Jim Nitchells

[brian.hammack@rook.wa.com (Brian Hammack)]

link: http://www.ogr.com/dailynews/9806/10apple.html

Text:   Apple II Gaming Legend Passes Away             June 10, 1998

"If he drops out now, he'll never make more than minimum wage!" - told
to my parents by a guidance 'counselor' at Torrey Pines High when I was
already earning twice that as a part-time programmer. - Jim Nitchals.

The computer gaming industry lost a creative giant last Friday when Jim
Nitchals passed on to that great level in the sky. Succumbing to a
brain hemorrhage, Mr. Nitchals leaves behind a legacy of work that has
influenced countless designers across the globe. Though not a household
name, Mr. Nitchals strutted his stuff during the glory days of the
Apple II when he founded Cavalier Computers with partner Barry Printz
and Richard Moore. Mr. Nitchals was responsible for such notable
products as Bug Attack, Asteroid Field, Star Thief, Ring Raiders, and
co-developed Teleport and Microwave, the latter of which was the first
title to feature in-game music. As his career continued to develop, Mr.
Nitchals soon set up shop with Electronic Arts where he worked on Hard
Hat Mack and the superlative Music Construction Set, in addition to
porting the classic Archon to the Apple and Macintosh platform. More
recently, Mr. Nitchals was the technical lead for the Cyberpunks
Supercharger CD, a compilation of titles and tools for the Starpath
Supercharger (an Atari 2600 add-on). Lastly, Mr. Nitchals had become an
opponent of email spam and assisted in the monumental task of getting
Wallace and Rines, notorious corporate spammers, to endorse pending
legislation in Congress that would allow consumers to sue for $500 for
any spam-mail not previously agreed to.

Knowing that John Romero is an avid Apple II fanatic, and continues to
support the Apple II community in one way or another, OGR approached
Mr. Romero who was kind enough to offer this reflection on Jim
Nitchals. Jim Nitchals was a gaming legend back in the days of the
Apple II. Jim was always pushing the boundaries of what was possible on
that system and his amazing games Bug Attack and Microwave did the
seemingly impossible on an Apple II -- music code was interwoven with
the game's main loop resulting in something we all take for granted
today, music playing in the background while you play the game. There
was never another game on the Apple II that duplicated this achievement
without additional hardware.
Besides his game's technical achievements, they were great fun as well
soaking up many hours of my time as well as inspring and driving me on
toward a career in game programming. And many years later our paths
crossed for a short time as Jim wrote the sound code used in the Mac
version of Hexen. He will be missed by many. The memory of Jim Nitchals
will live long in the minds of those who knew of his achievements and
of the great man himself.

 * 2qwk! 2.04 * Everybody wants a rock to wind a piece of string around.
--                                                                   -- 
yet another annoying post by brian.hammack@rook.wa.com -- deal with it.