Cathryn Mataga

Cathryn Mataga (born William Mataga) Under the name William, she wrote Atari 8-bit computer games for Synapse Software in the early to mid 1980s, including Shamus, a flip-screen shooter.

Career Mataga designed the game Shamus in 1982, credited under the name William for the Atari 8-bit computers. Mataga followed it with a sequel Shamus: Case II and scrolling shooter Zeppelin.

Steve Hales of Synapse Software, in an interview for the book Halcyon Days, states that he and Mataga convinced company founder Ihor Wolosenko to get the company into interactive fiction.

Mataga developed an interactive fiction programming language known as BtZ (Better than Zork) for Broderbund, in the early 1980s. Mataga worked with Hales and poet Robert Pinsky on the interactive fiction game Mindwheel (1984). Don Daglow credits Mataga as one of the programmers who proved Daglow's assertion that he could make Neverwinter Nights a success.

Games Shamus (1982), Synapse Software Shamus: Case II (1983), Synapse Software Zeppelin (1983), Synapse Software Mindwheel (1984), Broderbund Software Essex (1985), Broderbund Brimstone (1985), Broderbund Breakers (1986), Broderbund Neverwinter Nights (1991), Strategic Simulations Gateway to the Savage Frontier (1991), Strategic Simulations Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992), Strategic Simulations Stronghold (1993), Strategic Simulations Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands (1996), Strategic Simulations Rampage 2: Universal Tour (1999), Midway Games X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse (2001), Activision Spyro: Season of Ice (2001), Universal Interactive Rayman (2001), Ubi Soft Dragon's Lair (2001), Capcom Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004), Rockstar Games Spider-Man 2 (2004), Activision Rayman: 10th Anniversary (2005), Ubisoft