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 Headquarters in 2004; these offices were, for the latter part of the company's history, in a converted basement in downtown Shreveport. | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software,Internet |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Defunct | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
Key people | Jim Mangham, Founder Judi Mangham, Founder Al Vekovius, Founder, CEO John Beaird, CEO John Carmack, Game Programmer John Romero, Game Programmer & Designer Tom Hall, Game Designer Adrian Carmack, Artist Kevin Cloud, Artist and Manager Jay Wilbur, Manager |
| Products | Disk magazines, video games |
Softdisk was asoftware andInternet company based inShreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products weredisk magazines (which they termed "magazettes", for "magazine on diskette"). It was affiliated and partly owned by paper magazineSoftalk at founding, but survived its demise.
The company has been known by a variety of names, includingSoftdisk Magazette,Softdisk Publishing,Softdisk, Inc.,Softdisk Internet Services,Softdisk, L.L.C., andMagazines On Disk.
Softdisk is the former workplace of several of the founders ofid Software.
Publications includedSoftdisk for theApple II;Loadstar for theCommodore 64;Big Blue Disk (laterOn Disk Monthly andSoftdisk PC),The Gamer’s Edge, andPC Business Disk for theIBM PC;Diskworld (laterSoftdisk for Mac) andDTPublisher (specializing in desktop publishing) for theApple Macintosh;Softdisk G-S for theApple IIGS;Softdisk for Windows forMicrosoft Windows, published from 1994–1999; andShareware Spotlight, a short-lived publication featuring the best Shareware offerings for IBM PC compatibles. By the late 1990s, these publications were discontinued, althoughLoadstar had a continued life as an independent company catering to acult following of Commodore buffs.
Big Blue Disk was a monthlydisk magazine that was published by Softdisk forIBM PC and compatibles that began publication in 1986.[1] It required 256k of memory.[1] Softdisk was sued by IBM for trademark infringement over the use of the name "Big Blue" in 1989.[2]
Softdisk is most famous for being the former workplace of several of the founders ofid Software, who worked on a short-lived game subscription product,Gamer's Edge.Gamer's Edge was a monthly[3] PC game disk started in 1990 byJohn Romero. The disk's developers wereJohn Carmack,John Romero, andAdrian Carmack.Tom Hall, 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, includingDangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion,Rescue Rover,Hovertank 3D,Rescue Rover 2,Tiles of the Dragon,Catacomb 3D andKeen Dreams (the "lost" episode of theCommander Keen series). Softdisk later hired a new team to create new titles using thegame engines of the earlier games, including the later founders of JAM Productions who createdBlake Stone. This connection led to Softdisk being mentioned extensively in the earlier parts of the id chronicling bookMasters of Doom.
Also, some of the earliest employees ofOrigin Systems worked there before moving on: Greg Malone (Moebius,Windwalker), Dallas Snell (The Quest andRing Quest), Joel Rea (The Quest andRing Quest), and Alan Gardner (Windwalker,Ultima VI). Malone also later worked as a producer for3D Realms.
Softdisk continued to publish video games into the mid-1990s, most notablyIn Pursuit of Greed, based on an alpha version of theDoom engine derived fromShadowcaster, andAlien Rampage, based on the originalRavager side-scroller once being developed byApogee.
Since 1995, Softdisk had been anInternet service provider,web hosting service, and Internet developer as well, and this eventually became their primary area of business. They offered localdialup service in theShreveport area, and Web hosting and development services.
As of 2006, their website 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 forCatacomb,Catacomb 3D andHovertank 3D was released by Flat Rock in June 2014 under theGNU General Public License in a manner similar tothose done by id and partners.[4]