The
software company with the forbidden name existed from 1978 to 1987. The name existed from 1981 until around 1986. Before 1981 it
was pretty much just Mark Pelczarski, and after 1986 it was "Polarware" and eventually part of another
publishing company.
The Apple II computer was the first personal computer that had color graphics. Our first programs were for drawing, manipulating, and animating graphics on the Apple II, and they were quite popular. You could accurately say we pioneered much of the field of computer graphics. For a while, a good majority of educational software and games released for the Apple II opened with the "graphics by P------ Software" acknowledgement. Our software even resides in the archives of the Smithsonian's Museum of American History (we picture it as resembling the closing warehouse scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but we're impressed anyway).
For a year or so, I had plenty of free software posted here that you could download and run using emulator software that makes your fancy 800Mhz Pentium think it's a 1Mhz Apple II. I'd discovered several Internet sites that had posted many of the old programs in archive format, and I thought that was pretty neat. So I found as many original masters as I could and posted them here for free.
Unfortunately, that book company says I can't give away old stuff from 1984 for free, even though a lot of you have the same disks sitting in dusty boxes in your closets. So all you'll find here is software that was published after we were forced by that book company to change our name to "Polarware", and a few earlier programs that some hardy souls edited for this site by removing the "offending" name. Sigh...
So if you want a chuckle seeing what software was like back in the ancient times, try what I have left here. You
can also search the 'net for that forbidden name and find the ones that others can post by I can't. Most of the
archives are in DSK format, which run with Windows and Apple II emulator software. Some PC versions are available,
too, as well as a few for other systems.
How to use the archive files, and important instructions for some of the games
Graphics Magician Direct Express!
In the spirit of the original Apple II program
that let people write cool graphics and animation programs with plain old BASIC, I've revived the concept of Graphics Magician for my current college students.
If you want a quick way to do some cool graphics and animation, this time using (and learning?) C++, visit graphicsmagician.com. The new version works with Microsoft Visual C++, but it hides all the DirectX and Windows complexities, making programming much easier. You can do some pretty neat stuff with some fairly short programs! Try it. - MP
How an old software company got started...
1979 - 1982 The beginning.... Computer Graphics!
1982 And they can make games with it!
1983 - 1987 A few utilities...
"Drones wanted..."
1984 - 1989 The Comprehend adventure series
1984 - 1987 Adventures Around the World
Frnk talk: The Flightless Antarctic Bird bulletin board
is temporarily out of commission! sorry.
Have a question about the company we can't name? Need a hint for one of the adventure games? Check out our web message board. Although other projects have severely limited the amount of time I've had to personally answer messages, a lot of other people have pitched in to help with the game questions. - Mark
E-mail: Click here
