Talk:AdventureDisk

Research notes

I'd become interested in learning about AdventureDisk after reading a review in an old issue of QuestBusters, but failing to find out much about it online I decided to try contacting the individual it identified as the editor: Jeffrey L. Bianco. Mr. Bianco kindly responded to my inquiry with an interesting summary of his work:

In 1981 or 1982, I was around 13-14 years old and was a budding entrepreneur. I was looking around for a way to make a bit of extra spending money. I found the Eamon adventure games and thought they were kind of fun to play, but there was no real organization to them. (Reading Wikipedia today it says something different but I am giving you my perspective.) So I started collecting them and assigning numbers to them. If I recall, I ended up with over 120 that I would sell via mail order. I printed up a 8.5 x 11 and then an 8.5 x 14 inch sheet that listed everything and I would mail them out. Checks would arrive and I would copy the games on my Apple IIe . The price was a couple of dollars each but I would put together larger bundles that were a better value.

Then I created a subscription offer called AdventureDisk where I would make a monthly disk containing an Eamon game, and some other adventure game content. I probably made around 10-15 issues in all. I was working with a very talented programmer who was probably 14-16 years old at that time. He designed the interface (menu) and helped create some of the content. I can't remember his name, but I wouldn't be surprised if he went on to great things. I never met him in person.

Now it is 30+ years later and I don't think I have any of the old disks.

I don't remember how or where I advertised the games, but A+ Magazine sounds about right.

I do remember that in 1986, I placed a $30 classified ad in the back of Softalk Magazine advertising something I created called the Print Shop Users Club (public domain clip art for Broderbund's Print Shop program). I probably received back around $250 in orders and I thought I was on to something. Eventually I had 30,000+ "members" of the Print Shop Users Club and I sold related products via Mail Order.

Along the way things evolved from public domain clipart for Print Shop into my selling original and licensed clip art for a competitive product called Instant Artist (renamed Print Artist) that was first sold by Autodesk, then Maxis and then by Sierra Online. That put me in contact with Ken Williams in the early Leisure Suit Larry days.

I spent a lot of time in the mail order clip art business. We also started developing our own software products that helped people organize and use their clipart. (I know this is outside of your area of interest). Eventually the company (since renamed GraphicCorp) created clipart using 100+ artists around the world (India, Ukraine, Canada, US) and licensed it to various software publishers (Microsoft, Sierra, Broderbund, Corel, etc.) for use in their products.

My long ride in the clip art business ended in 1999 with my selling GraphicCorp to Corel.

I later discovered the first issue of AdventureDisk at archive.org and made a copy available through the wiki. ╠╣uw [talk] 11:36, 24 February 2019 (EST)