Tim Stryker

Tim Stryker
Stryker from Galacticomm newsletter in ca. 1996
Born	Timothy J. Stryker 9 December 1954
Died	6 August 1996 (aged 41) Colorado
Nationality	American
Other names	Stryker
Occupation	Computer programmer
Known for	Creator of MajorBBS Writing computer games, including Flash Attack with Ken Wasserman, the first multiplayer game Fazuul, Kyrandia Developing Galacticomm with Scott Brinker

Timothy J. Stryker, better known as Tim Stryker or Stryker (9 December 1954 – 6 August 1996) was a computer programmer, best known as the creator of MajorBBS, a computer bulletin board software package.

Education

Stryker graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School in 1972, and received his bachelor's degree in physics from Brown University in 1977.

Flash Attack

Stryker and Ken Wasserman wrote the game Flash Attack for the Commodore PET computer, and developed a cable so that two PET computers could be linked to play against each other.^[1] One of the earliest real-time strategy computer games, it was later rewritten for MS-DOS machines, and allowed up to four players in realtime, interconnected modems dialed into MajorBBS.

Aztarac

Stryker authored the Centuri arcade vector game Aztarac in 1983. Although not a commercial success, this arcade game is highly prized by collectors not only for its rarity, but for its graphics. During the attract mode of the game, quickly spinning the spinner control reveals a hidden message in the starfield: "Designed by T. Stryker".

MajorBBS / Galacticomm

Stryker founded Galacticomm in 1985, and created MajorBBS which supported real-time teleconference, gaming, discussion forums, user profiles (registry), and file transfer sections.

Later in Galacticomm's development, Stryker hired Scott Brinker, originally of Moonshae Isles BBS, who created many of the early games available for MajorBBS, including the original game Kyrandia. The two of them were the heart of Galacticomm.

Electronic Democracy

Tim Stryker was a staunch advocate of electronic democracy, and began a movement called Superdemocracy to computerize voting and help people follow politics in cyberspace. He dreamed of creating the "perfect society based on compassion and love".^[2][3]

Death

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.

Published works

• Stryker, Tim (1993). Think a little: Evolutionary Perspectives On The Future Of Civilization (1 ed.). Boca Raton, FL, USA: Cool Hand Communications. ISBN 1-56790-025-9.

Unpublished works

• What Goes Around (1995 - preliminary copy available)

References

1. Wasserman, Ken; Stryker, Tim (December 1980). "Multimachine Games". BYTE Magazine. p. 24. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
2. Chebium, Raju (1996-08-06). "Genius succumbs to darkness - Computer whiz had it all, but it wasn't enough - Computer Genius, Entrepreneur Cuts Short Bright Future - Tim Stryker, founder of Galacticomm and maker of The MajorBBS and Worldgroup BBS Software, commits suicide in the Blue Mountains of Colorado". Associated Press. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
3. Chebium, Raju (8 October 1996). "Computer Genius, Entrepreneur Cuts Short Bright Future". Associated Press.

• Flash Attack Page about Flash Attack, with notes on link cable
• Aztarac at the Killer List of Videogames
• 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.

External links

• Notes on Tim Stryker, Flash Attack, RPL etc. by co-author Katherine Wasserman, 2001
• Stryker, Tim (1981). rpl - A Compiled Language for the PET/CBM Series of Computers (PDF) (Manual). Samurai Software.