From the September 1983 issue of Dragon User magazine
The Company
When I did my usual company search, I found a couple of Salamander Softwares, but none of them were old enough to be the right one. According to one YouTube video:
Salamander Software started in 1982 with a group of friends developing programs for the Dragon 32 computer, and eventually expanded to MSX, BBC and Oric machines where they ported their Star Trek inspired game, a small game compendium, a racing similator, as well as the Dan Diamond adventure game trilogy.
In 1983 Salamander has a marketing arrangement with Quicksilva. Salamander would convert games written by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft for use in the Spectrum and Quicksilva would market them.
As the home computer software market gets steadily slicker and more commercial, a lot of people in the software business are starting to feel that things ain't what they used to be.
The customer is getting a better deal, which can't be bad. But all too often professionalism is achieved at the expense of the friendliness and informality of the good old hobbyist days.
Brighton-based Salamander Software, best known for its Dragon charbusters such as Night flight and Franklin's Tomb, is fighting a rearguard action against creeping formality.
The company is run as a collective, with the six partners each having an equal say in how the business is run.
As one partner, Chris Holland, put it: "There's no-one in charge, because we find we work best that way. We all muck in, and we're all capable of doing things in other fields.
"We don't actually employ anybody, and we don't intend to. People work with us on a contract basis we even had a freelance secretary."
It helps that the Salamander six all know each other from the days when they were at Sussex University together, and a lot of their freelance help also comes from old college friends.
But this group of friends is lucky enough to combine ost of the skills that a successful software company needs.
There's Pete Neale, a Texan, otherwise known as Pete the Hat (see picture), an ex-IBM mainframe programmer, and Lucy Parker, who did a course in design. Jul Carson also worked as a graphic designer, and Paul Kuczora used to be an electrical engineer. Pete Ohlson worked as a business systems programmer.
Chris Holland trained as a teacher and used to drive coaches around Europe. What's that got to do with software? Chris explained: "The others were looking for someone who was generally fed up with what he was doing, to take over the retail sales. And that was me".
Salamander first began selling programs just over a year ago, in September 1982. It all started because Pete Neale, who had just bought a Dragon, couldn't find any software for it. He decided to write some of his own, along the lines of the role playing games he'd been playing since he was nine.
The programs started to sell well by mail order. In November '82 the first retail order came, from Anirog, and the High Street chains followed in spring 1983.
Over just a few months, the Salamander team found themselves shifting 50 to 70 times the number of tapes they had first started with, which meant a lot of hard work regular 14-hour days, often seven days a week.
Everything from the programs themselves to the artwork for the cassette inlays and adverts was done in-house, and the team had to learn everything from scratch. "For example", said Chris, "We didn't understand about advertising copy dates, so first ads came out a month too early. Luckily, we've always got on well."
Salamander runs more smoothly now. The partners all have their own areas of responsibility. Pete Neale takes care of research and the company accounts. Paul Kuczora handles marketing. Lucy Parker and Jul Carson are the art department. Pete Ohlson, who has just joined the company full-time, is projects director. And Chris Holland deals with retail sales in the UK and Scandinavia -- it's him that drives around talking the shop into stocking Salamander software.
The company has two or three regular freelance programmers, but finds that a lot of good programs arrive through the post. Before any games are released on the public however, they are handed to Donald the Play Tester -- an unemployed ex-student who, Chris says, "does the most mind-boggling things to games, and finds the most obscure bugs."
Salamander specialises in the Dragon mainly because that's the machine it started with. Chris Holland feels that "the Dragon does everything competently, and it does some things very well-if you dig deep enough, you can get some very nice graphics from it. Its major limitation is its sound."
But he admits that "We were too late for the Spectrum market, where the turnover may be higher but the profit margins are much lower. But if a kid came to us and asked us to recommend a computer, we'd probably say, get a Spectrum."
The company has recently started to sell some BBC, Electron and Oric programs, and is now in the process of deciding whether to start supporting a new machine, and if so, which. As well as role-playing Franklin's Tomb and Castle Baron series, educational and utility programs, it sells some arcade games, including Dragon versions of Llamasoft's Gridrunner and Laser Zone.
Early next year it plans to release Rainbow Warrior, a machine-code arcade game for the Dragon, so complicated that it will need a 20-page manual to explain it.
But Chris says: "we feel that the arcade market is shifting away towards a more logical approach. Our classic game, Dragon Trek, has been arund since the company started, and we're still selling 300 to 500 of them a month. Logical games last much longer.
"So at Salamander we're now moving towards good quality graphic and text games, where you have to use your head first--then move your hand."
Moby Games had a complete list of Salamander Software games. Apparently, Salamander only produced games from 1982 to 1984. I haven’t found any mention of them beyond that.
Funnily enough, I did discover a note in the September 1984 issue of CRASH that said:
APOLOGY TO SALAMANDER
In the August Issue of CRASH we wrongly stated that Salamander Software had collapsed. The information that they had done so came from seven independent sources. Salamander Software have been understandably distressed by this, and as a retraction we print the following statement from them:
As you are no doubt aware, there are a number of rumours that Salamander Software has gone bust; even to the extent of being printed as a statement of fact recently by one of the computer magazines. This is news to all of us here at Salamander, We feel that it would be useful and desirable to our loyal customers, and to inveterate rumour mongers, to inform them in black, and white that Salamander is alive and well and currently working on new projects designed for release towards the end of the year. We do not deny that the annual summer slump of software sates has caused us to tighten our belts a notch or two, but we are not in a position of having to cease trading and do not foresse this happening in the future. We are only a phone call away, so should anyone else feel the urge to write us off, we would appreciate the decency of a phone call before organizing the wake (don't forget to invite us!).
In 1984, Commodore Network Magazine Australia interviewed Jeff Minter. When they asked him about Salamander, he said, “They were a nice bunch of guys (but were reasonably short-lived) who, back when Gridrunner and that was successful, wanted to take it onto the Spectrum and the Dragon. We licensed 'em to do that Some were quite good, I remember seeing the Spectrum version of Matrix which was quite impressive, considering it was done on a Spectrum and not on a Commodore.”
The Product
Franklin’s Tomb was the first game in the trilogy of Dan Diamond. It was a text adventure game and was available for the Dragon 32/64, BBC Micro, and Oric computers.
“As Dan Diamond, private investigator, the player has received a letter begging for help. Following the provided address, the player winds up at an eerie graveyard. As the player strolls into the graveyard the ground opens up underneath them, and they find themselves in the ancient Franklin's Tomb. The player must deal with dangerous mummies, mazes, and a white rabbit that likes to steal the player's items.”
When I first started searching, I discovered that there are a couple of writers and a doctor with that name. (There was a detective show that ran from the 50s to 60s named Richard Diamond. I wonder if they are related?) After a little more searching. I found two reviews of the game.
An illustrated booklet helps to visualize the many scenarios of this textual adventure game. Look closely and you might find the essential clues for solving the many puzzles.
This is a very good quality text adventure that is an amusing romp from start to..... wherever you get stuck. Written in BASIC you can cheat a little, not a lot, and peek at some of the data statements but of course you wouldn't do that!
A nice feature is the split screen, which shows the current situation, inventory and the responses to your statements. A save game facilty allows you to carry on from where you left off.
Essentially all these games must remain a mystery so I won't give anything away. However, it does offer a real incentive whereby if you solve the puzzle of the crypt you will gain clues to other adventures coming soon!
It's got plenty to keep you guessing, it's very entertaining and it's something that has absorbed a lot of my time. Salamandar has maintained its usual high quality but it is a bit. pricey. Hold on to the carrots and good luck!
The program itself uses the whole 32K of memory for its many rooms and corridors. The game will recognise 50 verbs and 80 nouns. The screen display is formatted and is excellent — the left is used for a description of where you are, the right for an inventory of what you are currently carrying and the bottom three lines are used for communication between computer and player. There is also a useful save game facility, so that you can come back to the game at the same point at another time.
I cannot say too much about the game itself, as this would only spoil it for anyone playing it. Needless to say, the game involves exploring the rooms, collecting certain items and avoiding the booby traps. When you do eventually solve it, a message appears suggesting that you go ‘out and buy their next adventure!
This program has that something about it which other adventures lack, making you want to stay up to all hours in а vain attempt to solve the puzzle. At £9.95 Franklin's Tomb is worth every penny — this will become a classic. A help sheet is also available from Salamander for anyопе who is agonising over the game and whose patience has run out!
I did find the manual for Franklin’s Tomb on Archive.org. (I was unable to find the game there.) The manual contains illustrations from the game to help you visualize what you are playing.
Did you ever play Franklin’s Tomb or any of the Dan Diamond games? Do you know anything about its history? Tell us about it in the comments below.
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