ANTIC Interview 286 - William Leslie, OmniTrend Universe

Jun 16, 2017

William Leslie - OmniTrend Universe

William Bill Leslie was one of the authors of Omnitrend's Universe; a science fiction space trading and combat game.  The first version was programmed in valFORTH on an Atari 800, based on a board game created by Bill. It was Omnitrend's first game and was released in 1983. There were versions of Universe for the Atari 8-bit, Apple II and IBM computers.

Bill was also involved in the development of the sequels Universe 2 and Universe 3, and of Breach, a turn-based tactical squad combat game.

This interview took place on Jan. 7, 2017.

Links:

• Atarimania - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-universe_5617.html
• Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe_(1983_video_game)
• Review of Universe in ANTIC VOL. 3, NO. 5 / SEPTEMBER 1984 / PAGE 76 - http://web.archive.org/web/20080504080033/http://www.atarimagazines.com/v3n5/reviews.html
• Omnitrend's Universe ad on page 92 of issue 13 of ANALOG Computing magazine, November 1983 - https://archive.org/stream/analog-computing-magazine-14/Analog_Computing_14_1983-11_Retrofire_Hexpad_Lumberjack#page/n92/mode/1up
• Two reviews of Universe starting on page 14 of the June 1984 issue of Computer Gaming World magazine - http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_4.3.pdf
• ANALOG Computing magazine had a review beginning on page 33 of Issue 20 in July 1984 - https://archive.org/stream/analog-computing-magazine-20/Analog_Computing_20_1984-07_Games_Bacterion_Buzz-Zap#page/n34/mode/1up
• BYTE magazine had a review in Vol. 10, No. 5 on page 311 in May, 1985 - https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1985-05/1985_05_BYTE_10-05_Multiprocessing#page/n312/mode/1up
• Dungeons and Desktops - https://smile.amazon.com/Dungeons-Desktops-History-Computer-Role-Playing/dp/1568814119/
• FAQ for Atari 8-bit Universe (Chris Edgar) - https://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/564695-universe/faqs/58365
• Omnitrend’s Universe group on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/435419473491677/