Famous Game Developers: A Glimpse of the Super Stars of Gaming

Think about a game that you know and love. Titles such as Gears of War, Super Mario Bros. and Fable are probably the kind of games that pop into your head. Now, think about the people who created those games. These people are leaders and influencers of the video game world. So what made these developers' games so great? What led to their success?

Take Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski. He was 17 years old when he pitched his first game idea to Epic MegaGames, now known as Epic Games. His game idea was, The Palace of Deceit: Dragon's Plight, an adventure game designed for PC. Back then, Epic was a small studio run by Tim Sweeney, creator of the Unreal franchise, and Mark Rein. Sweeney and Rein fell in love with Bleszinski’s game idea and commissioned him to create another game. Bleszinski came up with the idea of Jazz Jackrabbit. The new game, also designed for PC, centered around a green rabbit space fighter who fought evil turtles in order to save a rabbit princess. Bleszinski is now much more recognizable as the creator of Gears of War, the foremost third-person shooter that gained success on the Xbox 360 and PC. What made Gears of War outstanding is that it introduced a new way of playing shooter games. It slowed the pace down and introduced a strategic duck-and-cover system that has been duplicated in modern shooter games by many game designers. Bleszinski went on to create Gears of War 2. "To make a hit video game in this day and age, you need a trifact of a great campaign, a great co-op experience (we basically have two co-op experiences in this game), and an extended versus multiplayer where players can beat the hell out of each other," Bleszinski says.

Tim Schafer is another famous game developer whose first claim to fame was his game creation, Psychonauts. The storyline of this game is based around a young boy who has psychic powers. Psychonauts is an action adventure game where the main character Raz must enter the minds of his peers and help them overcome their fears from the inside. Psychonauts is one of the best games to be released on previous generation game consoles, with renowned visuals as well as complex combat and puzzles. Schafer’s vision for Brütal Legend was a world of rock music and battles. "For Brütal Legend, I've always seen this overlap between medieval warfare and heavy metal," says Schafer. "You see heavy metal singers and they'll have like a brace around their arm and they'll be singing about Orcs. So let's just make a world where that all happens." Brütal Legend features art that looks like the medieval times mixed with a Harley Davidson and features the voice acting work of Jack Black.

Peter Molyneux is another game developer who is more than familiar with games about medieval times. Molyneux created the medieval, open world, action adventure title Fable, in which players make moral decisions. In turn, these decisions affect the outcome of the story. Fable received outstanding critical acclaim and was warmly accepted by the gaming community. Molyneux is currently working on the third installment of Fable. "One of the things that people have come to expect from Fable is innovation, and in Fable 3 we've really pushed the boat out."

Will Wright first gained recognition with a game called Sim City. In this game, the user builds a city and controls everything from the building of its structures to its economy. Wright expanded the functionality of Sim City in his next installment, The Sims, which allows players to simulate the lives of multiple characters at a time. The Sims series is the best-selling PC game franchise in history and has sold more than 100-million units worldwide. "I thought it was either going to be a big flop or a big hit. I didn't think there was going to be a middle ground for The Sims. But I didn't envision it to be as big a hit as it was," says Wright. His most recent work is the ever-popular Spore, in which players manipulate a micro-organism and control its evolution into a thriving, intelligent species.

Shigeru Miyamoto is recognized as the man who created Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, F-Zero, Star Fox and many other Nintendo franchises. He is known as the Walt Disney of the video game world. Shigeru started at Nintendo back in the 1970s as a young industrial designer. Back then, Nintendo wasn’t the gargantuan video game giant that it is today. In fact, at the time, Nintendo had just barely begun to venture into electronic entertainment. Nintendo began creating color TV game consoles, and Shigeru Miyamoto was hired on by Nintendo to design the console casings. After multiple failed business attempts to break into the North American market, Nintendo’s President Hiroshi Yamauchi approached Shigeru Miyamoto and asked him to create a game that would save the company. Under the guidance of Nintendo's Chief Engineer Gunpei Yokoi, Shigeru created a game about a love triangle between a man, a woman and a gorilla. That revolutionary game was Donkey Kong. It created the template for which the game industry would follow for years to come. It introduced in-game cut-scenes that play out the story of the game. It also introduced the idea of having multiple stages. Shigeru Miyamoto is currently working on new Nintendo games, including a new Legend of Zelda title and Super Mario Galaxy 2, which was recently released for the Nintendo Wii.

These developers share a unique ability: they’ve created a unique game that has added countless hours of entertainment to a gamer’s passion. The game industry is constantly evolving, and as long as there are game developers doing what they love, there will always be the next amazing game.

Peter Rizkalla is a freelance writer for the video game and animation industries.