Jon Shafer | |
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![]() Jon Shafer in 2012 | |
Born | Aurora, Colorado, United States | March 30, 1985
Alma mater | Towson University |
Occupation(s) | Game designer, game programmer, producer, entrepreneur |
Years active | 2005–present |
Known for | Civilization V , At the Gates |
Jon Shafer is an American designer and programmer of video games. He was the lead designer of the strategy game Civilization V , developed by Firaxis. [1]
Shafer is the president of Conifer Games, a video game development company he founded in 2012. The studio's first title is At the Gates , a 4X strategy game similar to Civilization in which players command a barbarian kingdom with the goal of defeating both rival tribes and the waning Roman Empire. [2] The budget for developing At the Gates is primarily made up of funds raised through a Kickstarter campaign held in February 2013. [3]
Shafer was born and grew up in Aurora, Colorado. He learned to program when he was 8 years old from his father. As a child he cultivated a passion for history. [4]
These interests led Shafer to Sid Meier's Civilization series. He developed fan mods for Civilization III while in high school, and became a beta tester for the Civilization III expansion pack, Conquests , and Civilization IV . Early in Civilization IV's development he wrote an extensive guide explaining how to utilize its Python scripting language, [5] and this led to him joining Firaxis for a programming internship in February 2005. Shafer was later hired full-time, and served as a designer and programmer on the two Civilization IV expansions, Warlords and Beyond the Sword . [6]
Following the completion of Beyond the Sword, Shafer was named the lead designer and principal gameplay programmer for Civilization V, the next full title in the series. While in this role, Shafer drew from his past modding experience and from computer games he had played as a child, most notably Panzer General . [7]
In January 2011, Shafer joined Stardock to lead an unannounced game project and assist with development on the Elemental series. [8] In February 2013, he announced that he had left Stardock and founded Conifer Games, and was developing a new 4X title, At the Gates .
In June 2017, Shafer joined Paradox Development Studio as a game director on an unannounced project, only to part ways in November of the same year, citing creative differences. [9]
Shafer attended Colorado State University from 2002–2005, studying history and computer science. After acquiring a position at Firaxis he left Colorado State but later completed his undergraduate study at Towson University in 2006 with a BS in History. [10] [11]
Sid Meier's Civilization is a 1991 turn-based strategy 4X video game developed and published by MicroProse. The game was originally developed for MS-DOS running on a PC, and it has undergone numerous revisions for various platforms. The player is tasked with leading an entire human civilization over the course of several millennia by controlling various areas such as urban development, exploration, government, trade, research, and military. The player can control individual units and advance the exploration, conquest and settlement of the game's world. The player can also make such decisions as setting forms of government, tax rates and research priorities. The player's civilization is in competition with other computer-controlled civilizations, with which the player can enter diplomatic relationships that can either end in alliances or lead to war.
Sidney K. Meier is a Canadian-born Swiss-American programmer, designer, and producer of several strategy video games and simulation video games, including the Civilization series. Meier co-founded MicroProse in 1982 with Bill Stealey and is the Director of Creative Development of Firaxis Games, which he co-founded with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds in 1996. For his contributions to the video game industry, Meier was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.
MicroProse is an American video game publisher and developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the Civilization and X-COM series. Most of their internally developed titles were vehicle simulation and strategy games.
Firaxis Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Sparks, Maryland. The company was founded in May 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds following their departure from MicroProse, Meier's earlier venture. They were acquired by Take-Two Interactive in August 2005, and subsequently became part of the publisher's 2K label. Firaxis Games is best known for developing the Civilization and XCOM series, as well as many other games bearing Meier's name.
Brian Reynolds is an American videogame designer who is currently president of Firaxis Games. Reynolds has designed at SecretNewCo, Zynga, Big Huge Games and MicroProse and has been chairman of the International Game Developers Association. He has played a major part in designing a number of multi-million selling games including Civilization II, Rise of Nations, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and FrontierVille. He has also founded or co-founded three game companies, SecretNewCo, Big Huge Games, and Firaxis Games.
Chris Taylor is a Canadian video game designer best known for Total Annihilation and the Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander series and co-founding the now-defunct studio Gas Powered Games. In 2002, GameSpy named him the "30th most influential person in gaming." In 2019, he revealed he has been working on Kanoogi, a cloud-based gaming platform, and developing his next game, Intergalactic Space Empire.
4X is a subgenre of strategy-based computer and board games, and include both turn-based and real-time strategy titles. The gameplay involves building an empire. Emphasis is placed upon economic and technological development, as well as a range of military and non-military routes to supremacy.
Civilization IV is a 4X turn-based strategy computer game and the fourth installment of the Civilization series, and designed by Soren Johnson under the direction of Sid Meier and his video game development studio Firaxis Games. It was released in North America, Europe, and Australia, between October 25 and November 4, 2005, and followed by Civilization V.
Jeffery L. Briggs is the American founder and former President and CEO of Firaxis Games, a video game developer based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, United States. He was previously a game designer at MicroProse but left that company in 1996 along with Sid Meier and Brian Reynolds to form Firaxis Games.
Soren Johnson is an American video game designer and programmer. Johnson's games primarily belong to 4X strategy, with a number of his titles having been critically acclaimed. He is best known for his work as a lead designer on Civilization IV, Offworld Trading Company, and Old World. He also worked on Civilization III as a co-lead designer.
Bradley R. Wardell is an American businessman, programmer, author and AI Engineer. He is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Stardock, a software development and computer games company.
Civilization is a series of turn-based strategy video games, first released in 1991. Sid Meier developed the first game in the series and has had creative input for most of the rest, and his name is usually included in the formal title of these games, such as Sid Meier's Civilization VI. There are six main games in the series, a number of expansion packs and spin-off games, as well as board games inspired by the video game series. The series is considered a formative example of the 4X genre, in which players achieve victory through four routes: "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate".
Sid Meier's Civilization V is a 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games. The game was released on Microsoft Windows on September 21, 2010, on OS X on November 23, 2010, and on Linux on June 10, 2014.
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is a remake of the 1994 turn-based strategy game Sid Meier's Colonization. Players control settlers from one of four European nations – Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands – that are trying to conquer/colonize the New World in the period 1492–1792. The victorious player is the first to build up his colonies and army, declare independence from the mother country, and defeat the military force that the king inevitably sends to crush the rebellion.
Fork Particle is a computer graphics visual effects modeling and software development kit (SDK) developed and sold by Fork Particle, Inc. Fork Particle uses its real time particle system technology to simulate visual effects or particle effects such as CGI explosions, fire, rain, smoke, dust, etc. Fork Particle is used in video games and visual simulation software such as a flight simulator. It has been licensed to game developers for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
At the Gates is a 4X strategy video game by Jon Shafer, the lead designer of Civilization V. Like Civilization V, the game is played on a hex map. Players control a barbarian tribe, and their aim is to accelerate the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The map changes with the seasons, and resources are gradually depleted, forcing the players to migrate their tribe.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is a turn-based strategy, 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games, published by 2K Games and released for Microsoft Windows on October 24, 2014, the Mac App Store on November 27, 2014 and for Linux on December 18, 2014. A spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, Beyond Earth shares much of that game's development team, as well as some concepts which were introduced in the 1999 title. The game's setting is unique to the Civilization series in that it takes place in the future, with mankind traveling through space and founding colonies on extraterrestrial planets after Earth becomes uninhabitable due to an undescribed disaster known as "the Great Mistake".
Sid Meier's Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Firaxis Games, published by 2K Games, and distributed by Take-Two Interactive. The mobile port was published by Aspyr Media. The latest entry into the Civilization series, it was released on Windows and macOS in October 2016, with later ports for Linux in February 2017, iOS in December 2017, Nintendo Switch in November 2018, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2019, and Android in 2020.
Nuclear Gandhi is an Internet meme and urban legend relating to the 1991 video game Civilization, in which there was reportedly a bug that would eventually force the pacifist leader Mahatma Gandhi to become extremely aggressive and make heavy use of nuclear weapons.
Mohawk Games is an American video game developer based in Baltimore, Maryland, known for releasing the strategy video games Offworld Trading Company and Old World.