Amiga Format

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Amiga Format
The cover of the final issue of Amiga Format (May 2000)
Former editorsBob Wade
Damien Noonan
Marcus Dyson
Steve Jarratt
Nick Veitch
Ben Vost
CategoriesAmiga, Video games
FrequencyMonthly
Circulation161,256 (Jan – Jun 1992)
First issueAugust 1989
Final issue
Number		May 2000
136
CompanyFuture Publishing
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inBath
LanguageEnglish
ISSN0957-4867

Amiga Format was a British computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future Publishing. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when Future split ST/Amiga Format into two separate publications (the other being ST Format). In 1991, the magazine was selling 135,000 copies a month.[1]

History[edit]

A cover disk featuring game and animation demos.

The first issue of Amiga Format was published in August 1989, after a July split of Future Publishing's dual-format publication ST/Amiga Format into this magazine and ST Format, which both covered the Amiga and Atari ST operating systems, respectively.[2]

Amiga Format covered all aspects of Amiga computers, both hardware and software, both application and gaming uses. Future decided to spin off the magazine after reader demands for magazines with narrowed interests. Two magazines resulted: Amiga Shopper, which dealt purely with the hardware and "serious" software side of the Amiga scene, and Amiga Power, which was strictly games-only, and both were launched in May 1991.[3][4]

The magazine was published on a monthly basis[5] and offered various multi-issue tutorials on different application software, such as C programming or LightWave graphics rendering. The last tutorial was cut short in the middle because of the cancellation of the magazine.

Each issue of Amiga Format was provided with a cover disk containing an assortment of application software, public-domain games, and new game demos—a practice it inherited from its predecessor, ST/Amiga Format[2]—popularising the concept amongst its competitors.[6] Notably, mounted to the November 1993 cover was a version of Blitz BASIC, along with a zombie apocalypse game written in that language. Blitz BASIC subsequently overtook AMOS as the preferred way to program games.[7] Later in its lifetime, the magazine turned to the compact disc as a medium for storing vast quantities of software, which benefited users who lacked Internet access.[8]

Amiga Format was the second-to-last regularly issued print magazine about the Amiga in the United Kingdom. The last was Amiga Active, which ran for 26 issues from October 1999, although Amiga Format was the only such magazine after CU Amiga Magazine's closure in October 1998 until the launch of Amiga Active.

Staff[edit]

Marcus Dyson, whom the magazine recruited in 1990 as an art assistant, became editor in 1993 before departing the magazine the following year for Team17.[9][10] Notable writers included Steve Jarratt[11] and Andy Nuttall, who also wrote for The One before entering Bullfrog Productions.[12]

Regular features[edit]

Reader Games[edit]

A notable regular feature in the later stage of the magazine (introduced by then-editor Nick Veitch) was Readers' Games. Here readers of the magazine could send in games they had programmed themselves, and the magazine staff would then publish a brief review of them. In the CD-ROM edition of the magazine, all the Readers' Games were also included on the covermount CD-ROM. Most of the games were written in AMOS BASIC or Blitz BASIC.

In one issue, a competition was run to find the best game developed by a reader using Blitz BASIC. A game called Total Wormage was entered by Andy Davidson. Although Total Wormage was overlooked by the magazine's judges and thus did not win, Marcus Dyson, who was editor when the magazine held the competition and had departed publishing to join developer Team17, persuaded Amiga Format to transfer rights to the game to the studio (all demos submitted to the competition became property of Future Publishing). Team17 would complete the game and release it commercially as Worms.[10]

Just the FAQs[edit]

Introduced in issue 129 and continuing until the final issue, Just the FAQs consisted of a single page each month containing an interview with a prominent figure in the Amiga community, with the exception of the January 2000 issue (published in December 1999), which instead explained the limited effects the Year 2000 problem would have on the Amiga.[13]

Interviews were conducted with Chris Wiles (managing director of Active Technologies), Neil Bothwick (founder of the Wirenet ISP), Alan Redhouse (of Eyetech), Wolf Dietrich (head of Phase 5 Digital Products), Andrew Elia (of AmigaSoc), and Ben Hermans (of Hyperion Entertainment).[14][15][16][17][18][19] In the final issue, a special interview was conducted with Eric Schwartz's cartoon character Sabrina.[20]

Backstage[edit]

Backstage was a four-page newsletter sent to subscribers with each issue. The tone of the newsletter was less formal than that of the magazine, and it would often provide behind-the-scenes information on the activities of prominent members of the Amiga Format staff. Backstage also gave details of the contents of the Subscribers' Superdisk (an extra floppy disk sent to subscribers, whose contents were also stored in a password-protected archive on the cover CD), and featured special offers for subscribers.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Schofield, Jack (10 October 1991). "Discs that make the magazines front page". The Guardian. p. 35. Retrieved 17 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "ST/Amiga Format to split". New Computer Express. No. 27. 13 May 1989. p. 5. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  3. ^ "From the makers of Amiga Format". New Computer Express. No. 118. 9 February 1991. p. 5. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  4. ^ "The Power and the Format". Amiga Shopper. No. 1. May 1991. p. 6. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  5. ^ "AMIGA Magazines from the UK". Amiga Magazines List. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  6. ^ Monaghan, Paul (May 2021). "Amiga's Got You Covered!". Amiga Addict. No. 5. pp. 13–15. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  7. ^ "16-Bit Hits". Maximum PC. January 2023. p. 58. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  8. ^ Day, Ashley (2 March 2006). "Retroinspection: Amiga 1200". Retro Gamer. No. 22. p. 49. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  9. ^ Monaghan, Paul (April 2021). "Marcus Dyson interview". Amiga Addict. No. 4. pp. 15–16. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  10. ^ a b Day, Ashley (2 February 2006). "Developer Lookback: Team 17". Retro Gamer. No. 21. pp. 63–64. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  11. ^ McFerran, Damien (1 October 2015). "Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection Is Back, And Better Than Ever". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  12. ^ "Retro Scene: CGE UK on the move". Retro Gamer. No. 14. 17 March 2005. p. 92. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  13. ^ Olaf Barthel, "Just the FAQs", Amiga Format, January 2000 (issue 132), 86
  14. ^ Chris Wiles, "Just the FAQs", Amiga Format, November 1999 (issue 129), 92
  15. ^ Neil Bothwick, "Just the FAQs", Amiga Format, December 1999 (issue 130), 92
  16. ^ Alan Redhouse, "Just the FAQs", Amiga Format, Christmas 1999 (issue 131), 86
  17. ^ Wolf Dietrich, "Just the FAQs", Amiga Format, February 2000 (issue 133), 86
  18. ^ Andrew Elia, "Just the FAQs", Amiga Format, March 2000 (issue 134), 78
  19. ^ Ben Hermans, "Just the FAQs", Amiga Format, April 2000 (issue 135), 78
  20. ^ Eric Schwartz, "Just the FAQs", Amiga Format, May 2000 (issue 136), 78

External links[edit]

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