Muse Software

Muse Software was a Baltimore-based software and computer game publisher and developer for the first generation of home computers. They first published for the Apple II under the name Micro Users Software Exchange, and later expanded to the Commodore 64, Atari, and IBM PC markets. They are best known for publishing the original Castle Wolfenstein in 1981.

History

Muse was founded in 1978 by Ed Zaron. Silas Warner was Muse Software's first employee. Initially publishing games, the team also sold non-game software such as Super-Text (written by Zaron), a word processor, and Appilot (written by Warner), a course-writing language. Their original market was for the Apple II and II+, with their first programs sold on cassette, and later on floppy disk. They expanded their software offerings for other computers, such as the Commodore 64 and the Atari 800. The company also ran a retail store on the corner of Charles and Mulberry Streets in Baltimore called "Muse Software and Computer Center" which closed to the public in 1982.^[1]

At its peak, Muse was making more than US$2 million per year in sales.^[1]

According to Zaron, Muse's sales grew "extremely slow" because of a slump in the home computer software market.^[2] The company, which had about 40 employees at its peak in 1983, had shrunk down to just six prior to filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 1985.

Warner, who was leaving Muse to join MicroProse, said the company had difficulty setting up a sales program because of the long-term illness of a key sales employee.

The company closed down in 1987.

Years later, Id Software developed Wolfenstein 3D (the father of first-person shooter games), which was inspired—at least in part—by Castle Wolfenstein, one of Muse's popular titles.^[3]

Games

Name	Year	Platforms	Description
ABM	000000001980-01-01-00001980	Apple II	A Missile Command clone
Best of MUSE, TheThe Best of MUSE	000000001980-01-01-00001980	Apple II	A disk collection of four Muse games previously released only on cassette.
Beyond Castle Wolfenstein	000000001984-01-01-00001984	Apple II	A sequel to their earlier very popular Castle Wolfenstein, similar in play and appearance
		Atari 8-bit
		C64
		PC Booter
Castle Wolfenstein	000000001982-01-01-00001982	Apple II	Perhaps Muse' most popular title, the player must escape a Nazi fortress by traversing several levels of a bunker via stealth, cunning and sometimes violence. A novel presentation and early use of digital voice samples propelled this game to top sales.
		Atari 8-bit
		C64
		PC Booter
Caverns of Freitag, TheThe Caverns of Freitag	000000001982-01-01-00001982	Apple II
Cube Solution, TheThe Cube Solution	000000001982-01-01-00001982	Apple II
Escape!	000000001978-01-01-00001978	Apple II	Nearly identical to Maze Game, the player must traverse a labyrinth from a first-person perspective.
Firebug	000000001982-01-01-00001982	Apple II
Frazzle	000000001982-01-01-00001982	Apple II	A sci-fi action game where the player's space ship has been trapped by an alien race and must fight for freedom.
Global War	000000001979-01-01-00001979	Apple II	A home computer Risk! clone.
International Gran Prix	000000001981-01-01-00001981	Apple II
Intellectual Decathlon	000000001984-01-01-00001984	Apple II	A puzzle and strategy game for up to six players
Leaps and Bounds!	000000001985-01-01-00001985	Atari 8-bit	An edutainment title aimed at young children
Leaps and Bounds!	000000001985-01-01-00001985	C64	An edutainment title aimed at young children
Maze Game	000000001978-01-01-00001978	Apple II	The player must solve a labyrinth from a first-person perspective.
Rescue Squad	000000001983-01-01-00001983	C64	The player is an ambulance driver trying to rescue people.
RobotWar	000000001981-01-01-00001981	Apple II	Players write code in the provided language for a robot to have it fight other robots.
Side Show	000000001978-01-01-00001978	Apple II	A collection of six games of differing genres.
Space Taxi	000000001984-01-01-00001984	C64	A platformer action game where the player is a taxi driver and must deliver passengers as fast as possible while avoiding hazards and obstacles.
Tank War	000000001978-01-01-00001978	Apple II	A tank combat game for two-players played from an overhead perspective.
Three Mile Island	000000001979-01-01-00001979	Apple II	A simulation where players control a nuclear power plant and try to keep it profitable and safe.
Titan Empire	000000001983-01-01-00001983	Apple II	An ambitious sci-fi strategy/action game based on planetary conquest

References

1 2 University of Baltimore
↑ University of Baltimore
↑ "Castle Wolfenstein (The Original)". July 12, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2012.

Sources

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.