Arnold Hendrick

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Arnold J. Hendrick[1] (1951[citation needed] – 25 May 2020[2][3]) was an American designer and developer of role-playing games (RPGs), board games and video games.[4] He is best-known for the single-player video RPG Darklands.

Early life[edit]

Hendrick started to play with toy armies while in primary school, designing combat rules for them. In high school, he played board wargames published by Avalon Hill, then switched to tabletop RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons and Traveller in the mid-1970s. He credited his interest in gaming in leading to a bachelor's degree in history.

Tabletop games[edit]

Hendrick began his creative career by developing board games.[5][6] His first game was a historical board wargame created by Ed Smith for Avalon Hill, released as Trireme in 1971.[7]

Hendrick became the publishing director at Heritage Games in 1979, to coordinate non-miniatures production and design designing RPGs and board games.[8] He designed the game Knights and Magick (1980) for Heritage.[9][10] Hendrick also designed the 1980 fantasy games Caverns of Doom,[11] and Crypt of the Sorcerer.[12] He created the Dwarfstar Games division,[citation needed] and developed Barbarian Prince (1981),[13] Demonlord (1981), Star Viking (1982), and Grav Armor (1982).[citation needed] He designed Swordbearer (1982) with Dennis Sustare, a full role-playing game published by Heritage.[14] Hendrick and David Helber designed The Tavern (1983), a set of dungeon floor plans intended to be published by Heritage, but wound up being the sole product published by the Genesis Gaming Products division of World Wide Wargames after Heritage went out of business.[15]

Video games[edit]

Just as console videogames hit the market in 1983, Jennell Jaquays hired Hendrick to work at Coleco Industries.[4][16][17] Hendrick worked at Coleco as Senior Game Designer, and when Coleco imploded during the video game crash of 1983, Hendrick moved to Microprose in 1986 to work as a game designer.[5][6][16] He later became a Senior Designer & Producer.[citation needed] He later became a Senior Designer & Producer.[citation needed] His credits at Microprose include Gunship, F-19 Stealth Fighter, and Silent Service II.[18][16] He worked with Sid Meier on the Commodore 64 versions of Sid Meier's Pirates! doing documentation and scenario design, and also on Red Storm Rising.[6][19] Hendrick collaborated with Meier on 15 different games.[20] Hendrick collaborated with Lawrence Schick on Sword of the Samurai.[21] Henrdick was the chief designer of the 1989 tank simulation M1 Tank Platoon.[22] Hendrick was responsible for the cartridge games section at MicroProse, and in the early 1990s he was involved in moving away from 16-bit game systems towards 32-bit and 64-bit game systems.[16]

It was at Microprose that he designed his best-known game, Darklands.[23][1] The MS-DOS videogame took three years and $3 million to develop — a large amount of money at the time[24] — and the result was a unique and ground-breaking program that was plagued by glitches and bugs. As Andy Chalk noted in PC Gamer, "It wasn't a hit, largely because it was wracked with bugs at release, but featured remarkably deep systems and attention to detail, and genuinely unique, 'realistic' game world: a mythologized version of the 15th-century Holy Roman Empire, in which the creatures and dangers that people of the era believed were real actually are."[2] Critics who could look past the game's glitches called Darklands "one of the best multicharacter FRPGs we've had the delight to play"[25] and "surpass[es] the complexity and historical accuracy seen in any other contemporary computer game."[26] Darklands was a finalist for PC Games' Best Role-playing Game of 1992 (losing to Wizardry VII),[27] and won the 1992 "PC Special Achievement Award" from Game Players magazine. Decades later, Darklands continued to be an inspiration for game development. Todd Howard cited the game as an influence on Bethesda Softworks' popular fantasy role-playing series The Elder Scrolls.[28] Darklands was a direct inspiration for Obsidian Entertainment's 2022 role-playing game Pentiment.[29] In 1995 Al Giovetti of The Computer Show [30] interviewed Hendrick and two other Microprose employees about the creation and play of Darklands [31] just two years after its release. Giovetti names Hendrick the designer and Hendrick describes detailed aspects of the game.

In 1995, Hendrick moved to Interactive Magic, where he was involved in growing and leading the design staff.[32] He also helped to develop American Civil War: From Sumter to Appomattox.[2] Three years later he went to Electronic Arts/Kesmai Studios to develop Air Warrior. He later worked for Forterra Systems, developing the MMORG Super Hero Squad Online.[citation needed] He became a freelance consultant in 2016.[2]

Awards[edit]

At the 1982 Origins Awards, Barbarian Prince, the board game created by Hendricks, won the Charles S. Roberts Award in the category "Best Fantasy Board Game of 1981".[33]

In 2006, almost twenty years after its release, GameSpot included Darklands on their list of "The Greatest Games of All Time".[34]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Barton, Matt; Hendrick, Arnold J. (2020). "Arnold Hendrick on Darklands". In von Lünen, Alexander; Lewis, Katherine J.; Litherland, Benjamin; Cullum, Pat (eds.). Historia Ludens: The Playing Historian. New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780429345616-14. ISBN 978-0-367-36386-4. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b c d Chalk, Andy (2020-06-01). "Arnold Hendrick, creator of influential '90s RPG Darklands, has died". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 2024-01-30. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  3. ^ Francis, Bryant (2020-05-29). "Obituary: Darklands creator Arnold Hendrick". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2020-05-30. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  4. ^ a b Costello, Matthew J. (January 1988). "Gaming". Asimov's Science Fiction. Vol. 12, no. 1 #126. pp. 171–172. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ a b "Fantastic Voyages IV: The Whirlwind Tour Inside the Entertainment Industry Continues". Computer Gaming World. No. 60. June 1989. p. 49. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ a b c "Darklands—Microprose's Rollenspiel Debüt" [Darklands—Microprose's role-playing game debut]. Play Time [de] (in German). Computec. August–September 1992. p. 9. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ Lindsay, Robert (September 1996). "Trireme". Paper Wars. No. 26. pp. 6–7.
  8. ^ Appelcline, Shannon (2014). Adamus, John (ed.). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Silver Spring, Maryland: Evil Hat Productions. pp. 309. ISBN 978-1-61317-075-5. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ Arnaudo, Marco (2018). Kapell, Matthew Wilhelm (ed.). Storytelling in the Modern Board Game: Narrative Trends from the Late 1960s to Today. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 56. ISBN 978-1-4766-6951-9. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Arnaudo, Marco (2018). Kapell, Matthew Wilhelm (ed.). Storytelling in the Modern Board Game: Narrative Trends from the Late 1960s to Today. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 93. ISBN 978-1-4766-6951-9. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ Arnaudo, Marco (2018). Kapell, Matthew Wilhelm (ed.). Storytelling in the Modern Board Game: Narrative Trends from the Late 1960s to Today. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 103. ISBN 978-1-4766-6951-9. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Arnaudo, Marco (2018). Kapell, Matthew Wilhelm (ed.). Storytelling in the Modern Board Game: Narrative Trends from the Late 1960s to Today. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 104. ISBN 978-1-4766-6951-9. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ Arnaudo, Marco (2018). Kapell, Matthew Wilhelm (ed.). Storytelling in the Modern Board Game: Narrative Trends from the Late 1960s to Today. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 115. ISBN 978-1-4766-6951-9. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ Appelcline, Shannon (2014). Adamus, John (ed.). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Silver Spring, Maryland: Evil Hat Productions. pp. 311. ISBN 978-1-61317-075-5. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ Appelcline, Shannon (2014). Adamus, John (ed.). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Silver Spring, Maryland: Evil Hat Productions. pp. 312. ISBN 978-1-61317-075-5. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  16. ^ a b c d Morrison, Mike (1994). The Magic of Interactive Entertainment. Indianapolis: Sams Publishing. p. 128. ISBN 0-672-30456-2. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ Appelcline, Shannon (2014). Adamus, John (ed.). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Silver Spring, Maryland: Evil Hat Productions. pp. 121. ISBN 978-1-61317-075-5. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  18. ^ Stealy, Bill (27 May 2020). "In Memory of Arnold Hendrick". iEntertainment Network. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  19. ^ Elmenreich, Wilfried; Gabriel, Martin (2019). "Global History, Facts and Fiction in Early Computer Games: Hanse, Seven Cities of Gold, Sid Meier's Pirates!". In Denk, Natalie; Serada, Alesha; Pfeiffer, Alexander; Cover, Thomas Wernbacher (eds.). A Ludic Society. Hamburg: Edition Donau-Universität Krems. University for Continuing Education Krems. ISBN 978-3-903150-72-0. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Google Books.
  20. ^ Natsume, Christopher (2023-04-07). "Game Influencer: The Career of Arnold Hendrick". The Strong National Museum of Play. Archived from the original on 2024-01-30. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  21. ^ DeMaria, Rusel (2019). High Score! Expanded: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games 3rd Edition. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-138-36720-3. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Google Books.
  22. ^ "Wir Machen Den Weg Frei" [We Clear the Way]. PC Player (in German). October 1998. pp. 81–83, 87. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Internet Archive.
  23. ^ Tringham, Neal (2015). Science Fiction Video Games. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-4822-0389-9. Retrieved 2024-01-30 – via Google Books.
  24. ^ Barton, Matt (16 October 2010). "Matt Chat 78: Arnold Hendrick Interview Pt. 1". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  25. ^ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia & Lesser, Kirk (February 1993). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (190): 55–60.
  26. ^ Giovetti, Alfred C. (May 1993). "Darklands". Compute! (152): 102.
  27. ^ Keizer, Gregg; Yee, Bernie; Kawamoto, Wayne; Crotty, Cameron; Olafson, Peter; Brenesal, Barry (January 1993). "Best of PCGames '92". PC Games: 20–22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32.
  28. ^ Belfiglio, Alexander "Ghostfig101" (July 9, 2009). "15 Years of The Elder Scrolls Series". Planet Elder Scrolls. IGN. Archived from the original on August 8, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2011. The main inspiration for The Elder Scrolls comes from games like Ultima Underworld, Darklands, and Legends of Valour. And of course, D&D.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (2022-06-12). "What Is Obsidian's Pentiment?". IGN. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
  30. ^ "The Computer Show". Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  31. ^ "Darklands Interview with Arnold Hendrick". The Computer Sow. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  32. ^ Hendrick, Arnold (1998-03-20). "Hiring Game Designers". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2012-05-12. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  33. ^ "1981 Charles S. Roberts Best Fantasy Board Game Winner". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  34. ^ "The Greatest Games of All Time". Archived from the original on February 8, 2006. Retrieved March 28, 2006.
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