Bandinelli Software

[whiteplanet]

This is a software company that I have not

encountered before. According to the

AE Phasor Manual 1.1, there is a listing

for a game called Auto Gyro that uses this

card. (or perhaps Mocking compatible as well?)

 

I have gone through the Asimov archive (in the

game section) to look for this title and found nothing.

Can anybody verify this, supply screen shots etc.

Or maybe it is under educational titles?

[Brain Breaker]

This is a software company that I have not

encountered before. According to the

AE Phasor Manual 1.1, there is a listing

for a game called Auto Gyro that uses this

card. (or perhaps Mocking compatible as well?)

 

I have gone through the Asimov archive (in the

game section) to look for this title and found nothing.

Can anybody verify this, supply screen shots etc.

Or maybe it is under educational titles?

 

Bandinelli was located in Opelousas, Louisiana. Their only other game that I know of was Sigma 7, by Ian Douglas Agranat. It's basically a blocky, slow-moving Asteroids derivative. It was referenced a few times in Softalk and Softline, circa mid/late 1983. Agranat himself seems to have been based in Weston, MA, as he shows up again a bit later with the Echo Plus copy utility, released by his own Agranat Systems. His name comes up again in the context of web development in the late '90s, but that's about it. As for Auto Gyro, I also can't find any other reference to it other than the manual you referenced and that it's mentioned a couple of times on Mockingboard-compatible games lists. Please let me know if you're able to dig up anything else about it.

 

I'm always finding lost/unknown/unreleased games like this when combing through the old mags and newsletters. Despite various efforts over the years, the state of Apple II games history/cataloging/preservation is quite deplorable compared to most of the other important retro platforms, which is pretty sad...

[whiteplanet]

My search results for Auto Gyro thus far are fruitless hence the

need to post it here. But if I find any results I will let you know.

 

Have you found any worthwhile tiles going through old magazines/newsletters?
Or is it just the case of amateur type games?

 

I agree with you about the state of record keeping of Apple II games. Considering

how popular the Apple II was you would think it would be well documented.

Wikipeadia list is far from complete and doesnt have many screen shots.

I like to go through www.giantbomb.com to look at titles and also www.gamefaqs.com

 

I am also looking for games that were released. So far minimal results. I am

concentrating on the smaller software houses. Do you know anything about

Lady Tut? (who doesn't like this game) I mean release by Progame (I have

never known another title that they released) and Programmed by some guy

called Greggy?

[Brain Breaker]

My search results for Auto Gyro thus far are fruitless hence the

need to post it here. But if I find any results I will let you know.

 

Have you found any worthwhile tiles going through old magazines/newsletters?

Or is it just the case of amateur type games?

 

I agree with you about the state of record keeping of Apple II games. Considering

how popular the Apple II was you would think it would be well documented.

Wikipeadia list is far from complete and doesnt have many screen shots.

I like to go through www.giantbomb.com to look at titles and also www.gamefaqs.com

 

I am also looking for games that were released. So far minimal results. I am

concentrating on the smaller software houses. Do you know anything about

Lady Tut? (who doesn't like this game) I mean release by Progame (I have

never known another title that they released) and Programmed by some guy

called Greggy?

 

 

Yes, I've found some interesting stuff, both released but seemingly lost/unknown and apparently unreleased. I'd like to put a list or database of it together at some point, but I have a lot more research to do first.

The best resource out there right now (to my knowledge, at least) is TanruNomad's list, but of course that's a work in progress and is missing many items. Stephan Racle's Gallery of Undiscovered Entities was doing great work in this area as well, but is sadly defunct now, it would seem. Aside from combing through the various file archives, you can also find some obscure items shown or listed on sites like the Giant List of Classic Game Programmers, MOCAGH, etc. But still, compared to stuff like Atarimania, GB64, WoS, etc, the state of Apple II games cataloging/preservation is a mess. A comprehensive referencing of all the available old magazines. books and newsletters is the best way towards a more complete cataloging and historical record, but then actually implementing it all online is a whole other story...

Regarding Lady Tut, there are a couple of interesting facts about it. One is that the Progame version is actually a re-release, with Mockingboard support added, I believe. The original came out some time earlier via California Pacific. Progame seemed to be an outfit that simply licensed and re-released older software, including a few California Pacific titles. They even re-released Akalabeth! The other interesting thing is that if you've ever seen the end sequence of the game, it says something like "coming soon: Lady Tut II". So add that one to the "unreleased" list. As for the infamous "Greggy", he remains a mystery. There seem to be few extensive printed references to the game, so I think at this point the only way to find him would be by tracking down and jarring the memory of someone who worked at California Pacific back then.

[whiteplanet]

Yes I know about the end screen about Lady Tut for Lady Tut II.
How disappointing that it wasn't released. (Or was it?)

 

This website has some interesting stories about Apple II games.

There's a California Pacific entry listed as well as other tidbits.

www.filfre.net

 

Have you heard of a hardware item called an Atron Probe?

It was developed by EA (Terry Fowler) for looking at

bugs in software and was used on Skyfox. There was

also one made for the Genesis as well which is online with

photos. Cannot find any information for the Apple II version.

 

Can you recommend any sites that have interviews

or the like of Apple II programmers? I have found

www.digitpress.com which focuses on mainly Atari

but has some entry for the II.

[jewettg]

I have no idea if this thread response will be seen, but mentioned by @Space Invader; I was wondering if ANYONE has any information on the "echo plus copy program"; by Agranat Systems?  I have a copy of the software and was hoping any information was available on the inner workings, any documentation on the status area and what the regular and inverted characters meant as it progressed through a copy.     Please let me know, Thanks!

[jewettg]

I am working with another individual who has an "AppleSauce" device that will image the disk I have, and I will share it when I have a chance.  Continue to be interested in any snippets or information regarding this product and how it operates.  Thanks!

On 2/12/2022 at 3:55 PM, jewettg said:

I have no idea if this thread response will be seen, but mentioned by @Space Invader; I was wondering if ANYONE has any information on the "echo plus copy program"; by Agranat Systems?  I have a copy of the software and was hoping any information was available on the inner workings, any documentation on the status area and what the regular and inverted characters meant as it progressed through a copy.     Please let me know, Thanks!