Tim Stryker

Tim Stryker
Tim Stryker at TwoBBScon event in Düsseldorf, Germany
Born	Timothy J. Stryker (1954-12-09)9 December 1954
Died	6 August 1996(1996-08-06) (aged 41) Colorado
Nationality	American
Other names	Stryker
Occupation	Computer programmer
Known for	Creator of MajorBBS Writing computer games, including with , 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 wrote the game 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 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 , 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, Florida: Cool Hand Communications. ISBN 1-56790-025-9.

Published 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 works[]

• What Goes Around (1995 - preliminary copy available)

References[]

Further reading[]

• Wasserman, Katherine (2001). "Notes on Tim Stryker, Flash Attack, RPL etc". Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
• Stryker, Tim (1981). rpl - A Compiled Language for the PET/CBM Series of Computers (PDF) (Manual). Samurai Software. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
• 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.

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