Gary Carr | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 1966 (age 59) |
| Occupation | Video game developer |
| Known for | |
Gary Carr (born February 1966 [1] ) is an English [2] video game developer. His career began at Palace Software, where he worked on titles such as Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior and Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax . In 1989, he joined Bullfrog Productions and worked as lead artist on Powermonger and Populous II . He also worked on Theme Park , but, after a disagreement with Peter Molyneux, he left the company to work for The Bitmap Brothers, where he worked on The Chaos Engine 2 . He returned to Bullfrog in 1995 hoping to work on Dungeon Keeper , but worked on Theme Hospital instead. He left Bullfrog again in 1998 to join Mucky Foot Productions.
In 2003, he joined Lionhead Studios, and later became a Creative Director, as well as an Executive Producer at Microsoft Game Studios. He left Lionhead in 2015. The following year, he set up a new company, Two Point Studios. In 2017, the company signed a publishing deal with Sega for a new game.
In 1986, Carr attended art college, and originally wanted to be a film maker. [3] His career in game development began when he was inspired by titles such as Elite and Little Computer People , and liked the ability to manipulate the world and its people. [3] He obtained a Higher National Diploma in graphic design. [3] He applied for a job at a company called Palace Films, but was assigned to the software department instead. [3] At Palace Software, Carr worked on the Barbarian series. [3]
In 1989, Carr joined Bullfrog Productions, [4] where he worked as lead artist on Powermonger and Populous II . [5] He was Bullfrog's sixth employee. [6] Palace were losing money due to an increase in its films' costs, and a colleague showed him screenshots of Populous , which Carr thought "amazing". [3] Carr considered games such as Powermonger and Populous Bullfrog's forte. [3] He also worked on Theme Park , which Carr hated: [7] "I just didn't get it. I thought it was a dreadful idea", he stated. [4] Peter Molyneux, managing director of Bullfrog and producer of the game, [8] wanted colourful graphics to appeal to a Japanese market, but Carr thought he had "lost the plot". [4] He left Bullfrog in 1993 and joined The Bitmap Brothers, where he worked on The Chaos Engine 2 . [4] [5] [3] Carr later regretted this, and called himself "a dickhead". [4] He also described Theme Park as "an absolute classic". [4]
He returned in 1995 with the intention of working on Dungeon Keeper , but ended up working on Theme Hospital instead, [9] [7] as lead artist. [10] Carr was initially disappointed at this: "Great! A sequel to the game I left the company for in the first place!" he said. [9] He did not leave again due to the success of Theme Park. [7] During research for Theme Hospital, he, along with the project leader Mark Webley, [10] made visits to Royal Surrey County Hospital and Frimley Park Hospital. [9] During a visit, Carr and Webley were watching an operation, and Carr was distracting the surgeon through excitement. [11] The surgeon ordered them out, [9] [11] and Carr then had the idea of making Theme Hospital feature made-up illnesses, [11] [9] due to them considering hospitals monotonous. [11] [7] [9]
Carr left Bullfrog again in 1998 to join Mucky Foot Productions, [12] who considered him "one of the most talented and experienced artists in the computer games industry". [5] He was the company's managing director. [13] Carr stated that Mucky Foot's Startopia is his favourite game that he had worked on, due to its humour and simulation. [3]
Carr joined Lionhead Studios in 2003, [14] and became the executive producer of The Movies . [3] At a press event in Barcelona, Molyneux asked Carr to demonstrate the production of a sequel using the game's script-writing function, a feature which did not exist. [6] Describing the event, he said Molyneux "threw me under the bus", and also said that there was a piece that said Carr did not know how to play the game. [6] Carr speculated that this was an attempt by Molyneux to force the implementation of a feature. [6] Carr was afterwards assigned to Project Milo , and Microsoft approached Lionhead seeking to use its camera technology. [3] After Molyneux left Lionhead, Carr became the company's most senior developer. [15] By September 2012, Carr had become Lionhead's chief creative officer, and was the creative director of Fable: The Journey . [16] [17] He was also an Executive Producer at Microsoft Game Studios. [3]
On 14 September 2015, Carr departed Lionhead. [15] A Microsoft spokesperson thanked Carr for his contributions and described him as "a great friend and colleague". [15] In 2016, Carr and Webley founded a studio called Two Point Studios. [18] [19] On 30 May 2017, Two Point Studios signed a publishing deal with Sega. [18] Carr stated that they are "really excited" to be working with Sega, and expressed confidence that they will be able to create "something special". [18] On 16 January 2018, this was revealed to be Two Point Hospital , a spiritual sequel to Theme Hospital. [20]
In 2011, Molyneux felt Carr deserved a Lifetime Achievement honour from the Game Developers Choice Awards. [21]