About this project
We’re looking for information on games and other software (educational, edutainment, utility programs, computer generated art, graphics and music, including clones or re-creations of well known software) that were written and/or published in New Zealand during the 1980s and 1990s.
We are aiming to work with the New Zealand community to collect information about this early, locally written software. Currently, there is no central repository of information about early, New Zealand software for home computers such as the Atari, Apple, BBC, and Commodore ranges (to name just a few of the many computers available in NZ).
While we are most interested in software that was written for home computers, please also tell us about any other types of software you might know about (e.g. for business or for mainframes, etc), as this is also important to document.
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"Why?"
Collectors have done a terrific job compiling a list of software that was written in New Zealand for the Sega SC3000, but we need to know this information about other systems also. Without knowing what titles were written, when they were written, what systems they ran on and who wrote them, it is impossible to make informed decisions about conservation.
That's why the NZTronix team are asking people who know something about computing history in New Zealand to pitch in and help us build a publicly accessible database containing this information.
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Who cares about early software?
We do! And lots of other people do too (see the various software preservation initiatives linked from our homepage). Software from the 1980s and 1990s is at risk. It is deteriorating. Already some of it does not work. We don't want this material to be lost forever.
Early software matters. Increasingly it is recognised as our digital heritage.
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How you can help
Share what you know with the wider community, by entering it in our web form. We have kept it simple. Just enter as much or as little as you know or can remember. There is room to tell us more in the description and notes fields.
You can upload screenshots or cover art if you have these, and even source code or binaries if you have these. We have incorporated a way for you to complete a licence for any content that you own.
Provide a way that we can get back in touch with you, such as an e-mail address, in case we need to clarify anything.
You can review the entries that are already in the database using the search function. Leaving all the fields blank and clicking on Submit returns a full list of entries to date. Please email us if you know more about a title that's already entered – we’d love to hear from you.
We also have an Information Wanted page with details of specific software we are interested in. Please contact us if you have any information or contacts with people who might know something about these titles.
We're on the lookout for all early Kiwi software, so please pass the word on to your networks -- friends, family, colleagues, etc.
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"But what I know is not very important"
You might think this, but when a number of people pool their knowledge, it starts to take on a wider significance. We want to hear what you know, however trivial you might think it.
Perhaps you had a friend who wrote programs and shared them with you, or you were at school with someone who wrote a game and had it published (or not). Did you dabble in programming, or make early demos? Were you a budding computer artist or composer? Or did you develop and sell software yourself (or know someone who did)?
Help us to assemble this information by posting what you know about these titles and works. Don't worry if you can’t remember everything - other people might be able to fill in what you don’t know.
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Receive updates
We’d like to be able to tell you how this all develops. Click here or email nztronix-subscribe@googlegroups.com to register for quarterly updates on our progress.
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Privacy notice
We will keep your contact details confidential, and only use this information for heritage, archival and directly related purposes. If you find that any of the information about you on these pages is incorrect, please contact us, and we will happily correct it.
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