__NOTOC__ John D. Harris is a computer programmer,

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

and author of several 1980s Atari computer games. His impact on the early years of the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstrea ...

are chronicled in the book '' Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution''. His love for the Atari 8-bit computers led him to creating several popular games, perhaps most of all Frogger, which by the end of development had been written from scratch, twice. The reason for this is that his entire back catalogue of development tools and libraries he had developed were stolen at a game developer conference at which he was presenting. The delay in writing the game also led to complications between Harris and his employer, Ken Williams (Director of

Sierra On-Line Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genr ...

). During John's time at Sierra, he became one of the most influential young developers in America, at 24 years of age he was earning a 6 figure income off the back of royalties for games which Sierra were marketing for him. As time went on, John's increasingly worrying relationship with Sierra began to get worse, the cutting of royalties and the lack of recognition for his work soon became a catalyst which led to him leaving the company to work at Synapse (despite many offers of employment from new startup

EA Games Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

Works

Atari 8-bit

* '' Jawbreaker'', Sierra On-Line, 1981 * ''

Frogger is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega. In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of frogs to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous rive ...

'', Sierra On-Line, 1982 * ''Mouskattack'' * ''Maneuvering'' * ''Bankster'' * ''MAE''

Atari 2600

* '' Jawbreaker'', Tiger Vision

AmigaDE

* ''Gobbler'' * ''Solitaire''

Employment

* Pulsar Interactive Corp., 1997–2003 * Tachyon Studios, Inc. * Atari * Synapse * Sierra On-Line

References

Interview with John Harris
regarding ''Hackers'' and his career and views on game development

July 2002 Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American computer programmers American video game designers American video game programmers {{compu-bio-stub