Nicky Robinson | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Education | University of California Santa Cruz Pomona College |
Occupation(s) | Software developer Video game programmer |
Years active | 1985-2018 |
Known for | Mail Order Monsters Army Men |
Nicky Robinson is an American video game programmer and software developer. [1] Her career spanned over thirty years, extending back to titles such as Star Control and Mail Order Monsters , which she worked on with Evan Robinson and game designer Paul Reiche III. [2] Robinson later worked at 3DO as a game programmer and on the Android software as a release manager on the Skype team at Microsoft. [3]
Robinson helped start the Game Developer's Conference as an offshoot of the Journal of Computer Game Design. [4] She later served in the board of the conference.
Robinson's work has been published by Electronic Arts, Activision, Accolade, and 3DO.
Robinson had been active in the organization and leadership of Women in Games International, a group dedicated to involving more women in professional game development and to advancing their careers. [5]
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs.
A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as programmers, designers, artists, etc. Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games.
Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game Castle Wolfenstein, and is the third installment in the Wolfenstein series. In Wolfenstein 3D, the player assumes the role of Allied spy William "B.J." Blazkowicz during World War II as he escapes from the Nazi German prison Castle Wolfenstein and carries out a series of crucial missions against the Nazis. The player traverses each of the game's levels to find an elevator to the next level or kill a final boss, fighting Nazi soldiers, dogs, and other enemies with knives and a variety of guns.
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, also referred to as simply 3DO, is a home video game console developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the company itself, but a set of specifications, originally designed by Dave Needle and Robert J. Mical of New Technologies Group, that could be licensed by third parties. Panasonic produced the first models in 1993, and further renditions of the hardware were released afterwards by GoldStar, Sanyo, Creative Labs, and Samsung Electronics in 1997.
Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV is an action-strategy video game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Accolade. It was originally released for MS-DOS and Amiga in 1990, followed by ports for the Sega Genesis and additional platforms in 1991. The story is set during an interstellar war between two space alien factions, with humanity joining the Alliance of Free Stars to defeat the invading Ur-Quan Hierarchy. Players can choose to play as either faction, each with seven different alien starships which are used during the game's combat and strategy sections.
Danielle Bunten Berry, formerly known as Dan Bunten, was an American game designer and programmer, known for the 1983 game M.U.L.E., one of the first influential multiplayer video games, and 1984's The Seven Cities of Gold.
Paul Reiche III is an American game designer. His career started in the pen and paper RPG industry, where he collaborated with artist Erol Otus on games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Gamma World. He then transitioned into video games, working with Jon Freeman to establish Free Fall Associates and developed titles like Mail Order Monsters, World Tour Golf, and Archon. Later, he left Free Fall to establish Toys for Bob with Fred Ford. Their first collaboration resulted in Star Control. After a successful sequel, they declined to make a third installment, instead focusing on other projects including the successful Skylanders franchise.
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Mail Order Monsters is an action-strategy computer game created by Paul Reiche III, Evan Robinson, and Nicky Robinson. It was published by Electronic Arts for the Commodore 64 in 1985, then released for Atari 8-bit family in 1986. Players create monsters which they can use to battle multiplayer or against computer-controlled opponents.
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Anne Westfall is an American video game programmer and software developer, known for 1983's Archon: The Light and the Dark, originally written for the Atari 8-bit family. She is married to fellow game developer Jon Freeman. Together they founded Free Fall Associates.
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Toys for Bob, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. The studio originated as a partnership between Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. They had separately attended the University of California, Berkeley in the late 1970s, before entering the video game industry in the early 1980s. They later met through mutual friends in 1988, when Reiche was seeking a programmer to develop Star Control for Accolade. This led to the creation of their partnership in 1989 and the debut of Star Control in 1990. The release was considered a landmark science fiction game and led to the 1992 sequel Star Control II, which greatly expanded the series' story and scale. Star Control II is celebrated as one of the greatest games of all time and is featured on several "best of" lists for music, writing, world design, and character design.
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Kenji Eno was a Japanese musician and video game designer. He gained a reputation as a maverick during the mid-1990s for creating unorthodox games like Real Sound and is perhaps best remembered today for his rebellious marketing techniques. Outside of his homeland he was best known for his survival horror video games, D and Enemy Zero. Apart from creating video games, Eno was also a well-regarded electronic musician and he created the scores for several of his games. Eno founded the video game development companies EIM, Warp, and From Yellow to Orange. He also worked in a variety of fields apart from video games and music including the automotive, cellphone, tobacco, and hotel industries. Eno died on February 20, 2013, due to heart failure brought on by hypertension.
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