Carol Shaw (born 1955) is one of the first female game designers and programmers in the video game industry.[citation needed] She is best known for creating the Atari 2600 vertically scrolling shooter River Raid (1982) for Activision. She worked for Atari, Inc. from 1978 to 1980 where she designed multiple games including 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe (1978) and Video Checkers (1980),[1] both for the Atari VCS before it was renamed to the 2600. She left game development in 1984 and retired in 1990.
Carol Shaw
Shaw in 1983, with an award for half a million cartridges sold
Shaw was born in 1955 and was raised in Palo Alto, California.[2] Her father was a mechanical engineer and worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. In a 2011 interview, she said she did not like playing with dolls as a child, but learned about model railroading from playing with her brother's set, a hobby she continued until college.[2] Shaw first used a computer in high school and discovered she could play text-based games on the system. Shaw attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1977. She went on to complete a master's degree in Computer Science at Berkeley.[2]
Career
Atari, Inc.
Shaw was hired at Atari, Inc. in 1978, straight out of her Master's, to work on games for the Atari VCS (later called the 2600) with an official job title of Microprocessor Software Engineer.[2] Her first project was Polo, a promotional tie-in for the Ralph Lauren cologne.[3] The game reached the prototype stage, but Atari chose not to publish it.
Shaw's first published game was 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe for the Atari 2600 in 1978. She also wrote Video Checkers (1980), and collaborated on two titles: a port of the coin-op game Super Breakout with Nick Turner and Othello with Ed Logg (1981).[4] Co-worker Mike Albaugh later put her on a list of Atari's "less publicized superstars":
I would have to include Carol Shaw, who was simply the best programmer of the 6502 and probably one of the best programmers period....in particular, [she] did the [2600] kernels, the tricky bit that actually gets the picture on the screen for a number of games that she didn't fully do the games for. She was the go-to gal for that sort of stuff.[5]
Shaw worked on several projects for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. With Keith Brewster, she wrote the Atari BASIC Reference Manual.[6] She developed the programmable Calculator application published by Atari on diskette in 1979.[7]
Activision
Platinum River Raid cartridge, awarded June 27, 1983, for sales of 1,000,000 units
Shaw left Atari in 1980 to work for Tandem Computers as an assembly language programmer,[8] then joining Activision in 1982.[2] Her first game was River Raid (1982) for the Atari 2600, which was inspired by the 1981 arcade game Scramble.[2] The game was a major hit for Activision and personally lucrative for Shaw.[2]
In 1984 Shaw returned to her former employer, Tandem. She took early retirement in 1990 and subsequently did some voluntary work including a position at the Foresight Institute. She has credited the success of River Raid as being a significant factor in enabling her to retire early.[2]
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Carol Shaw born 1955 is one of the first female game designers and programmers in the video game industry citation needed She is best known for creating the Atari 2600 vertically scrolling shooter River Raid 1982 for Activision She worked for Atari Inc from 1978 to 1980 where she designed multiple games including 3 D Tic Tac Toe 1978 and Video Checkers 1980 1 both for the Atari VCS before it was renamed to the 2600 She left game development in 1984 and retired in 1990 Carol ShawShaw in 1983 with an award for half a million cartridges soldBorn1955 age 67 68 Alma materUniversity of California BerkeleyOccupation s Computer programmerVideo game designerYears active1978 1990Known forRiver Raid Atari 2600 SpouseRalph Merkle m 1983 wbr Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2 1 Atari Inc 2 2 Activision 2 3 After games 3 Personal life 4 Works 5 References 6 External linksEarly life and education EditShaw was born in 1955 and was raised in Palo Alto California 2 Her father was a mechanical engineer and worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center In a 2011 interview she said she did not like playing with dolls as a child but learned about model railroading from playing with her brother s set a hobby she continued until college 2 Shaw first used a computer in high school and discovered she could play text based games on the system Shaw attended the University of California Berkeley and graduated with a B S in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1977 She went on to complete a master s degree in Computer Science at Berkeley 2 Career EditAtari Inc Edit Shaw was hired at Atari Inc in 1978 straight out of her Master s to work on games for the Atari VCS later called the 2600 with an official job title of Microprocessor Software Engineer 2 Her first project was Polo a promotional tie in for the Ralph Lauren cologne 3 The game reached the prototype stage but Atari chose not to publish it Shaw s first published game was 3 D Tic Tac Toe for the Atari 2600 in 1978 She also wrote Video Checkers 1980 and collaborated on two titles a port of the coin op game Super Breakout with Nick Turner and Othello with Ed Logg 1981 4 Co worker Mike Albaugh later put her on a list of Atari s less publicized superstars I would have to include Carol Shaw who was simply the best programmer of the 6502 and probably one of the best programmers period in particular she did the 2600 kernels the tricky bit that actually gets the picture on the screen for a number of games that she didn t fully do the games for She was the go to gal for that sort of stuff 5 Shaw worked on several projects for the Atari 8 bit family of home computers With Keith Brewster she wrote the Atari BASIC Reference Manual 6 She developed the programmable Calculator application published by Atari on diskette in 1979 7 Activision Edit Platinum River Raid cartridge awarded June 27 1983 for sales of 1 000 000 units Shaw left Atari in 1980 to work for Tandem Computers as an assembly language programmer 8 then joining Activision in 1982 2 Her first game was River Raid 1982 for the Atari 2600 which was inspired by the 1981 arcade game Scramble 2 The game was a major hit for Activision and personally lucrative for Shaw 2 Shaw also wrote Happy Trails 1983 for the Intellivision and ported River Raid to the Atari 8 bit family and Atari 5200 8 She left Activision in 1984 After games Edit In 1984 Shaw returned to her former employer Tandem She took early retirement in 1990 and subsequently did some voluntary work including a position at the Foresight Institute She has credited the success of River Raid as being a significant factor in enabling her to retire early 2 In 2017 Shaw received the Industry Icon Award at The Game Awards 9 In the same year she donated her gaming memorabilia including games boxes source code and designs to the Strong National Museum of Play 8 Personal life EditShaw lives in California and has been married to Ralph Merkle a researcher in cryptography and nanotechnology since 1983 10 2 Works EditAtari 2600 3D Tic Tac Toe Atari 1978 11 Othello Atari 1978 with Ed Logg 12 Video Checkers Atari 1980 13 Super Breakout Atari 1981 with Nick Turner River Raid Activision 1982 14 Intellivision Happy Trails Activision 1983 Atari 8 bit family Calculator Atari 1979 7 River Raid Activision 1983 port from 2600 to Atari 8 bit and 5200Unreleased Polo Atari 2600 Atari 1978 3 Biography portal Video games portalReferences Edit Suellentrop Chris 19 August 2014 Saluting the Women Behind the Screen The New York Times Retrieved 5 January 2016 a b c d e f g h i VC amp G Interview Carol Shaw The First Female Video Game Developer a b Polo AtariProtos com Hague James The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers Spicer Dag November 12 2012 Mike Albaugh Interview PDF Computer History Museum Atari BASIC and PET Microsoft BASIC A BASIC Comparison by Joretta Klepfer cites the draft as a source a b Calculator Atari Mania a b c Marie Meagan 2018 Women in Gaming 100 Professionals of Play Dorling Kindersley p 27 ISBN 978 0241395066 Alexander Jem 8 December 2017 Carol Shaw awarded Industry Icon honour at The Game Awards Develop Retrieved 8 December 2017 My wife is Carol Shaw Ralph C Merkle Atari 2600 3 D Tic Tac Toe Atari Mania Atari 2600 Othello Atari Mania Atari 2600 Video Checkers Atari Mania Atari 2600 River Raid Atari ManiaExternal links EditCarol Shaw s games at Atari Age Center for Computing History Carol Shaw Papers 1960 2017 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Carol Shaw amp oldid 1127356345, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
