John Plaster

John C. Plaster was a software programmer and game designer working for Texas Instruments. He created two well-known games for the TI-99/4A. In 1981, he released his game Tombstone City, and in 1982, Chisholm Trail was released.

Interview

The following is from an interview done by Gary M. Kaplan that appeared in the 19823 Vol. 1, No. 5 issue of 99'er Magazine, pages 34-35, pages 47-48 and page 52:

An Interview with John C. Plaster - Designer and Programmer of "Tombstone City:21st Century"

GMK: Have you programmed many games?

JCP: Tombstone City was the first. I've since programmed one other, and started work on a third.

GMK: What experiences have you had that you think contributed to your desire and ability to design computer games?

JCP: Nothing special, really. I just had a regular childhood ... played things like checkers, Old Maid, and poker. I never had played any arcade games before I designed Tombstone City.

GMK: Are you an artistic or creative person in other fields or activities?

JCP: I don't know that I'm that creative in other areas. I have a pure math background-that's what I majored in in school ... so maybe I have more of a logical-type mind than a creative mind.

GMK: What jobs have you had before coming to work at TI?

JCP: I guess I've only had three jobs in my life. My first job was working for my dad, a farmer in Canyon, Texas. I worked with him on the farm up until the time I went to college. I got my B.A. at Rice University, and spent a year at the University of Arizona doing graduate work. I completed my Masters and PhD in math at Texas Tech. That was where I worked as a TA [teaching assistant]. I also spent one semester at Abilene Christian University.

GMK: How did you start getting involved in computer games, and where did the idea for Tombstone City come from?

JCP: I just started playing around in 9900 [Assembly Language for the TI-99/4A] code. I really wasn't intending to write a game when I started ... I just drew a spaceship on the screen and played with it. I was probably influenced by the fact that most of the arcade games I was familiar with were space oriented. As far as the background of Tombstone, I spent a year at the University of Tucson in Arizona. The saguaro cactus found in the game comes from my living in Arizona.

GMK: How about specif­ics of the game ... how did these develop?

JCP: It was really what you'd consider spontaneous. I started putting the game together in April, and got a working version of it in May. There really wasn't a whole lot of forethought to it. I started putting it on the screen as fast as I thought of it. So, from the conception of the idea, to completion of the basics, we're talking about a four-week period.

GMK: From that whirlwind timetable, it would appear that you have had quite a bit of experience in 9900 Assembly Language coding.

JCP: Actually not. I first started on 9900 coding about two weeks before I began the game, and that was because of another project-a numeric expression interpreter. Before that, I was involved in two major projects. The first was the Personal Real Estate done in GPL [Graphic Programming Language]; the second was also written in GPL, and that was the Milliken Math Series.

Game Credits for John Plaster

• Chisholm Trail
• Tombstone City