Carol Shaw

Carol Shaw (born 1955) is an American video game designer. She is best known for creating the Atari 2600 vertically scrolling shooter game River Raid 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), both for the Atari VCS before it was renamed to the 2600. She left game development in 1984 and retired in 1990.

Early life and education Shaw was born in 1955 and was raised in Palo Alto, California.

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 BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1977. She later completed a master's degree in computer science at Berkeley. Co-worker Mike Albaugh later put her on a list of Atari's "less publicized superstars":

Shaw worked on several projects for the Atari 8-bit computers. With Keith Brewster, she wrote the Atari BASIC Reference Manual. She developed the programmable Calculator application, published by Atari on floppy disk in 1981. then joining Activision in 1982. In the same year, she donated her gaming memorabilia, including games, boxes, source code, and designs, to the Strong National Museum of Play.

Works Atari 2600 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe (Atari, 1978) Othello (Atari, 1978) with Ed Logg Video Checkers (Atari, 1980) Super Breakout (Atari, 1981) with Nick Turner River Raid (Activision, 1982)

Intellivision Happy Trails (Activision, 1983)

Atari 8-bit computers Atari BASIC (Atari, 1979-1981) technical writing Atari Calculator (Atari, 1979-1981) River Raid (Activision, 1983) port from 2600 to Atari 8-bit and 5200

Unreleased Polo, Atari 2600 (Atari, 1978)