Are you a fan of video games? Do you ever ponder almost the ones behind your favorite titles? This article will explore the most famous game designers.
So, who are the minds dependable for making the famous games we all know and adore? Who is the most popular video game designer?
Keep reading to dive into the exciting lives and careers of the foremost names in video game design via this post.
Who Are Video Game Designers?
Video game designers are people who implement ideas into entertaining games. Depending on the role, they will work on specific pieces.
Designers also often focus on a particular knack, for example, only working with the context, or handling game characters and images.
The main tasks that a videogame designer usually does are creating storyboards, gameplay, coding, and error checking.
Designing video games is an exciting job. The list below includes the famous people in video game creation. They are role models for young designers.
1. Masaya Matsuura
Masaya Matsuura is a famous video game designer, voted by gaming newspapers like Develop or International Game Developers Association.
Music-based games like The Rapper and Vib-Ribbon are well-received by players. Also, his company NanaOn-Sha has a lot of support for innovation in this area.
2. Michael Morhaime
Michael Morhaime is one of the most talented and influential game designers voted by the famous magazines. He is the author of the iconic title World of Warcraft, the popular online role-playing game from a few years ago.
Besides, the games Michael Morhaime created create new trends and occupy a significant market share in the current role-playing game.
As a result, he has received many awards for his achievements over the years. For instance, this designer received an Emmy Award for innovation.
Morhaime is also the president at Blizzard Entertainment. With what has been contributed, Morhaime receives an income of about 1 million dollars annually.
3. Satoshi Tajiri
As a child, Satoshi Tajiri used to enjoy collecting larvae. And it was this hobby that inspired this Japanese designer to create Pokemon.
Tajiri and the Game Freak company took six years of effort to design this exciting game. His own company has faced the risk of bankruptcy. Finally, in 1996, Tajiri released Pokemon, which later gained worldwide favor.
In addition to the Pokemon game, Tajiri and his company have released many other video games. So these outstanding achievements have made Satoshi Tajiri famous and recognized as a master in the gaming area.
4. Hironobu Sakaguchi
Most game designers agree that being inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ Hall of Fame is significant. Yet, at a very young age, he quickly achieved this feat.
He started his career in a risky way. Specifically, he dropped out of college to focus on running epic role-playing games. After releasing the first beta, he named it Final Fantasy, meaning this was his last bet.
Fortunately, this debut title was a resounding success. It became the best-selling video game franchise within years. As of 2010 alone, this game has sold 100 million copies, a number that Sakaguchi himself did not expect.
In addition to the famous game Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi is also the author of other games such as Blue Dragon and Kingdom Hearts.
5. David Jones
David Jones has spent nearly three decades in the video game area. This British game designer is a co-founder of DMA Designs. So, one of the most famous games this company released is Lemmings.
So, decades later, it’s still the most addictive game David Jones has ever designed. In 1997, DMA Designs wowed video game lovers with Grand Theft Auto. It was successful, with 120 million copies sold worldwide.
6. Hideo Kojima
Hideo Kojima is the director of Kojima Productions and vice president of Konami. So, working for many big companies, he can become the leading game designer in many famous projects with big budgets.
Video game lovers have heard of Metal Gear at least once, one of the products that marked his first success. This series was a huge hit at its release and is growing in popularity.
He is also the man behind the success of Boktai and Policenauts. In Newsweek’s 2002 poll, he was one of the top ten game testers in the world. After that, the designer won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 MTV Game Awards.
In 2009, he received the video game designer’s lifetime achievement award at the World Game Designers Conference. In short, with what he has done in his career, he deserves to be honored by the gaming community.
7. Sandy Petersen
The major that Sandy Petersen pursued in college was zoology. Yet, he chose to work for game design companies and chose it as his career path.
He spends a lot of time running first-person shooter games. Only when he joined Ensemble Studio did he begin to lead design for various game genres.
Some ideal game projects Sandy Petersen worked on are Age of Empires and The Conquerors.
8. Roberta Williams
Roberta Williams is the co-founder of Sierra Entertainment. She and her company are at the forefront of designing PC and graphic adventure games.
Throughout her career, she has created more than 20 engaging games. Although she retired in 1999, her influence on young designers is still strong at this time.
9. John Romero
John Romero was a major factor in the success of Doom and Quake, an early 2000s 2D shooter. Also, he contributed a lot to first-person shooter games.
John Romero has received many awards in the field. In 2011, he got the Most Influential in Social Games. He was then honored with the Hall of Fame in 2012.
Conclusion
Above are some famous game designers that you should know. These designers on our list have made their mark with classic games over the decades.
So, if you know of more prominent names in this field, remember to share them below. Thanks for taking the time to follow us!