Gamers HOMEBREW

The term is used interchangeably with a few others including ‘indie’ these days, but the word ‘homebrew’ in relation to computer software actually predates commercial programs, going back at least as far as the Homebrew Computer Club established in the mid-Seventies. The HCC was a coming together of like-minded hobbyists who used computers at work and for various reasons wanted one in their homes, to the point where they were designing and building machines for themselves before going on to write programs for them. Luminaries of the club include Steve Wozniak – who has credited the first meeting of the HCC with inspiring him to create the Apple I – and Lee Felsenstein, who went on to design the Osborne 1 computer.

After the release of machines like the Apple II, Commodore PET and Atari 8-bits in the late Seventies, home computers transitioned from arriving as kits that hobbyists would then need to assemble into appliances that were purchased over the counter, but homebrew software continued to be written. Developers who started out programming for fun on these computers