We've come a long way since the very first forms of video games sprung up. The number of people who have helped shape the gaming industry as we know it, is too great to even ponder. There are masses of people who contributed to the evolution of gaming and, sadly, there's no room to mention every single one of them (producers, programmers, designers, artists, writers, etc.). Still, following a lengthy debate, we decided to narrow the choice down to 20 of the most significant game designers this world has seen. Mark these names well, because their imagination and determination carved the very pillars on which this industry rests upon.
20. Jane Jensen
Gabriel Knight
Some gamers may not remember Gabriel Knight. We're talking about a series of classic adventure games, created by writer and game designer Jane Jensen. The very first game in the Gabriel Knight series came out in 1993, when Sierra On-line, the game's publisher, had already released numerous acknowledged adventure games. Gabriel Knight immersed players into a chain of supernatural mysteries all tied into brilliantly structured gameplay mechanics. Also, puzzle solving and a point-based progression system provided a solid concept that later instigated many forms of interpretations and advances in the adventure genre. Today, almost 15 years later, Gabriel Knight still fits among the best adventure games ever created. To witness such a well-conceived narrative is a rarity beyond the capacity of most publishers and development teams.
19. Allen Adham
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
Allen Adham was one of the three co-founders (Michael Morhaime and Frank Pearce being the other two) of a company called Silicon & Synapse, which later transformed into Blizzard Entertainment (the one we all adore and worship today). Amongst other things, Allen headed the creation of the original Warcraft (DOS) game - i.e. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Apart from re-enhancing a brilliant concept in the world of fantasy games, Warcraft sharpened the edges of the RTS genre, previously ruled by titles like Westwood Studios' Dune II. Besides, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is the very cornerstone of an entire culture, which nowadays symbolizes one of the most popular forms of entertainment. The person standing at the helm of such a project definitely deserves to be remembered.
18. Ron Gilbert
Maniac Mansion
The era of classic adventure games had been defined with titles like Loom, Maniac Mansion, Secret of Monkey Island, and Indiana Jones, all of which arrived straight from LucasArts. It wasn't by mere accident all these titles were popular. They were all based on the SCUMM engine, created by one Ron Gilbert. SCUMM, in case you don't know, stands for "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion." Having established his reputation as the creator of Maniac Mansion, Ron employed the same pattern once again, thus two legendary adventure games were born: Secret of the Monkey Island and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. LucasArts has been known to rely on Ron's blueprint in a great number of first-rate adventure games.
17. Chris Roberts
Wing Commander I
If you remember playing Times of Lore (action, adventure and RPG, 1988), then you should recognize the name Chris Roberts. The interface created for ToL later influenced many other games from Origin Systems, including the Ultima series. As an employee of Origin, Chris brought about tremendous success to his team, especially after creating the superb 3D space-sim shooter Wing Commander. Reaching millions of gamers worldwide, the game even surpassed the success of the Ultima series, which was also a product of Origin. It goes without saying that games like Wing Commander honed the concept of the epic space shooter. Taking players on a lengthy voyage through the cosmos and engulfing them in a good story, it became the supreme space shooter. Wing Commander stretched into Wing Commander: Privateer, Wing Commander III and Wing Commander IV. Roberts directed the live-action cinematic sequences for all of these sequels. After leaving Origin in 1996, Chris founded Digital Anvil, making way for games like Freelancer, which, although not ground-breaking, revived a decaying genre.
16. Chris Taylor
Dungeon Siege 2
Alrigthy. Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege are the first games that come to mind. Total Annihilation surfaced as a cool idea to take games like Dune 2 and C&C a bit further. In the process, Chris constructed an engine capable of rendering hundreds of units and explosions on the screen at once. The technology was hailed as one of the first true-3D RTS engines. C.T., the founder of Gas Powered Games, is known for his outstanding knack to build upon a familiar genre in order to create better more fluent gameplay. On account of such efforts, almost every game ever designed by Chris Taylor is a sheer success. Newer achievements include a sequel to Dungeon Siege and the more recent Supreme Commander; again, another triumph on the RTS scene and one of the best strategy games in 2006.
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