Commodore Format
The Commodore 64 magazine Commodore Format was published monthly by Future Publishing. Entering the market eight years after the C64 was originally released (and long after the computer was on the cutting edge of home computing technology), the magazine nevertheless quickly gained a respectable circulation figure, peaking at over 60,000 copies a month. It soon took over its nearest rival, Zzap! 64.
The magazine was orignally priced at £1.95. This increased to £2.20 and later £2.50. Issue 37 saw the price increased further to £2.95, which also saw the magazine printed from this point onwards on 'Super A4' paper. The last few issues saw the price rise to £3.25. As the price increased, the page count decreased - from 90 pages in issue 1, the magazine only containing 32 pages in its latter issues. Sixty-one issues of the magazine were published, from October 1990 until October 1995, some 18 months after commercial software for the Commodore 64 had ceased to be available in game shops.
A few editors of Commodore Format are publishing of the website commodoreformat.wordpress.com a lot of interesting things about this magazine.
The CF Power Pack[edit | edit source]
The "CF Power Pack" datasette, containing full games, game demos, utilities, and occasionally graphic demos, was bundled with the magazine each month. On four occasions (issues 16, 25, 27, and 37), the magazine also included an extra Power Pack tape with extra games or utilities.
Notable Featured Software
- Graphic Adventure Creator (CF16)
- Saracen Paint (CF25)
- Dropzone (CF50)
Game Diary features[edit | edit source]
Issues of Commodore Format often contained a feature in which a game development's was tracked from initial concept, through to design, testing and finally its release. These were often written in the form of the developer's diary, charting problems and successes they had along the way, and would span over many issues of the magazine.
- "The Clyde Guide" - Creatures 2 - Thalamus (-CF17)
- "Let's Make a Monster" - Mayhem in Monsterland - Apex Computer Productions (CF26 - CF37)
- "The Making of 10th Dan" (?) - 10th Dan - Visualize Software (~CF45 - ~CF52) (This game was never completed)
- "Dairy of a Game" (?) - Super Pac Twins - XL.C.US (CF58 - CF60)
Notable Review Scores[edit | edit source]
- Last Ninja 3 - 97% (CF6)
- Smash TV - 97% (CF15)
- Mayhem in Monsterland - 100% (CF38)
Links[edit | edit source]
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Wikipedia: Commodore_Format |
