What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Young Adult, Science Fiction, read it in the mid to late 80s, paperback

This book is about a father who works high up in a high security building. He has a son that is into computer programming. He gets his son clearance to come to work and use the computers there to program a game that he designed. It takes place in the mid to late 80's when computers are starting to become common. Possibly in a small town in America because I feel that there are woods/forests nearby, maybe in the backyard of their home.

One detail that stands out, and doesn't really affect the plot (I think), is as the son is programming his game, he has designed a level where the player fights against bats (or something). He is trying to figure how to add shadows to the bats for visual effect but he is having problems because the game treats the shadows as actual opponents instead of just shadows.

That's all I recall for sure. The rest is more speculation and vague feelings about stuff that happens throughout the book. If any of these are correct, I guess it could be considered spoilers

While at the building programming, the son hears/sees something troubling. The company has a dark secret and his father may be involved. I think he takes a floppy disk home. He hides in the woods by his home as people look through their house. I THINK there may be time travel involved (hours/days only, and subtle, no big glowing portal) because I have the feeling that he is trying to sneak into the company building and he knows everyone's routine and I think he is also hiding from himself so his past self doesn't see his future self. If there is time travel, no idea what the mechanism for it is. There may be someone else involved (sibling/friend) because I think he is trying to convince someone that his fathers is in trouble.

Most of this is just speculation based on vague impressions I have when I'm thinking about it so take it with a grain of salt. Not sure how much other stories from books/TV/movies may have gotten jumbled up in there over the last 30 years.

Thanks

Ariel by Jack M. Bickham maybe?

This totally made me think of Tron...

Nice guess, and it looks interesting but I don't believe so. The book is all from the perspective of the son and now that I'm thinking of it, I don't think that there is actually any other point of view from any other characters.

And ya, googling for it kept returning TRON results :)

Oh man! Yeah, I thought I would just mention it, in case you might have mixed the two in your head. I don't even know if Tron started out as a book but based on the movies it's only a bit on point. Otherwise I have no clue. Except today's which of course isn't right.

Is there a book version for an earworm? Got thinking about this again and its so frustrating. Thought i would bump this to see if there are any new insights.

What im recalling at the moment is less convinced that there is a sibling/friend. I seem to think that the father knew something was going to happen to him and sent a message to his son that they were coming and he runs out the back door into the woods.

With regards to the company, im thinking that the people in charge are from the future, trying to subtly change their history. A less likely possibility is that they are aliens.

If this doesnt result in anything, are there other forums or sites that might help?

Thx