Christian H. "Chris" Oberth (died July 16, 2012) was a

video game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall ...

who began writing games for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

in the late 1970s. He developed handheld electronic games for Milton Bradley Corporation, Milton Bradley, arcade video games for Stern Electronics and other companies, and ported games to home computers and consoles. Though not a hit in arcades, Oberth's 1982 ''Anteater (video game), Anteater'', developed for Stern, was an influential concept that was cloned multiple times for home computers, including ''

Oil's Well ''Oil's Well'' (a pun on "all's well") is a video game published by Sierra On-Line in 1983. The game was written for the Atari 8-bit computers by Thomas J. Mitchell. ''Oil's Well'' is similar to the 1982 arcade game ''Anteater'', re-themed to be ...

'' from

Sierra On-Line Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game ge ...

and ''

Diamond Mine There are a limited number of commercially available diamond mines currently operating in the world, with the 50 largest mines accounting for approximately 90% of global supply. Diamonds are also mined alluvially over disperse areas, where dia ...

''. The following year, he created his own home version titled '' Ardy the Aardvark'' (

Datamost Datamost was an American computer book publisher and computer game company founded by David Gordon and based in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, Chatsworth, California. Datamost operated in the early 1980s producing games and other software mainly for th ...

, 1983). He also developed the

twin-stick shooter Twin-stick shooter is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games. It defines a multidirectional shooter in which the player character is controlled using two joysticks: the first for movement on a flat plane and the second to shoot in the direction th ...

Rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, removal from danger, liberation from restraint, or the urgent treatment of injury, injuries after an incident. It may be facilitated by a range of tools and equipm ...

'' (1982) and the maze game '' Armored Car'' (1981) for Stern. Oberth's first commercial games, '' Phasor Zap'' (1978) and ''

3-D Docking Mission ''3-D Docking Mission'' is a simulation game for the Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), ori ...

'' (1978) for the Apple II, were published by Programma International, a company that also published games from future arcade game designers Bob Flanagan and Gary Shannon, and rejected the first effort from Mark Turmell. His next 13 Apple II games, in addition to ''Phasor Zap'' and ''3-D Docking Mission'', were published by The Elektrik Keyboard, a musical instrument and computer store in Chicago, where Oberth was head of the computer department.

Games

References

Video game programmers 2012 deaths {{videogame-bio-stub