Outpost (1981 video game)

Outpost
Outpost
Publisher(s)	Sirius Software
Programmer(s)	Tom McWilliams
Platform(s)	Apple II
Release	1981
Genre(s)	Fixed shooter

Outpost is a fixed shooter for the Apple II programmed by Tom McWilliams and published by Sirius Software in 1981. It is a variant of the arcade game Space Zap.

In March 1982, NBC News reported that Outpost earned McWilliams, then still a teenager, for at least US$60,000.^[2]

Legacy

According to Tim Skelly, Scott Boden was working on an arcade video game port of Outpost for Cinematronics. After Skelly and Boden left the company, the game was reworked as the more cutesy title Boxing Bugs by Jack Ritter, which they called a "travesty".^[3]

References

^ Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
^ Newman, Michael Z. (2017). Atari Age: The Emergence of Video Games in America. MIT Press. p. 173. ISBN 9780262338196. Retrieved 27 December 2017. An NBC News segment airing March 8, 1982, profiled Tom McWilliams, a suburban teenager from California who earned $60,000 from the proceeds of his 1981 game Outpost.
^ Skelly, Tim (15 June 2012). "The Rise and Fall of Cinematronics". In Mark J. P. Wolf (ed.). Before the Crash: Early Video Game History. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814334508. Retrieved 16 January 2018. I was no longer working for Cinematronics in 1981, but I was there long enough to provide artwork for his last game at Cinematronics. In [Scott] Boden's own words: "The last thing I was working on was Outpost (1981), which had a cannon and a gun in the center with attackers on the periphery. I left and Jack Ritter took over. He renamed it Boxing Bugs (1981) and tried to make it cute". In my opinion and Boden's, Boxing Bugs was a travesty.

External links

The Apple II version of Outpost can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive
Outpost at Giant Bomb

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[giantlist-1] Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".

[2] Newman, Michael Z. (2017). Atari Age: The Emergence of Video Games in America. MIT Press. p. 173. ISBN 9780262338196. Retrieved 27 December 2017. An NBC News segment airing March 8, 1982, profiled Tom McWilliams, a suburban teenager from California who earned $60,000 from the proceeds of his 1981 game Outpost.

[3] Skelly, Tim (15 June 2012). "The Rise and Fall of Cinematronics". In Mark J. P. Wolf (ed.). Before the Crash: Early Video Game History. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814334508. Retrieved 16 January 2018. I was no longer working for Cinematronics in 1981, but I was there long enough to provide artwork for his last game at Cinematronics. In [Scott] Boden's own words: "The last thing I was working on was Outpost (1981), which had a cannon and a gun in the center with attackers on the periphery. I left and Jack Ritter took over. He renamed it Boxing Bugs (1981) and tried to make it cute". In my opinion and Boden's, Boxing Bugs was a travesty.

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