Tim Anderson (programmer)
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Tim Anderson | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 1954 |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BSc, 1975; MS, 1977) |
| Occupation(s) | Video game designer, computer programmer |
| Known for | Zork, co-founder of Infocom |
Tim Anderson is an American computer programmer best known for co-creating the adventure game Zork,[1] one of the first works of interactive fiction and an early descendant of ADVENT (also known as Colossal Cave Adventure).[2]
Career
While attending MIT, Anderson got his start in game development by developing the game Trivia (1976) alongside future collaborator Marc Blank for the DEC PDP-10, the school's mainframe, playable over ARPANET.[3] Trivia found populalarity on ARPANET, leading Anderson and Blank, as well as Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling to collaborate on a new game: Zork. All four were members of the Dynamic Modeling Group at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science.[3] Originally developed from 1977 to 1979 in the MDL programming language for the PDP-10, Zork would prove immensely popular on ARPANET.[4] After the success of Zork on it's limited platform, Anderson and the other members of the team founded Infocom, initially with no actual business plans, but settling on porting Zork to home computers.[3][5][6]
The home computer ports of Zork would prove immensely successful, and Infocom grew rapidly, focusing on producing new text adventures, as well as branching out into business software.[6] The company's expansion into business software ultimately caused them to de-emphasize game production, which lead to their eventual demise in 1989.[6][7]
After Infocom shut down, Anderson held a variety of positions in the defense and business sectors, including serving as the CTO of Offroad Capital, an internet startup for investing in private equity.[8][9]
Personal life
Anderson obtained his bachelors degree from MIT in 1975, and his masters in 1977, both in Computer science.[10] Since 1996 Anderson has lived in Sudbury, Massachusetts,[11] and has been active in local politics, seeking election on more than one occasion.[9][12]
References
- ^ Woyke, Elizabeth (August 22, 2017). "The Enduring Legacy of Zork". MIT Technology Review.
- ^ "GDC 2014 - Zork Post-Mortem". Adventure Gamers. May 2, 2014.
- ^ a b c Anderson, Tim; Galley, Stu. "The History of Zork". Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
- ^ Lammle, Rob (June 15, 2014). "A Brief History of Zork".
- ^ Nooney, Laine (Fall 2017). "Let's Begin Again". American Journal of Play. 10.
- ^ a b c Briceno, Hector; Chao, Wesley; Glenn, Andrew; Hu, Stanley; Krishnamurthy, Ashwin; Tsuchida, Bruce (December 15, 2000). "Down From the Top of Its Game: The Story of Infocom, Inc".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Stick to What You Know: Infocom and the Perils of Expansion". The Computer History Museum.
- ^ Waldrop, Mitchell (January 1, 2000). "Computing's Johnny Appleseed". MIT Technology Review.
- ^ a b McNamara, Neal (March 22, 2023). "Sudbury 2023 Candidate Profile: Timothy Anderson, Goodnow Board". Sudbury Patch.
- ^ Marcott, Amy (July 15, 2009). "Five MIT-Developed Video Games that Revolutionized the Industry". Slice of MIT.
- ^ "About Tim". Tim Anderson for Goodnow Library. February 20, 2022. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
- ^ Razzaq, Zane (March 10, 2022). "Friends again? Four vie for two seats on Sudbury Board of Library Trustees". MetroWest Daily News.