Ray Tobey

Who is Ray Tobey?

Ray Tobey is an American computer game and video game programmer best known for writing the first arcade-style combat flight simulator game, Skyfox.

After taking a 6-week summer computer class at school when he was 13, Tobey saved for a year to purchase a Commodore PET 2001 for $800. He learned BASIC and then 6502 machine language, having graduated to an Apple II. Soon the teenager was a central figure in the Philadelphia Area Computer Society.

At 16, Tobey and a friend started work on a combat flight sim called Alpha Strike for the Apple II, a project that continued for two years. When they went to Boston for the 1983 Applefest they were invited to meet Rod Nakamoto, a long-time games industry executive. Nakamoto praised the game, and later that day introduced them to Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Wozniak was amazed by the visual effects Tobey had achieved with the game. He had recently joined the Board of Directors of start-up game publisher Electronic Arts, and he gave Tobey a business card with a message for EA President Trip Hawkins written on the back: "Trip, Please consider this flight simulator as the finest Apple game ever done. Woz"