Nov 11, 2025
USA 1986
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USA 1986
USA 1986
Today I showed the intern at work the amazing computer graphics from when I was a kid.
The best was that if he landed just right, one of the little paratroopers would get caught on the cactus.
Jonathan Gay
While in high school, Gay won a science fair award for programming on an Apple II computer and came to the attention of Silicon Beach Software founder Charlie Jackson. Gay began programming for Silicon Beach in his senior year. His first published product, released in 1985, was Airborne!
While in college, he collaborated with game designer Mark Pierce and programmed Dark Castle and Beyond Dark Castle. All three were award-winning programs that included digital sounds, an unusual innovation for that era.
After graduating from Harvey Mudd College, Gay worked full-time for Silicon Beach Software. During this time he added some significant features to Superpaint 2, including Bézier curves, and began work on IntelliDraw, which was published by Aldus after the acquisition of Silicon Beach Software in 1990.
In 1993, Gay and Jackson founded FutureWave Software with the intention of creating graphics software for pen computing, in particular the Penpoint operating system that ran on the EO Personal Communicator, and early tablet computer.
After the EO Personal Communicator failed, Gay saw an opportunity to create an editor that could produce animations for web pages. The core technology of SmartSketch was repurposed to create a new product, FutureSplash Animator, adding support for timeline animation and a Netscape browser plug-in for playing back content.
When MSN and Disney decided to use FutureSplash Animator for their websites, Macromedia made an offer to buy FutureWave Software and the acquisition was completed in December, 1996. FutureSplash Animator was renamed Flash 1.0.
Gay took on the role of Vice President of Engineering at Macromedia and led the newly minted Flash engineering team at Macromedia's headquarters in San Francisco, beginning a decade of leading the Flash agenda at Macromedia. In an unusual move for a Vice President, Gay continued to be responsible for a great deal of the actual coding on the product. He was responsible for the low-level vector graphics rasterization, pen-computing inspired drawing tools, and the Flash Player Netscape browser plug-in.
Gay would lead the Flash team through version 4. He continued working at Macromedia as a product visionary responsible for incorporating two-way, real-time video and audio technology into the Flash product line. On April 18, 2005, Gay left Macromedia before the Adobe merger to pursue other opportunities. It is because of his efforts that animation, stereo sound, video playback, and real-time video conferencing were first available on the web.
Silicon Beach Software was an early developer of software products for the Macintosh personal computer. It was founded in San Diego, California by Charlie Jackson and his wife Hallie. Jackson later co-founded FutureWave Software with Jonathan Gay, the company that produced the first version of what is now Adobe Flash.
Airborne! was the first game for the Mac with digitized sound. Who can't remember the digital rendition of Ride of the Valkyries at the game's splash screen.
The point system in Airborne!
Airborne! is a stationary shooter. Your job as gunman is to shoot down the oncoming helicopters, planes, and jets while keeping the airborne ground forces from overtaking your position. You have a high powered anti-aircraft gun and mortar at your disposal. If too many ground forces accumulate, or if a airlifted tank moves into position you will be overrun. It takes accuracy to overcome the odds and reach a high score. Every off target shot counts against you. Watch out for jet based missile attacks during the moments of silence between the waves of oncoming enemy helicopters.
Airborne! by Silicon Beach Software was my favorite game for the original Macintosh. It ran on System Software 1, and was released in 1984 just months after the first Macintosh.