Shareware Heroes: The renegades who redefined gaming at the dawn of the internet
A really awesome book about cool people and things.
About the book
From the author of The Secret History of Mac Gaming, Shareware Heroes tells the story of the developers and games from the 1980s and 90s that dared to be different — relying not on flashy marketing but rather on making great games that speak for themselves, and that were distributed across the nascent internet for anyone to enjoy (and, if they liked it enough, pay for).
Written by Richard Moss. Made possible by 970 crowdfunding backers. Published by Unbound.
Rights recently reverted to me as the publisher has gone out of business. The remaining paperback copies are now being sold by Wilton Square Books in a profit-share arrangement with me. (You can also contact me to buy one of my leftover author copies.)
Buy your copy
Amazon UK (paperback, affiliate link) Amazon (paperback, affiliate link) DRM-free ebook (PDF/ePub) via Payhip The Nile (paperback)
Full description
Shareware Heroes takes readers on a journey through a critical yet long overlooked chapter in video game history: the rise and eventual fall of the shareware model.
As commercial game distribution professionalised in the 1980s, independent creators with scant resources or contacts were squeezed out of the market. But not entirely. New technologies and distribution concepts were creating a hidden games publishing market – one that operated by different rules and that, at least for the first several years, had no powerful giants.
It was a land of opportunity and promise, and a glimpse of the digital-first future. This is the story of the games and developers who relied on nascent networking technologies combined with word-of-mouth marketing in an era before social media.
Building on deep archival research and featuring interviews with creators, developers and other heroes of the shareware age, Richard Moss – author of The Secret History of Mac Gaming – once again brings to light a forgotten but all too important era of game development.
Published 18 August 2022 in the UK and 10 January 2023 in the US and Canada. The publisher, Unbound, went bankrupt, but the remaining print copies are now being sold by Wilton Square Books.
About the author
Richard Moss is an award-winning journalist, writer, and historian based in Melbourne, Australia. He has written for more than 30 games, technology, and science publications, including Ars Technica, Edge, EGM, Game Developer, Hyper, Mac|Life, PC Gamer, Polygon, Rock Paper Shotgun, and Vice Motherboard. His specialties are long-form reporting on the future and the past of technology and in-depth looks at niches within the games community.
Richard's first book, The Secret History of Mac Gaming, is rated 4.27 on Goodreads and was called a "fascinating read" by Retro Gamer Magazine as well as "a great book" by Myst co-creator Robyn Miller and "packed with info" by MacFormat. It is now available in an Expanded Edition from Bitmap Books.His latest book, Age of Empires, recounts the birth of the hit real-time strategy series based on interviews with 29 former Ensemble and Microsoft executives and staff, and will be available from Boss Fight Books in Q4 2026.
Richard also wrote and directed CREATORVC's acclaimed fan-funded documentary series TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming and was co-writer and producer on the documentary film FPS: First Person Shooter. Before those, he created the narrative podcasts Ludiphilia and The Life & Times of Video Games.
You can find him on Bluesky, Twitter @MossRC, and on the Fediverse (Mastodon, Pleroma et al) @mossrc@social.mossrc.me.
WEBSITE FOREVER WIP — STAY TUNED FOR MORE
Progress:
(While you wait, you can play with the Classic Mac-themed website for my other book.)