F1 Licenceware was a company who offered Full Versions of Games at a Small Cost
You could ring them up and ask for a Catalogue Disk, which would have included the Full List of Games they offered, along with prices, so you could browse through, pick a Game, phone them up, Buy it and have it delivered to your door
This was a Great way of buying cheaper Games back in the day, The disks came with the above right Graphic attached, stating that they were Licenceware
They are no longer in operation, since Andy Kellett who took over could not contact anyone regarding the Games, so the company was closed down
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2023-02-25: Phil Ruston created 5 Amiga Games, namely Violator(Commercial), Operation Firestorm(F1), Wibble World Giddy(PD), Giddy 2(F1) and Aquanaut(F1) – I have full permission from Phil to release the Games he created, so that is Great News (except for Violator which was a Commercial Game and he does not know the licence terms for it) – Thanks for permission Phil 🙂
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The “F1 Licenceware” Month will be done in middle to late 2024, as I want to make sure I have enough time to try and locate everyone if possible about releasing their Games, while I have had some luck (eg. Phil Ruston) I am still having problems locating other developers
I wish to reach out publicly to everyone who is reading this, that might know any of the Game Developers Contact Details who released their Games under F1 Licenceware, as I would like to contact them to ask them about releasing the Full Versions of their Games on my Games Collection and Amiga Forever RP9 Files so everyone can enjoy them for years and decades to come!
There is also a website I found which shows a conversation between Andy and Richie B (Source) in which Andy states: “When I took over the company, there wasn’t much of a contact list, and email wasn’t big back at the time so was never able to find any of these guys.” and also “As for the ones you haven’t been able to find to get permission from, I don’t have a problem with you releasing them, though I would much prefer it if you had permission from each one first.”
I also notice that archive.org has basically a 1:1 Copy of all F1 Licenceware Titles which anyone can basically download instantly, and I checked on 2023-03-24 and they are still available so I assume they must be “OK” to be distributed, perhaps due to the passage of time, or certainly as of yet, No Game Developer has taken them down, so could I assume by that, That the Game Developers concerned have no problems with distribution perhaps?
The Games I am currently interested in are these:
Touch ‘N’ Go by Alan Carter – This has a 10-Level Demo, which was included with The One Magazine Issue 69 June 1994, and it was also distributed on The Assassins Disk 210, complete with The One logo still attached to that version
Classic Pucman by Augenblick Designs – This has a Demo, which sadly is Crippled from Level 4 where the Screen Flashes constantly, making the Game difficult to play, However, there is a WHDLoad version (Created by Jean-Francois Fabre) which includes the Demo version, complete with F1 Licenceware Information on the Title Screen, with the Level 4 Flashing patched out, which in effect makes the Demo Version Fully Playable
Aquanaut by Phil Ruston – Got permission to release Full Game
Giddy II by Phil Ruston – Got permission to release Full Game
Maze Madness by B. L. Gaunt – No Demo Version
Ideally if anyone can help me find or trace any of the Game Developers of these titles and/or has any Contact EMail Addresses for them, please let me know, as I would love to be able to release the Full Versions of these F1 Licenceware Games into my Games Collection and Amiga Forever RP9 Files for everyone to enjoy for years and decades to come
So please, if you can help me in any way whatsoever, Please Get In Touch, or if the Game Developers themselves come by this page and can give me permission, please let me know via the Feedback Button on the right
Thankyou
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2022-08-16: Emailed Andy Kellett (2022-08-09) who originally ran F1 Licenceware, Got a positive reply back, and in short has allowed me to distribute them – “I don’t have any issues with you distributing the original games for non-profit if you have not been successful in reaching out to the original authors. Thanks”
But I still would like any Original Developers to contact me please if they can, as I would love permission directly, But failing this, I will aim for late 2023 or early 2024 before releasing them, so I can leave plenty of time while trying to search and find the Original Game Developers, Failing this, I shall then release them with Andy’s blessing, and will allow them to be taken down if any Game Developer wishes me to do so, although after such a long time, I cannot see any real problem, since they are clearly in Public Domain on archive.org and have never been taken down, for example F1 Volume 1 was uploaded at 2015-02-15 which has now been online for over 7 years (as of 2022) so realistically I cannot see any problems going ahead with releasing them
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