My history with computers started with the BBC Micro. It was the early 1980s and the first home computers started appearing in schools and homes. I have fond memories playing Granny’s Garden and Chuckie Egg on the BBC but it was when our teacher taught us how to program in Basic that I really got into computer programming. My first program was a simple four-line routine that drew a shape on the screen which I found fascinating.
I bought a 48k Spectrum Plus and later upgraded to the 128k plus 3 model. Arming myself with a program called P.A.W.S (Professional Adventure Writing System) I discovered my love of creating my very own adventure games. I dabbled a bit in Spectrum Basic but didn’t get very far than a few basic pieces of code. I coded a demo which had a man running to a rocket but the rocket lifts off before he got to it. Another game was a crude adventure called Who Pinched Andy’s Fags.
I started programming the Atari STE in 1990 using STOS Basic. Over the years I had created a few programs with it. My first program was the STOS Adventure Creator which was a programming tool I used to create my own text adventure games using STOS. I teamed up with an artist and we called our little partnership Silly Software. Our first game was called Mobster’s City and our last program was called Grafix The Easy Way which was a tutorial on how to draw 2D Graphics for beginners.
I got myself an Amiga 500 for games and later upgraded to the Amiga 1200. I decided to start programming Amiga Software so I got hold of Amos Professional and programmed two games, one called Never Ending Colouring Book and the other one was called Spot It. I also converted existing software to the Amiga from the ST.
If you would like to see my old programs then you can download them below. They are in both emulator and original computer format.
DOWNLOAD ATARI ST AND AMIGA SOFTWARE
As well as programming I also wrote many articles and tutorials about programming and computing in general. I mainly wrote for the Stosser Diskzine but I did contribute some articles for other diskzines including Power and ST Plus. I also contributed to the ST Plus Fanzine which is the only time my articles have actually been in print. If you would like to read my STOS Basic articles you can download them here.
I have enjoyed the countless hours programming software along with the many snippets of code I have programmed for various diskzines. The many nights I have spent in front of my computer instead of having a decent social life have been most enjoyable. Writing for various diskzines and knowing my many articles and tutorials have benefited the Atari ST community has all been worthwhile.