler, and a suite of
biofeedback hardware and software. A series of productivity applications published in 1983, including a spreadsheet, led to financial difficulties and the company's downfall.
Action games
Synapse's first releases were for the Atari 8-bit computers, starting in 1981. Some of their early games were based on elements of contemporary arcade games. ''
Protector
Protector(s) or The Protector(s) may refer to:
Roles and titles
* Protector (title), a title or part of various historical titles of heads of state and others in authority
** Lord Protector, a title that has been used in British constitutional l ...
'' (1981) uses elements of ''
Defender'', and ''Dodge Racer'' (1981) is a clone of Sega's ''
Head On''. ''
Chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
'' (1982) has the same basic concept as ''
Kaboom!'' for the Atari 2600, which itself is similar to the arcade game ''
Avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...
''.
''
Nautilus
The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina.
It comprises six living species in ...
'' (1982) features a split-screen so two players can play at once. In one-player mode the user controls a
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
, the ''Nautilus'', in the lower screen while the computer controls a
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
, the ''Colossus'', in the upper screen. Similar to Atari's
Combat
Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
, in two-player mode another player takes control of the destroyer. The same basic system was later re-used in other games, including ''
Shadow World''.
''
Survivor'' (1982) supports up to four simultaneous players, via the four joystick ports on the Atari 400 and Atari 800 computers. Each player commands a different part of a single spaceship. In single-player mode it operates like the ship in ''
Asteroids
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
'', while in two player mode one drives and the other fires in any direction.
In an interview with ''
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 by ...
'', Wolosenko agreed that 1982's ''
Shamus'' was the beginning of Synapse's reputation for quality products.
Other high quality, better advertised games followed in 1982-3. These include ''
Necromancer
Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...
'', ''
Rainbow Walker'', ''
Blue Max'', ''
Fort Apocalypse
''Fort Apocalypse'' is a multidirectional scrolling shooter for the Atari 8-bit family created by Steve Hales and published by Synapse Software in 1982. Joe Vierra ported it to the Commodore 64 the same year. The player navigates an underground ...
'', ''
Alley Cat'', and ''
The Pharaoh's Curse''. It was during this period that the company branched out and started supporting other systems, especially 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 ...
, which became a major platform. Many of Synapse's games made their way to the UK as part of the initial wave of
U.S. Gold
U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown Ho ...
-distributed imports (under the "Synsoft" imprint). Some were also converted to run on the more popular UK
home computers, such as the
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...
.
Synapse was an early developer for the unsuccessful graphics-accelerated
Mindset
Mindset is an "established set of attitudes, esp. regarded as typical of a particular group's social or cultural values; the outlook, philosophy, or values of a person; (now also more generally) frame of mind, attitude, ecte: anddisposition." ...
PC project and created the first-person game ''Vyper'' (1984).
Ports and re-releases
Synapse developed an official port of the arcade video game ''
Zaxxon
is an isometric shooter arcade game, developed and released by Sega in 1982, in which the player pilots a ship through heavily defended space fortresses. Japanese electronics company Ikegami Tsushinki is also credited for having worked on the d ...
'' for the Commodore 64. The Atari port was from
Datasoft
Datasoft, Inc. (also written as DataSoft and Data Soft) was a software developer and publisher for home computers founded in 1980 by Pat Ketchum and based out of Chatsworth, California. Datasoft primarily published video games, including home port ...
. Synapse also published ''
Encounter!'' in 1983, which was originally released in the UK by
Novagen Software
Novagen Software Ltd (commonly referred to as Novagen) was a British software developer which released a number of computer games on a variety of platforms from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.
The company was set up by Paul Woakes and Bruce J ...
without the exclamation mark in the name. ''
Salmon Run
''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the Atari 8-bit family created by Bill Williams and distributed via the Atari Program Exchange. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their o ...
'' was published by the
Atari Program Exchange
Atari Program Exchange (APX) was a division of Atari, Inc. that sold software via mail-order for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. Quarterly APX catalogs were sent to all registered Atari 8-bit owners. APX encouraged any programmer, not j ...
in 1982; Synapse released a
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 ...
port under the "Showcase Software" label the following year.
Utilities and productivity software
Although it is for their success with arcade-style games that it is primarily remembered, Synapse started out selling database software for the Atari 8-bit computers. In 1982 Synapse released ''
SynAssembler'', a 6502 development system which was much faster than Atari's offerings at the time. ''SynAssembler'' is a port of the S-C Assembler II Version 4.0 from the Apple II.
The port was done by Steve Hales, who also wrote a number of games for Synapse.
Synapse was developing a series of home productivity and financial
applications
Application may refer to:
Mathematics and computing
* Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks
** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...
: ''SynFile+'' (written in
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 ...
by Steve Ahlstrom and Dan Moore of The 4th Works), ''SynCalc'', ''Synfilet'', ''SynChron'', ''SynComm'', ''SynStock'', and ''SynTrend''.
Interactive fiction
Some time before their demise, Synapse had started work on
interactive fiction
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
games (or as they called them, "Electronic Novels"). The games were all based on a parser called "BTZ" (''Better Than
Zork
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded a ...
''), written by
William Mataga and Steve Hales. Seven games were written using the system but only four released,
["Synapse Software"]
Adventureland the best-known being the critically acclaimed ''Mindwheel''.
[
]
Downfall
By early 1984 Synapse was the largest third-party provider of Atari 8-bit software, but 65% of its sales came from the Commodore market. The company ran into financial difficulty. According to Steve Hales they had taken a calculated risk in developing the series of productivity applications
Application may refer to:
Mathematics and computing
* Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks
** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...
and had entered into a collaboration with Atari, Inc.
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry.
Based primarily around the Sunny ...
When Jack Tramiel
Jack Tramiel ( ; born Idek Trzmiel; December 13, 1928 – April 8, 2012) was an American businessman and Holocaust survivor, best known for founding Commodore International. The Commodore PET, VIC-20 and Commodore 64 are some home comput ...
purchased Atari's consumer division from Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
, he refused to pay for the 40,000 units of software that had been shipped.
Thrown into a cash crisis, Synapse was purchased by Broderbund Software in late 1984. Although the intention had been to keep Synapse going, the market had changed, and they were unable to make money from the
electronic novels. Approximately one year after the takeover, Broderbund closed Synapse down.
Software published by Synapse
Games separated by a slash were sold together as "Double Plays," with one being a bonus game on the other side of the disk. '' Rainbow Walker'' was initially sold by itself, and the second game added later.
Showcase Software
At the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show
CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
, Synapse announced it would publish games for the 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 ...
. These were a mix of original titles and ports and were sold under the name Showcase Software. Only some of the announced games were released.
* ''Astro Patrol''
* ''Salmon Run
''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the Atari 8-bit family created by Bill Williams and distributed via the Atari Program Exchange. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their o ...
'' - originally published in 1982 for the Atari 8-bit family through the Atari Program Exchange
Atari Program Exchange (APX) was a division of Atari, Inc. that sold software via mail-order for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. Quarterly APX catalogs were sent to all registered Atari 8-bit owners. APX encouraged any programmer, not j ...
* ''Squeeze''
References
{{Reflist
External links
Scans and information on Synapse's Atari products
Atari 8-bit family
Defunct software companies of the United States
Defunct video game companies of the United States
*
1984 disestablishments in California
American companies disestablished in 1984