We are bold innovators, passionate writers and experienced editors dedicated to the history of the microcomputer era.
My name is Marco A. Breddin, and I founded Microzeit [maɪ.krəʊ.zaɪt] in 2016. To maintain the quality of our publications, we work with a network of freelancers specialising in layout, proofreading, editing and distribution. My wife supports us in sales and marketing.
My background as a graduate designer and technology journalist has shaped the way I approach the growing retro-computing market. Microzeit itself grew out of a book project about Thalion, a German games company whose founders drew on their roots in the late-1980s demoscene.
From the beginning, the aim was to combine visual storytelling with thoroughly researched non-fiction. Interviews with scene veterans and 16-bit pioneers formed the foundation of our first publication and eventually led to two sequels. Further books explored software piracy, the rivalry between Atari ST and Amiga, and the wider social and cultural history surrounding the home-computer revolution.
From pixel art to publishing
I have always been fascinated by pixel art. My own journey began in 1985 with Koala Painter on the Commodore 64. Two years later, I was using NEOchrome on the Atari ST to create graphics, logos and scroll texts – an interest that brought me into contact with the demoscene in 1990.
Over the years, many more creative tools followed on Windows PCs and Apple Macintosh computers, including Aldus PageMaker, QuarkXPress, Macromedia FreeHand, Dreamweaver, Flash, Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, Pixelmator and InDesign. This combination of design, technology and publishing continues to shape the visual identity of Microzeit today.
More than nostalgia
Microzeit books bring together different perspectives, personal memories and carefully researched historical context. Our aim is not simply to provide retro-computing fans with nostalgia, but to uncover the people, ideas, companies and subcultures that shaped the computer world of the late twentieth century.
IT professionals, developers, retro enthusiasts, video game fans and historians can all discover something of value in these stories.
And for younger readers, our richly illustrated books offer an accessible way to discover where today’s digital culture began – helping to pass the history of microcomputers on to the next generation.
