| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software, video games |
| Founded | August 18, 1993 |
| Headquarters | Rochester, New York, U.S. |
| Key people | Andrew Welch — President |
| Products | Shareware video games and utilities |
| Website | www.ambrosiasw.com |
Ambrosia Software is a predominantly Macintosh software company located in Rochester, New York, U.S. Ambrosia produces utilities and games. Its products are distributed as shareware; demo versions can be downloaded and used for up to 30 days.
Ambrosia's best-selling program is the utility Snapz Pro X,[1] according to a 2002 interview with company president Andrew Welch, although the company is better known for the production and the distribution of games. It was incorporated August 18, 1993, by its president, Andrew Welch, after he graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1992.[2]
The first game produced by Ambrosia was Maelstrom, a remake of the Asteroids arcade game. Maelstrom won a number of software awards.[3] This initial success led Ambrosia to release several more arcade-style games. These included Apeiron (a remake of Centipede), and Swoop (a remake of Galaxian).
The unofficial mascot of Ambrosia Software is Hector the Parrot.
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Ambrosia Software's games, in order of release:
Ambrosia, in conjunction with DG Associates, has also released the Escape Velocity Nova Card Game.
Ambrosia Software's utilities, in order of release:
One of Ambrosia's founding mantras was that shareware software should not be distributed as crippleware. The company's software was released on the honor system with only a short reminder that you had used the unregistered software for "x" amount of time, creating what is commonly called nagware.[4] This policy has since been changed and the company today employs typical shareware piracy prevention measures.[5] Their software products now fall under the category of crippleware.[5] Matt Slot has written about the factors that played into the policy change.[4]