Actually, Thomas Hartsig was not the person who programmed the carts. He founded MCI which contracted with Scott Foresman to develop the carts. The games were developed by some other well known names in the TI world. Read below which comes from Howard Scheer (who later programmed Pac-Man and Ms.Pac-Man on the TI while with K-Byte, which had the contract from Atari): I graduated from high school in '80, and in early '81 there was a budget cut at the 'ISD, so they layed off everyone who wasn't still in high school (which was everyone but Mike). Although he still was working at the 'ISD, Dr. Hartsig started another company on the side, which he called MicroCourseware International (or MCI for short). Dr. Hartsig had a Ph.D in Mathematics, and he had an exclusive contract with Scott, Foresman & Co. to produce some mathematics educational software on the TI-99/4A. Randy and Doug has started working for Dr. Hartsig from the get-go. Joe Simko (another one of the SPB guys) started working there, as did Mike Reno (From the 'ISD) and another guy named Doug Craig. That summer Doug and I were hanging out together, and Doug was fascinated with the arcade game "Star Castles", and wanted to see if he could write it on the TI., and convinced me to work on it with him. We used the equipment at MCI, and Doug began helping me learn the TI. When Dr. Hartsig found out, he said to me, "Well, you're already learning the machine, you might as well work here."
Hank Mishkoff also worked on these as well. Here's a note from him from an interview with Charlie Good: HM-- I always thought that *I* "wrote" it, but I guess that depends on how you define "wrote." Tom designed the module and "wrote" the specification; I "wrote" every line of code that went into that module.
CG-- So why is Thomas Hartsig's name prominantly displayed on the title screen of Addition & Subtraction 1 and your name is found nowhere, not even in the documentation. Why are you given no credit?
HM-- Here's a funny story for you (well, *I* think it's funny, anyway)...
All of the programmers were miffed when we saw that Scott Foresman wanted to put Tom's name on the title page of Addition and Subtraction 1. Not that we had anything against Tom (we had never met him, for one thing; and for another, his contract with SF *required* that they give him onscreen credit), but we had all been developing programs for the Home Computer for years, and not once had any of us been given that kind of visibility. We weren't angry, but we were annoyed. When I had completed a first pass of the program, I flew up to Chicago to show it to the folks at SF; I knew that Tom was going to be there also. (I think that was the first -- and possibly the only -- time that I met him.) Just as a joke -- and to exact some small measure of satisfaction -- I changed the onscreen credit from Tom's name to mine, mostly to see how he would react (and, I suppose, in some obscure way, to make a point). So I'm in the room with Tom and two folks from SF (Bob and Dee), and I fire up the program, and up pops the title screen with my name on it. I keep a perfectly straight face, like nothing's going on. Bob looks real surprised for a second, then he smiles, and I think he's going to laugh, but he covers his face with his hand for a second, and then he's got a straight face, too. And Tom, who is staring directly at the screen, doesn't react at all! I even find some excuse to keep the title screen up there for a few extra seconds to make sure he sees it, but there's no reaction. I figure that he's missed it, maybe he's been looking at the esthetics and hasn't noticed the switch. Bummer. After a while, Bob and I leave to go talk about something else, leaving Tom alone with Dee. Later, Dee tells me that the second I left the room, Tom turned to her and said, worriedly, "I didn't know that *Hank's* name was going to be on the title screen!" Dee, who had figured out what I was doing, said something non-committal like, "I'll have to review that with Hank to see what's going on." I got a *tremendous* feeling of satisfaction after that; all I had been trying to do was to tweak Tom a little bit, and it had worked. Life is full of little victories!
A little more fun from Howard Scheer: In the summer of '79, my Dad and I were coming home from Boy Scout summer camp in '79. We pulled up in my parent's driveway, and I had barely gotten out of the car when Randy pulled in behind me. He got out and told me that I had a job interview at the 'ISD with Dr. Hartsig in two days. To some degree I was surprised, because I hadn't even applied for a job! On the other hand I wasn't: For some reason, I always knew I'd end up working there. I interviewed, and started working there on August 6th, 1979. Already working there with Randy was Doug, and soon after Matt Decker (from Randy & Doug's high school) and Mike Reno (from my high school) joined us.
In the spring of '83, the contract MCI had with Scott, Foresman & Co. was ending, and Dr. Hartsig was looking around for additional work for MCI. Meanwhile, another guy we knew from SPB (Jim) had gotten a job at K-Byte, a local software house that was just getting into writing games. Jim and Doug Dragin were friends, and he dragged Doug over to K-Byte. Soon after, Doug Craig joined him, and for a while the Doug's worked at both MCI and K-Byte. K-Byte was very impressed with both Dougs, and had just gotten their first 5 contracts with Atarisoft, and needed additional people to handle them. They asked the Dougs if they knew anyone else....and they recommended Joe, Mike, and myself. We started there in May of '83. Doug Dragin took Donkey Kong/C64. Doug Craig took Donkey Kong/TI. Joe got Defender/C64. Mike Reno got Dig Dug/C64. I got Pac-Man/TI. (After about a year, Matt Decker (from the 'ISD) joined us there. See how all these names keep popping up over and over?!)
I look forward to your new content. It makes for a great nostalgic trip back in time and reminds me of the great excitement I had for the TI and the early days of computers and videogaming. For a few minutes I get to escape being a grown-up and am whisked away to what at times seems like the better, more optimistic and exciting period of my teenage years. Thanks for the memories.
I probably played a couple of those... Once. I was as academically advanced as I was socially awkward when I got my TI at age 6, so my carts went on the shelf and I stuck with the games and fiddling around in BASIC, which for me was the killer education app. I didn't know about LOGO!
No Typing Tutor? That game had me typing at 90 wpm by age 13. In the 9th grade my typing class teacher gave me an A+ for the semester two weeks in and had me tutor the rest of the class until the end. She said she had never seen someone at that age (14 then) type that fast with basically 100% accuracy. That was definitely a learning game. Maybe you showed it and I missed it.
It was originally on my long list (which had 91 titles before any cuts at all), but was one of the many which I simply didn't have much to say about or show from (though most of the others were just cut for being too obscure, unpopular, or undocumented).
OMG - ALIEN ADDITION!! I remembered I had TI994A game as a kid that was like Space Invaders but with math problems but I couldn’t remember the name. THANK YOU for helping dig that out of the memory-hole. The 80’s were a great decade for “edutainment” games.
Glad this rundown helped you reconnect with that childhood experience. The education games don't get much love these days, now that none of us are kids anymore, and don't have much use for them. So I'm always delighted when someone has these memories to share.
This is awesome content! I'm really surprised this doesn't have millions of views! Thank you for making this, I feel like a lot of older stuff like this gets lost so easily to time.
Well, being that I make videos about a computer which was discontinued almost 40 years ago, I figure millions of views probably aren't in my future. But that's okay! Because I'm doing what I love, and people seem to enjoy it :)
I love your channel! This has quickly become one of my favorite channels and I really appreciate your thorough research and your presentation style. I have lots of fond memories of the TI that you have helped me relive. I have a memory of using a computer for the very first time in my 3rd grade classroom in roughly 1989. The game was based around Alice in Wonderland and you had to provide her instructions by picking words from a list at the bottom of the screen. I think it was educational but the teacher didn’t approve of it so we didn’t get to play it after that first day. I don’t know if this was a TI game but I think I remember seeing the colorful TI loading screen. I’ve never been able to find this game as an adult but would love to see it again. You never forget your first time using a computer. ❤ Does this ring any bells to you? I keep hoping it will appear on your channel haha. Thank you so much for all the great videos! You’re the TI master!
I appreciate all the kind words! This is the awesome payoff for creating these videos. As to the game, I don't think the Alice in Wonderland game you describe was a TI game, unfortunately, unless it was a little known disk or cassette game. Conceivably a TI LOGO game I suppose, since those were almost exclusively classroom products (with TI LOGO seeing almost no home use).
This is the Pixel Pedant video I've been waiting for. 4A Educational carts are by far the largest part of my collection and have become my most treasured. - They're usually cheap (a dozen for $20 type cheap). - With a few exceptions, they're easy to find. - There are more of them than any other software for the computer. - They are uniquely 4A...other systems had a few educational carts, but no other put such an emphasis on making it a defining theme of it's software library. - They are great fun to play (and discover you're NOT smarter than a fifth grader) I enjoy the DLM games, but wish they were not all timer-games (a multi-level variant of any of their titles would be more conducive to repeat play and increased skills within the component. Scott Foreman's Action Games (identified with the game's main character on the label) are my personal favourites. They are the most simplistic at using an "arcade" formula, but they were often very clever. Star Maze and Space Journey are excellent examples that would have engaged me as a 10 year old. (Unfortunately I was nearly 3 times that age by the time I bought my 4A). You covered the Scholastic Spelling series, but failed to mention their truly unique feature. Each one came with a 8.5x11 workbook that covered each lesson in detail, which provided space for answers and could be reviewed by educators and parents to grade progress. Pretty cool stuff. (I"m missing the workbook for Level 5, if some kind soul out there could assist) A couple years ago, while recovering from cardiac surgery, I bought a massive collection of Plato discs from the amazing Mike Dudek. They are far more serious fare, and cover subjects from elementary school through senior high-school, but have one thing in common with all of the TI educational software, they are adorably dated and reflective of their era, sometimes to great comedic (cringe?) effect. Sorry, long winded again, but I love this segment of TI software. No other genre on any other system better evokes the wonder present in the early days of software coding for consumers. It let's us travel back to a simpler time. And makes us look senile.
Great to hear your thoughts and your enthusiasm for the TI-99 as always, PeBo! :) Plato is a subject that could deserve its own video, down the line. The "comedically outdated" quality on some topics could be a bonus where entertainment factor is concerned, indeed.
One of my favorite games for the TI994a might could be considered educational. Microsurgeon. The graphics, sound, multiple screens including a microscopic zoom in screen made it the most impressive game ever on the system. None of my friends cared about Early Learning Fun, Addition and Subtraction, and even at 6-7 years old I thought they were baby games. I got a copy of Microsurgeon from my Aunt when I was about 8 years old. But the same friends who could not wait to play Donkey Kong, Burgertime, Congo Bongo, Parsec, Alpiner, Ti Invaders, etc were blown away by Microsurgeon. It was a fantastic game.
Early learning fun was a cartridge my mother found at a yard sale when I was young and just started my atari collection without knowing it. She thought it was a video game cartridge for 5 cents and it was the only one she found so why not. Years and years later that cartridge started my thirst for collecting for the ti99. Hearing it's one of if not the earliest cart is pretty awesome to me thank you
My first computer was the TI-99/4a but I really wanted an Atari 400 or 800. Anyway, had plenty of games and dabbled in basic/extended-basic, but never used it for educational programs. I do have fond memories from the experience.
So many here I've never heard of - I guess because they never were released commercially? As a kid who studied the Tenex and Triton catalogs when they arrived, like some people study the scriptures, it was fun seeing these "children's" educarts in action!
Yeah, a number of these were not released commercially. Which is too bad. Peter Pan's Space Odyssey, Germ Patrol, and E.T.'s Adventure at Sea are examples of good games which were apparently completed, but not released commercially due to TI's pullout.
Great unique TI contribution! My grade school in Cranston had a TI in the 80s, though they probably got it after the TI folded as it was almost free of charge by then. Though the TI certainly competed well against the Apple II for the education market and games.
Actually, Thomas Hartsig was not the person who programmed the carts. He founded MCI which contracted with Scott Foresman to develop the carts. The games were developed by some other well known names in the TI world. Read below which comes from Howard Scheer (who later programmed Pac-Man and Ms.Pac-Man on the TI while with K-Byte, which had the contract from Atari):
I graduated from high school in '80, and in early '81 there was a budget cut at the 'ISD, so they layed off everyone who wasn't still in high school (which was everyone but Mike). Although he still was working at the 'ISD, Dr. Hartsig started another company on the side, which he called MicroCourseware International (or MCI for short). Dr. Hartsig had a Ph.D in Mathematics, and he had an exclusive contract with Scott, Foresman & Co. to produce some mathematics educational software on the TI-99/4A. Randy and Doug has started working for Dr. Hartsig from the get-go. Joe Simko (another one of the SPB guys) started working there, as did Mike Reno (From the 'ISD) and another guy named Doug Craig. That summer Doug and I were hanging out together, and Doug was fascinated with the arcade game "Star Castles", and wanted to see if he could write it on the TI., and convinced me to work on it with him. We used the equipment at MCI, and Doug began helping me learn the TI. When Dr. Hartsig found out, he said to me, "Well, you're already learning the machine, you might as well work here."
Hank Mishkoff also worked on these as well. Here's a note from him from an interview with Charlie Good:
HM-- I always thought that *I* "wrote" it, but I guess that depends on
how you define "wrote." Tom designed the module and "wrote" the
specification; I "wrote" every line of code that went into that module.
CG-- So why is Thomas Hartsig's name prominantly displayed on the title
screen of Addition & Subtraction 1 and your name is found nowhere, not
even in the documentation. Why are you given no credit?
HM-- Here's a funny story for you (well, *I* think it's funny,
anyway)...
All of the programmers were miffed when we saw that Scott Foresman
wanted to put Tom's name on the title page of Addition and Subtraction
1. Not that we had anything against Tom (we had never met him, for one
thing; and for another, his contract with SF *required* that they give
him onscreen credit), but we had all been developing programs for the
Home Computer for years, and not once had any of us been given that kind
of visibility. We weren't angry, but we were annoyed. When I had
completed a first pass of the program, I flew up to Chicago to show it
to the folks at SF; I knew that Tom was going to be there also. (I think
that was the first -- and possibly the only -- time that I met him.)
Just as a joke -- and to exact some small measure of satisfaction -- I
changed the onscreen credit from Tom's name to mine, mostly to see how
he would react (and, I suppose, in some obscure way, to make a point).
So I'm in the room with Tom and two folks from SF (Bob and Dee), and I
fire up the program, and up pops the title screen with my name on it. I
keep a perfectly straight face, like nothing's going on. Bob looks real
surprised for a second, then he smiles, and I think he's going to laugh,
but he covers his face with his hand for a second, and then he's got a
straight face, too. And Tom, who is staring directly at the screen,
doesn't react at all! I even find some excuse to keep the title screen
up there for a few extra seconds to make sure he sees it, but there's no
reaction. I figure that he's missed it, maybe he's been looking at the
esthetics and hasn't noticed the switch. Bummer. After a while, Bob
and I leave to go talk about something else, leaving Tom alone with
Dee. Later, Dee tells me that the second I left the room, Tom turned to
her and said, worriedly, "I didn't know that *Hank's* name was going to
be on the title screen!" Dee, who had figured out what I was doing, said
something non-committal like, "I'll have to review that with Hank to see
what's going on." I got a *tremendous* feeling of satisfaction after
that; all I had been trying to do was to tweak Tom a little bit, and it
had worked. Life is full of little victories!
A little more fun from Howard Scheer:
In the summer of '79, my Dad and I were coming home from Boy Scout summer camp in '79. We pulled up in my parent's driveway, and I had barely gotten out of the car when Randy pulled in behind me. He got out and told me that I had a job interview at the 'ISD with Dr. Hartsig in two days.
To some degree I was surprised, because I hadn't even applied for a job! On the other hand I wasn't: For some reason, I always knew I'd end up working there.
I interviewed, and started working there on August 6th, 1979. Already working there with Randy was Doug, and soon after Matt Decker (from Randy & Doug's high school) and Mike Reno (from my high school) joined us.
In the spring of '83, the contract MCI had with Scott, Foresman & Co. was ending, and Dr. Hartsig was looking around for additional work for MCI.
Meanwhile, another guy we knew from SPB (Jim) had gotten a job at K-Byte, a local software house that was just getting into writing games. Jim and Doug Dragin were friends, and he dragged Doug over to K-Byte. Soon after, Doug Craig joined him, and for a while the Doug's worked at both MCI and K-Byte.
K-Byte was very impressed with both Dougs, and had just gotten their first 5 contracts with Atarisoft, and needed additional people to handle them. They asked the Dougs if they knew anyone else....and they recommended Joe, Mike, and myself.
We started there in May of '83. Doug Dragin took Donkey Kong/C64. Doug Craig took Donkey Kong/TI. Joe got Defender/C64. Mike Reno got Dig Dug/C64. I got Pac-Man/TI. (After about a year, Matt Decker (from the
'ISD) joined us there. See how all these names keep popping up over and
over?!)
I look forward to your new content. It makes for a great nostalgic trip back in time and reminds me of the great excitement I had for the TI and the early days of computers and videogaming. For a few minutes I get to escape being a grown-up and am whisked away to what at times seems like the better, more optimistic and exciting period of my teenage years. Thanks for the memories.
I probably played a couple of those... Once. I was as academically advanced as I was socially awkward when I got my TI at age 6, so my carts went on the shelf and I stuck with the games and fiddling around in BASIC, which for me was the killer education app. I didn't know about LOGO!
WOW! Facemaker provided my sister and I endless amounts of fun. Thank you for jogging my memory
No Typing Tutor? That game had me typing at 90 wpm by age 13. In the 9th grade my typing class teacher gave me an A+ for the semester two weeks in and had me tutor the rest of the class until the end. She said she had never seen someone at that age (14 then) type that fast with basically 100% accuracy. That was definitely a learning game. Maybe you showed it and I missed it.
It was originally on my long list (which had 91 titles before any cuts at all), but was one of the many which I simply didn't have much to say about or show from (though most of the others were just cut for being too obscure, unpopular, or undocumented).
OMG - ALIEN ADDITION!! I remembered I had TI994A game as a kid that was like Space Invaders but with math problems but I couldn’t remember the name. THANK YOU for helping dig that out of the memory-hole. The 80’s were a great decade for “edutainment” games.
Glad this rundown helped you reconnect with that childhood experience. The education games don't get much love these days, now that none of us are kids anymore, and don't have much use for them. So I'm always delighted when someone has these memories to share.
Yes! Our family had one of these, plus Munchman, Jawbreaker and Beginning Grammar! God I feel old…
This is awesome content! I'm really surprised this doesn't have millions of views! Thank you for making this, I feel like a lot of older stuff like this gets lost so easily to time.
Well, being that I make videos about a computer which was discontinued almost 40 years ago, I figure millions of views probably aren't in my future. But that's okay! Because I'm doing what I love, and people seem to enjoy it :)
I love your channel! This has quickly become one of my favorite channels and I really appreciate your thorough research and your presentation style. I have lots of fond memories of the TI that you have helped me relive.
I have a memory of using a computer for the very first time in my 3rd grade classroom in roughly 1989. The game was based around Alice in Wonderland and you had to provide her instructions by picking words from a list at the bottom of the screen. I think it was educational but the teacher didn’t approve of it so we didn’t get to play it after that first day. I don’t know if this was a TI game but I think I remember seeing the colorful TI loading screen.
I’ve never been able to find this game as an adult but would love to see it again. You never forget your first time using a computer. ❤ Does this ring any bells to you? I keep hoping it will appear on your channel haha.
Thank you so much for all the great videos! You’re the TI master!
I appreciate all the kind words! This is the awesome payoff for creating these videos. As to the game, I don't think the Alice in Wonderland game you describe was a TI game, unfortunately, unless it was a little known disk or cassette game. Conceivably a TI LOGO game I suppose, since those were almost exclusively classroom products (with TI LOGO seeing almost no home use).
This is the Pixel Pedant video I've been waiting for.
4A Educational carts are by far the largest part of my collection and have become my most treasured.
- They're usually cheap (a dozen for $20 type cheap).
- With a few exceptions, they're easy to find.
- There are more of them than any other software for the computer.
- They are uniquely 4A...other systems had a few educational carts, but no other put
such an emphasis on making it a defining theme of it's software library.
- They are great fun to play (and discover you're NOT smarter than a fifth grader)
I enjoy the DLM games, but wish they were not all timer-games (a multi-level variant of any of their titles would be more conducive to repeat play and increased skills within the component.
Scott Foreman's Action Games (identified with the game's main character on the label) are my personal favourites. They are the most simplistic at using an "arcade" formula, but they were often very clever. Star Maze and Space Journey are excellent examples that would have engaged me as a 10 year old. (Unfortunately I was nearly 3 times that age by the time I bought my 4A).
You covered the Scholastic Spelling series, but failed to mention their truly unique feature. Each one came with a 8.5x11 workbook that covered each lesson in detail, which provided space for answers and could be reviewed by educators and parents to grade progress. Pretty cool stuff. (I"m missing the workbook for Level 5, if some kind soul out there could assist)
A couple years ago, while recovering from cardiac surgery, I bought a massive collection of Plato discs from the amazing Mike Dudek. They are far more serious fare, and cover subjects from elementary school through senior high-school, but have one thing in common with all of the TI educational software, they are adorably dated and reflective of their era, sometimes to great comedic (cringe?) effect.
Sorry, long winded again, but I love this segment of TI software. No other genre on any other system better evokes the wonder present in the early days of software coding for consumers. It let's us travel back to a simpler time. And makes us look senile.
Great to hear your thoughts and your enthusiasm for the TI-99 as always, PeBo! :)
Plato is a subject that could deserve its own video, down the line. The "comedically outdated" quality on some topics could be a bonus where entertainment factor is concerned, indeed.
One of my favorite games for the TI994a might could be considered educational.
Microsurgeon. The graphics, sound, multiple screens including a microscopic zoom in screen made it the most impressive game ever on the system.
None of my friends cared about Early Learning Fun, Addition and Subtraction, and even at 6-7 years old I thought they were baby games. I got a copy of Microsurgeon from my Aunt when I was about 8 years old.
But the same friends who could not wait to play Donkey Kong, Burgertime, Congo Bongo, Parsec, Alpiner, Ti Invaders, etc were blown away by Microsurgeon. It was a fantastic game.
I had a lot of these growing up, and the Scott Foresman carts were the best. I used to drill myself happily on Multiplication 1 all the time
Really enjoyed your video.
Early learning fun was a cartridge my mother found at a yard sale when I was young and just started my atari collection without knowing it. She thought it was a video game cartridge for 5 cents and it was the only one she found so why not. Years and years later that cartridge started my thirst for collecting for the ti99. Hearing it's one of if not the earliest cart is pretty awesome to me thank you
My first computer was the TI-99/4a but I really wanted an Atari 400 or 800. Anyway, had plenty of games and dabbled in basic/extended-basic, but never used it for educational programs. I do have fond memories from the experience.
This just popped up in my feed and damn you earned a new subscription
So many here I've never heard of - I guess because they never were released commercially? As a kid who studied the Tenex and Triton catalogs when they arrived, like some people study the scriptures, it was fun seeing these "children's" educarts in action!
Yeah, a number of these were not released commercially. Which is too bad. Peter Pan's Space Odyssey, Germ Patrol, and E.T.'s Adventure at Sea are examples of good games which were apparently completed, but not released commercially due to TI's pullout.
Great unique TI contribution! My grade school in Cranston had a TI in the 80s, though they probably got it after the TI folded as it was almost free of charge by then. Though the TI certainly competed well against the Apple II for the education market and games.
guess I had audition and subtraction 1. all that brought back memories.
I had early learning fun and something else .