Cathryn Mataga (born William Mataga) is a

game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface ...

and founder of independent video game company Junglevision. Under the name William, she wrote

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

games for

Synapse Software Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American video game development and publishing company founded in 1981 by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant. It initially focused on the Atari 8-bit family, then later developed for th ...

in the early to mid 1980s, including '' Shamus'', a flip-screen shooter.

Career

Mataga designed the game '' Shamus'' in 1982, credited under the name William for the

. Much of the game's appeal was said to come from Mataga's sense of humor, such as creating a "grand rendition" of the

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

theme song in the game's introduction. Mataga followed it with a sequel '' Shamus: Case II'' and scrolling shooter ''

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

''. Steve Hales of

, in an interview for the book '' Halcyon Days'', states that he and Mataga convinced company founder Ihor Wolosenko to get the company into

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

. Mataga developed an interactive fiction programming language known as BtZ (Better than Zork) for

Broderbund Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits ''Choplifter'', ''Lode Runner'', ''Karateka'', and '' ...

, in the early 1980s. Mataga worked with Hales and poet

Robert Pinsky Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of ...

on the interactive fiction game ''Mindwheel'' (1984). Mataga was one of the programmers working at

Stormfront Studios Stormfront Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. In 2007, the company had over 50 developers working on two teams, and owned all its proprietary engines, tools, and technology. As of the end of 2007, ...

on the original ''

Neverwinter Nights ''Neverwinter Nights'' is a series of video games developed by BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment, based on the ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Aside from also being set in the Dungeons & Dr ...

'' MMORPG.

Don Daglow Don Daglow (born circa 1953) is an American video game designer, programmer, and producer. He is best known for being the creator of early games from several different genres, including pioneering simulation game ''Utopia'' for Intellivision in ...

credits Mataga as one of the programmers who proved Daglow's assertion that he could make ''Neverwinter Nights'' a success.

Games

*'' Shamus'' (1982),

*'' Shamus: Case II'' (1983),

*''

'' (1983),

*'' Mindwheel'' (1984), Broderbund Software *''

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

'' (1985),

*'' Brimstone'' (1985), Broderbund *'' Breakers'' (1986), Broderbund *''

'' (1991), Strategic Simulations *''

Gateway to the Savage Frontier Gateway to the Savage Frontier (1991) is a '' Gold Box'' ''Dungeons and Dragons'' computer game developed by Beyond Software and published by SSI for the Commodore 64, PC and Amiga personal computers. Development When SSI began work on the Dar ...

'' (1991), Strategic Simulations *''

Treasures of the Savage Frontier ''Treasures of the Savage Frontier'' (1992) is a Gold Box Dungeons and Dragons role-playing video game. It was developed by Beyond Software and published by SSI for the Amiga and DOS. Plot overview A few weeks after the events of ''Gateway to t ...

'' (1992), Strategic Simulations *''

Stronghold A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

'' (1993),

Strategic Simulations Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and video game publisher, publisher with over 100 titles to its credit from its founding in 1979 to its dissolution in 1994. The company was especially noted for its numerous wargames ...

* Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands (1996),

*'' Rampage 2: Universal Tour'' (1999),

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'' ...

*'' X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse'' (2001),

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

*'' Spyro: Season of Ice'' (2001),

Universal Interactive Universal Interactive (formerly Universal Interactive Studios) was an American video game publisher. The company was established on January 4, 1994, and led by Skip Paul and Robert Biniaz of MCA. It was best known for producing the ''Crash Ban ...

*''

Rayman ''Rayman'' is a franchise of platform video games, created by video game designer Michel Ancel for Ubisoft. Since the release of the original ''Rayman'' game in 1995, the series has produced a total of 45 games across multiple platforms. The s ...

'' (2001),

Ubi Soft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry (serie ...

Charla, Chris (November 2001). "Digital Eclipse's Rayman Advance", '' Game Developer'' 8 (11): 42–4
Archived
/ref> *''

Dragon's Lair ''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer and Don Bluth. The series is famous for its Western animation-style graphics and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms and being remade into television a ...

'' (2001),

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

*''

Grand Theft Auto Advance ''Grand Theft Auto Advance'' (also marketed as ''Grand Theft Auto'') is a 2004 action-adventure game developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Rockstar Games. The eighth instalment in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, it was released for the ...

'' (2004),

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

*''

Spider-Man 2 ''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the ...

'' (2004),

* Rayman: 10th Anniversary (2005),

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

References

External links

Jungle Vision''Cathryn Mataga''
profile on

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

21st-century LGBT people Dungeons & Dragons video game designers Living people Transgender women Video game programmers Women video game programmers Year of birth missing (living people) {{videogame-bio-stub