Timothy J. Stryker, better known as Tim Stryker or Stryker (9 December 1954 – 6 August 1996) was a

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

who created MajorBBS, a computer bulletin board software package. With Ken Wasserman he wrote the 1980 game ''Flash Attack'' for the Commodore PET, then he created the color vector arcade video game '' Aztarac'' (1983) for Centuri.

Education

Stryker graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School in 1972, and received his bachelor's degree in physics from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1977.

Game development

Stryker and Ken Wasserman wrote the real-time strategy game ''Flash Attack'' (1980) for the Commodore PET personal computer. It is written in a custom

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotla ...

-derived programming language called RPL. Stryker developed a cable so that two PET computers can be linked to play against each other. The game was later rewritten for MS-DOS, allowing up to four players in real time, interconnected by

modems A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

dialed into MajorBBS. Stryker authored arcade vector game '' Aztarac'' released by Centuri in 1983. It was not a commercial success, and its rarity has made it sought after by collectors. During the attract mode of the game, quickly spinning the spinner control reveals a message in the starfield: "Designed by T. Stryker".

The MajorBBS

Stryker founded Galacticomm in 1985 and created

The Major BBS The Major BBS (sometimes MajorBBS or MBBS) was bulletin board software (a bulletin board system server) developed between 1986 and 1999 by Galacticomm. In 1995 it was renamed Worldgroup Server and bundled with a user client interface program na ...

. It supports real-time teleconference, gaming, discussion forums, user profiles (registry), and file transfer sections. Later, Stryker hired Scott Brinker, originally of Moonshae Isles BBS, who created many of the early games available for MajorBBS, including '' Kyrandia''.

Personal life & death

Tim Stryker was a staunch advocate of electronic democracy, and began a movement called

Superdemocracy Collaborative e-democracy is a democratic conception that combines key features of direct democracy, representative democracy, and e-democracy (i.e. the use of ICTs for democratic processes). The concept was first published at two international ...

to computerize voting and help people follow politics in cyberspace. He dreamed of creating the "perfect society based on compassion and love". Stryker suffered from severe depression, and was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound in the mountains of Colorado on 6 August 1996 at the age of 41.

Other works

Books

Art

* ''STRYKER ART'' (1993-1994) - Stryker produced several computer art images, from which only 150 prints each were made, and each one was numbered, signed and dated by the artist. The printing technique took the digital output of the artist's custom computer software directly to transparencies, from which each print was lovingly created, direct-to-positive on ultra-high-gloss Fuji film. STRYKER ART was distributed by Consensus Systems, Inc. in Plantation, Florida.

Unpublished

* ''What Goes Around'' (1995 - preliminary copy available)

References

External links

*
Flash Attack
Page about Flash Attack, with notes on link cable *
BBS: The Documentary
Historical Reference to BBSing, and the people who created the systems.
The Major BBS Restoration Project
Historical information about Galacticomm, The Major BBS, and its software vendors. 1954 births 1996 deaths American computer programmers MUD developers Suicides by firearm in Colorado Northfield Mount Hermon School alumni Brown University alumni 1996 suicides {{MUD-stub