Abstract
Problem: What was it like breaking into the game industry in the early 1980s, and what lessons did a young programmer take away from their first shipped title?
Approach: Tim Cain recounts his experience working at Cybron (formerly Pegasus Software) from 1981, where he helped build Grand Slam Bridge, published by Electronic Arts in 1986.
Findings: The project revealed patterns that would repeat throughout Cain's career: optimistic timelines (a "few months" bridge game took three years), leads resistant to new ideas, the importance of algorithm choice, and the contentious politics of game credits.
Key insight: Your first professional game teaches you everything you need to know about the industry — you just won't realize it until much later.
1. Getting Hired at Pegasus Software
Tim Cain was hired in 1981 while still in high school by a company called Pegasus Software. His role was building tools for artists, leveraging the Atari 800's graphics modes. About a year and a half later, the company discovered they hadn't done a copyright search on their name — it was already taken — so they rebranded to Cybron.
2. The Bridge Game
When Cybron decided to make a bridge card game, Tim's first thought was: I don't play bridge. I don't know how to play bridge. I've never played bridge.
They'd hired Nathan Schneiderman, a strong bridge player who couldn't code. Schneiderman wrote down the bidding rules as flow charts, and Tim converted those flow charts into C. The entire game was done in text graphics using ASCII characters.
2.1. Teaching C to the Lead Programmer
The lead programmer, Fred Klein, was using C but didn't fully know the language. Tim sat down with him and walked through C features:
- Enumerations — Instead of checking if a card's value was
50or1, you could writecard.suit == SPADEandcard.rank == JACK. Fred loved enumerations. - Recursion — Tim explained when to use it and when not to. Fred did not love recursion.
2.2. The Shuffle Algorithm Problem
When Tim played the game during a winter break visit, the deck shuffle took three to four seconds — long enough to think the game had frozen. The algorithm Fred was using involved two arrays: pick a random card from array one, place it in array two. But if the random pick hit an already-chosen slot, it had to pick again. As the source array emptied, the algorithm slowed dramatically. Technically, it had a non-zero chance of never finishing.
Tim suggested the Fisher-Yates Shuffle (with a variant he can't recall the name of), which traverses the array exactly once. The shuffles became near-instant. Fred loved that.
3. Shipping and Electronic Arts
Grand Slam Bridge shipped in 1986, published by Electronic Arts. For a young programmer still in college, having a game published by EA felt enormous — Tim associated EA with Larry Bird vs. Dr. J, which had amazed him with its backboard-shattering glass animation, even in low-res 1980s graphics.
The game reviewed well, though Tim never received a copy from Cybron.
4. The Credits Controversy
Years later, while interviewing at Interplay, Tim mentioned Grand Slam Bridge on his resume. His interviewer, Tom Decker (who would later produce Fallout), pulled a copy off the shelf and opened the manual to the credits.
Tim's name wasn't there. Not under "Programmed by." Not under "Additional programming." Not even under "Thanks to." Another programmer's name was also missing.
Tom Decker initially thought Tim was lying to get the job. But Tim's visible anger and detailed stories about the project convinced him otherwise.
4.1. Tim's Credits Philosophy
Tim developed a clear personal rule for credits:
- Main credits (Programmed by, Art by, Designed by): If you were there for the majority of development, stayed to the end, or contributed a major asset
- Additional credits (Additional programming by, etc.): Everyone else who contributed
- Excluded: Only if you were there briefly and none of your work made it into the final game
He considers dropping names from credits for simply not staying until the end to be "not illegal, but unethical."
5. Lessons Learned (In Hindsight)
Tim identifies several patterns from Cybron that would repeat throughout his career:
- Optimistic timelines — A bridge game he thought would take a few months took three years
- Leads resistant to new ideas — Fred discounted suggestions until proven right
- Optimization nightmares — Bad algorithms with real consequences
- Credit disputes — A 40-year-old industry problem that persists
As Tim puts it, these early experiences "were a microcosm for things to come."
6. What Happened Next
When Tim returned the following summer (1987), Cybron was out of business. A compiler project fell through, and his mother — "who's awesome, let's establish she was awesome" — suggested he just enjoy his last free summer before grad school. He completed a master's degree in a year and a half, started a PhD, eventually decided academia wasn't for him, and sent his resume to Interplay, where Tom Decker's interview launched the next chapter of his career: Bard's Tale Construction Set, then Rags to Riches, and eventually Fallout.
7. References
- Tim Cain. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nLc-pULEhw