Kevin Saunders (video game developer)

Last updated
Kevin D. Saunders
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s) Game designer, Video game producer
Known for Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

Kevin D. Saunders is an American video game designer and producer, best known for his roles in developing Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (Producer and Lead Designer), Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (Producer), [1] and Torment: Tides of Numenera (Project Director). [2] [3]

Contents

Career

Saunders graduated with a Masters of Engineering from Cornell University, and began his career at Nexon, as director and lead designer on Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds and Shattered Galaxy , which won multiple awards at the 2001 Independent Games Festival. [4] He went on to work as a designer at Westwood Studios (on Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour and Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth), before becoming a senior designer and producer at Obsidian Entertainment (on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, [5] Mask of the Betrayer , Storm of Zehir , Aliens: Crucible, and Dungeon Siege III ). He next joined inXile Entertainment, where he served in a production role on Wasteland 2 before helping Torment: Tides of Numenera become, at the time, the most successful Kickstarter ever. [6] He served as project director on Torment before turning to Nexon, where he served as Head of Studio on the company's Nebula project. His last game work was for Arcanity, providing story, design, and production assistance on Tanzia. [7] [8]

In addition to this work, Saunders served as Creative Director at Alelo, where he led the development of an award-winning language-learning RPG. Saunders also authored a college text on game interface design (Game Development Essentials: Game Interface Design). [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monte Cook</span> American writer and game designer

Monte Cook is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Fargo</span> American video game designer

Frank Brian Fargo is an American video game designer, producer, programmer and executive, and founder of Interplay Entertainment, inXile Entertainment and Robot Cache.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Avellone</span> American video game designer

Chris Avellone is an American video game designer and comic book writer. He worked for Interplay and Obsidian Entertainment before working as a freelancer. He is best known for his work on role-playing video games such as Planescape: Torment and the Fallout series.

Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minsc</span> Fictional character from Baldurs Gate

Minsc is a fictional character in the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing video games developed by BioWare. He originated from the pen-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons sessions held by the lead designer of Baldur's Gate, James Ohlen, and was expanded upon by the game's lead writer, Lukas Kristjanson. His video game debut was in Baldur's Gate as a companion character who can join the player's party. He also appears in the sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, the expansion, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, the 2015 game Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, the 2023 game Baldur's Gate III, as well as in promotions relating to the titles. Minsc is voiced by Jim Cummings in his original video game appearances, and by Matt Mercer in Baldur's Gate III.

inXile Entertainment American video game developer

inXile Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Tustin, California. Specializing in role-playing video games, inXile was founded in 2002 by Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo. The studio produced the fantasy games The Bard's Tale and Hunted: The Demon's Forge, along with various games for Flash and iOS such as Fantastic Contraption in its first decade of development. In 2014, inXile released the post-apocalyptic game Wasteland 2, following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Following the game's critical success, the studio went on to raise a then-record US$4 million on Kickstarter to develop Torment: Tides of Numenera, a spiritual successor to Interplay's Planescape: Torment. The studio was purchased by Microsoft and became part of Xbox Game Studios in 2018, just as they were developing Wasteland 3, which they released in 2020. The studio is currently developing Clockwork Revolution for Windows and Xbox Series X/S.

<i>Neverwinter Nights 2</i> 2006 video game

Neverwinter Nights 2 is a role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari Interactive. It is the second installment in the Neverwinter Nights series and is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Neverwinter Nights 2 utilizes an adaptation of the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition rules. Players create player characters to represent themselves in the game, using the same character creation rules as found in the Dungeons & Dragons game. They may gain the assistance of additional party members, and they eventually acquire a keep that can be used as a base of operations. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting—in and around the city of Neverwinter. The story is mostly unrelated to Neverwinter Nights and follows the journey of an orphaned adventurer investigating a group of mysterious artifacts known as "silver shards" and their connection to an ancient, evil spirit known as the King of Shadows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Sawyer</span> American video game designer

Joshua Eric Sawyer, more commonly known and credited as Josh Sawyer, J.E. Sawyer, or JSawyer, is an American video game designer, known for his work on role-playing video games.

Colin McComb is an American writer and game designer, who is best known for his work designing the Planescape setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and as the creative lead for the role-playing video game Torment: Tides of Numenera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason D. Anderson</span> American video game developer

Jason D. Anderson, usually credited as Jason Anderson, is a video game developer. He started out as a contract artist for Interplay on the USCF Chess project. He was later hired to work on Fallout for which he became Lead Technical Artist, working on the original game design, interface, and quests. After working on the prototype design for Fallout 2, Anderson left with fellow developers Timothy Cain and Leonard Boyarsky to found Troika Games. After Troika Games collapsed, Anderson left the game industry for a short time to sell real estate.

<i>Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer</i> 2007 video game

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer is a role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari Interactive. It is an expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights 2. It was released in 2007 for Microsoft Windows in North America, Europe, and Australia. Like the first game, Mask of the Betrayer is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the fantasy tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and employs the 3.5 edition rules.

<i>Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate</i> 2009 video game

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Neverwinter Nights 2. It was developed by Ossian Studios and published by Atari Interactive on April 29, 2009. The player creates a character and controls it, along with a group of three pre-designed companions, journeying through the game world. The gameplay is very similar to that of the base game. Mysteries of Westgate also includes new monsters, music, and other tools, which can be used by players to create their own Neverwinter Nights 2 levels.

<i>Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir</i> Expansion pack

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Neverwinter Nights 2, developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari Interactive. It was released in late 2008 in North America, Europe, and Australia. Like previous entries in the Neverwinter Nights series, Storm of Zehir is based on the paper and pencil fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, and uses the game's 3.5 edition ruleset.

Brian Mitsoda is an American video game designer and writer best known for his work on the 2004 game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. He is the founder of DoubleBear Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Ziets</span> American video game designer

George Ziets is an American video game designer best known as the Creative Lead for the 2007 PC game Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer.

<i>Wasteland 2</i> 2014 video game

Wasteland 2 is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Deep Silver. It is the sequel to 1988's Wasteland, and was successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter. After the postponement of the original release date from October 2013, it was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux in September 2014. An enhanced version of the game, named Wasteland 2: Director's Cut, was released in October 2015, including versions for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie VanderMeer</span> American video game designer

Annie VanderMeer is an American video game designer specializing in role-playing video games, best known for her narrative work on 2021's Unpacking and her design work on the 2012's Guild Wars 2.

<i>Torment: Tides of Numenera</i> Role-playing video game

Torment: Tides of Numenera is a role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Techland Publishing for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is a spiritual successor to 1999's Planescape: Torment.

<i>Numenera</i> 2013 Science fantasy tabletop role-playing game

Numenera is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in the far distant future, written by Monte Cook, published in 2013.

References

  1. ↑ Gillen, Kieron (19 June 2008). "Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Interview". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  2. ↑ Game Banshee (27 March 2013). "Torment: Tides of Numenera Interview". Game Banshee. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  3. ↑ Kuchera, Ben (17 March 2013). "The men who believed in, and risked their careers for, a new Torment". Penny Arcade. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  4. ↑ Saunders, Kevin (April 2005). "Jedi Mind Tricks: Choice and consequence in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II", Game Developer12 (4): 30–36.
  5. ↑ Carless, Simon (April 2005). "Money hats: Fett's Vette", Game Developer12 (4): 2.
  6. ↑ Peel, Jeremy (4 March 2013). "InXile to fund Torment sequel via Kickstarter; Chris Avellone sends stickynotes of endorsement". PCGamesN. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Kevin D. Saunders Video Game Credits and Biography". MobyGames. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  8. ↑ Saunders, Kevin (7 January 2020). "LinkedIn". LinkedIn.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.