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Guido Henkel

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Guido Henkel
Henkel in 2011
Born (1964-09-09) September 9, 1964 (age 60)
Stuttgart, West Germany
NationalityAmerican
OccupationVideo game designer
Years active1986–present
EmployerAttic Entertainment Software
Websitehttp://guidohenkel.com/

Guido Henkel (born September 9, 1964, in Stuttgart, Germany) is a German-American video game designer. He is most well known for his work on Planescape: Torment and for creating the Realms of Arkania series of video games.

Early life

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Henkel was born on September 9, 1964, in Stuttgart, Germany. He modeled a working microprocessor in high school before getting interested in video game development.[1]

Career

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Henkel focused on programming out of school, and formed his first company, Dragonware Games.[2] Henkel began making text adventure games, and then moved onto creating role-playing games.[3] After creating a series of games for a number of different early personal computers, he landed a publishing deal with Ariolasoft.[citation needed] After releasing a couple of games with the company, Henkel left and formed Attic Entertainment Software with two friends which published games for a number of early computer platforms.[citation needed] In 1992, Attic published Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, which, according to Die Zeit's Nicole Lange, was a commercial and critical success in Germany but found weak sales worldwide outside of Germany.[4] After working with Attic on two more games, Henkel moved to the United States in 1997.[5]

Henkel joined Interplay Productions, where he was initially assigned to their role-playing development company Black Isle Studios, which is where he served as a senior producer for Planescape: Torment.[6] While working on the game, Henkel served as the model for the game's box cover.[7] After having worked on a more fantasy-themed RPG series in Realms of Arkania and other fantasy games for over a decade, Henkel noted in an interview when Planescape came out that he "felt encumbered by [fantasy's] limitations and people's expectations."[6] He noted in a retrospective interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun that his role on Realms had involved him having his hand in everything from the art and programming to project management, while his producer role on Planescape was far more limited to administrative project management pieces.[7] Henkel also worked on Fallout and began work on Neverwinter Nights before leaving Interplay in late 1999.[3]

After leaving Interplay, Henkel created a home video review site, DVD Review.[8] In 2001, Henkel joined a new company eMusement as a Vice President.[9] eMusement was slated to develop a game with SquareSoft, but after six months, the project was cancelled and the company shut down.[citation needed] Henkel pivoted to working with mobile phone carriers to develop games to sell directly to consumers on their phones from 2002 to 2011.[citation needed] Henkel in 2013 was helping to lead a team to create a game called Deathfire: Ruins of Nevermore, but the project was canceled after it failed to reach its Kickstarter goal and further funding was not enough to keep development going; the team refunded all pledges.[7][10] Henkel currently works as the Principal Software Engineer for the Intellivision Amico.[11]

Games

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Game title Year Developer
FlipIt! 2003 G3 Studios
Video Poker Pro 2002 G3 Studios
Black Jack Pro 2002 G3 Studios
Planescape: Torment 1999 Interplay Productions
The Ultimate Wizardy Archives 1998 Interplay Productions
Herrscher der Meere 1997 Attic Entertainment Software
Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva 1996 Attic Entertainment Software
Fears 1995 Attic Entertainment Software
Realms of Arkania: Star Trail 1994 Attic Entertainment Software
Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny 1992 Attic Entertainment Software
Drachen von Laas 1991 Attic Entertainment Software
The Oath 1991 Attic Entertainment Software
Spirit of Adventure 1991 Attic Entertainment Software
Lords of Doom 1990 Attic Entertainment Software
Exolon 1989 Hewson Consultants
Ooze: Als die Geister mürbe wurden… 1989 Dragonware Games
Hellowoon: Das Geheimnis des Zauberstabs 1987 Dragonware Games

Music

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Herrscher der Meere 1997 Attic Entertainment Software[12]
Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva 1996 Attic Entertainment Software[13]
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games 1996 Sir-Tech[14]
Realms of Arkania: Star Trail 1994 Attic Entertainment Software[15]
Drachen von Laas 1991 Attic Entertainment Software[16]
Spirit of Adventure 1991 Attic Entertainment Software[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Atari Legend Interview". www.atarilegend.com. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  2. ^ "Dragonware Games". adventure.if-legends.org. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  3. ^ a b "Guido Henkel - Interview". RPG Watch. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  4. ^ Lange, Nicole (2011-09-23). "Zu deutsch für den Rest der Welt". Die Zeit. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24.
  5. ^ "GameWEEK Magazine Interview 1999". www.guidohenkel.com. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  6. ^ a b "Planescape: Torment Interview". IGN. 1998-09-21. Archived from the original on 2003-11-06. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  7. ^ a b c Walker, John (2013-11-13). "Interview: Guido Henkel On Deathfire: Ruins Of Nethermore". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  8. ^ "Return Magazine Interview 2017". 2017-08-01.
  9. ^ "Guido Henkel (eMusement) Mini-Interview". IGN. 2001-02-15. Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  10. ^ "Thank you for all your support". Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore official website. 2013-12-21. Archived from the original on 2014-03-26. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  11. ^ "Guido Henkel Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  12. ^ "Moby Games: Herrscher der Meere". www.mobygames. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  13. ^ "Moby Games: Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva". www.mobygames. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  14. ^ "Moby Games: Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games". www.mobygames. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  15. ^ "Moby Games: Realms of Arkania: Star Trail". www.mobygames. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  16. ^ "Moby Games: Drachen von Laas". www.mobygames. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  17. ^ "Moby Games: Spirit of Adventure". www.mobygames. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
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