Dec 31 2008
10 Highly Influential Video Game Designers
Let’s face it, video game are awesome. They have always been awesome, and they will always be awesome. Honestly I’m not sure how much better they can get but I’m sure the elite designers out there will continue finding ways.
I would assume the next step in gaming is getting to the point where you are controlling real people. I’m guessing that designers are already cloning human beings in some facility in Costa Rica or something.
But how about paying some tribute to those guys who designed some of these things? It’s truly remarkable. Here are 10 highly influential video game designers.
Cliff Bleszinski
Cliff is the lead designer of Gears of War and Gears of War II. I think that pretty much says it all. He’s 35 years old and is nicknamed “Dude Huge.” And he even has his own Myspace Page!
Ian Cummings
That’s right. Cummings is the senior designer of all the latest Madden NFL games, which is easily the most successful sports game (game period) in history. Man this guy looks like a baby.
Scott Orr - original designer of Madden NFL
Gotta give credit to the original guy. Orr was originally given the task to redesign the Madden game for Genesis and that led to a 10 year span of working as lead man for a number of other EA Sports hits like NHLPA Hockey, NCAA Football and NASCAR Racing.
Ed Boon and John Tobias
Co-Creators of Mortal Kombat. Boon (above) is technically considered the lead programmer while Tobias is considered the lead designer. Who cares? I’m sure these guys are reeling in the dough. I hope they got a nice percentage from Midway. By the way the character Noob Saibot? Spell it backwards. Yay!
Shigeru Myamoto
It doesn’t get any better than this guy. Myamoto is considered the “father of modern video games.” Mario, Donkey Kong, and the Legend of Zelda. Does it get any better than that? Probably not. Most designers today, when asked about their influences, always reference Myamoto. If it weren’t for this guy video games today wouldn’t be what they are.
John Romero
The man behind Doom and Quake. But technically he’s the man behind the “first person shooter.” This became and still is one of the most popular weapons games feature. It allows the user to play as if they were really there from a first person perspective. I remember Quake when I was in college. It seemed that everyone was playing it. Incredible.
Kai and Charles Huang
Guitar Hero. I mean come on guys.
Toru Iwatani
The original Pac Man designer. If I could get a sound bite of the the game I would right now. Unfortunately Iwatani didn’t create much more but you have to give credit where credit is due.
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Kojima, hello?
This list is awful. The only influential game designers on it are Miyamoto and Romero.
I agree with Cambrinus! Where is Hideo Kojima! Yes to Randomguy that this is an awful list. Miyamoto is still awesome too.
Pft, was looking forward to reading your comments on Kojima. Do you feel that, though he is AWESOME (in an evil, dorky kind of way) that he’s not /influential/ and is simply awesome? ‘Cause I can see that argument but… it’s not a strong one.
Romero was NOT the man behind Doom and Quake! He wasn’t lead designer, he wasn’t lead programmer! He’s just an egotistical maniac with bad business sense!
John Carmack did the bulk of the complex programming and program architecture but id Software as a whole deserves credit (which includes Romero, but not even close to the headline status you gave him!)