List of game designers
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- This page primarily is meant to list non-video game designers. Please see list of computer and video game industry people for a list of well-known video game designers.
A game designer is a person who invents games at the conceptual level. Most game designers are "unsung"; for example, no one knows who invented Chess or Hearts.
However, there are many public figures in game design, including commercial game developers and game-inventing mathematicians.
Some game designers include:
Role-playing games designers
- Salem Alanzi
- Dave Arneson - Co-designer of Dungeons and Dragons, an early influential role-playing game
- Frank Chadwick - Co-founder of Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) and designer of over 50 war and role-playing games, including Twilight 2000 and the Assault series
- Troy Christensen - Designer of Phantasm Adventures, a 1980s role-playing game published in Japanese and English
- John Horton Conway
- Monte Cook
- Jim Dunnigan - Founder of SPI Games and designer of over 100 wargames, including the PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader system
- James Ernest - president and lead game designer for Cheapass Games
- Richard Garfield - collectible card game (Magic: The Gathering) and board game designer
- Andrew Greenberg
- Ed Greenwood
- Gary Gygax - Co-designer of Dungeons and Dragons, an early influential role-playing game
- Larry Harris
- Stieg Hedlund - Started out in pen-and-paper games before moving on to electronic games
- Steve Jackson (UK)
- Jeff Kinney
- Albert Lamorisse
- Andrew Looney
- Marc Miller Co-founder of GDW and designer / writer of Traveller and several board games
- Mark Rein-Hagen
- Mike Selinker
- C.A. Suleiman
- Jonathan Tweet
- Michael J. Varhola
- Mark H. Walker
- Jordan Weisman
- Tom Wham
- Skip Williams
Word game designers
Board game designers
- William Attia (Caylus, Caylus Magna Carta)
- Alfred Butts (Scrabble)
- Milton Bradley (The Checkered Game of Life), founder of Milton Bradley Company
- Inka Brand (Rajas of the Ganges, Village, Exit Series)
- Markus Brand (Rajas of the Ganges, Village, Exit Series)
- Richard Breese (Aladdin's Dragons, Keythedral, Reef Encounter)
- Kris Burm (Batik, GIPF, ZÈRTZ, DVONN, TAMSK, YINSH, PÜNCT)
- Allan B. Calhamer (Diplomacy)
- Leo Colovini (Clans, Carolus Magnus, Cartagena, Doge, The Bridges of Shangri-La, Magna Grecia, Inkognito)
- Julian Courtland-Smith (Escape from Atlantis)
- Franz-Benno Delonge (Big City, Manila, Dos Rios, TransAmerica, Fjords)
- Rudiger Dorn (The Traders of Genoa, Louis XIV, Goa)
- Stefan Dorra (For Sale, Pick Picnic, Medina, Tonga Bonga, Linie 1, Turn the Tide, Intrige)
- Bruno Faidutti (Citadels, Mystery of the Abbey, Terra)
- Friedemann Friese (Power Grid, Fearsome Floors, Fresh Fish)
- Mac Gerdts (Imperial, Antike)
- Paul J. Gruen
- Elizabeth Hargrave (Wingspan)
- Dirk Henn (Alhambra, Atlantic Star, Metro, Wallenstein, Timbuktu)
- Steve Jackson (Ogre, The Fantasy Trip, Car Wars, GURPS, Hacker, Illuminati)
- Philippe Keyaerts (Evo, Vinci)
- Michael Kiesling (Azul, Heaven & Ale, Tikal, Vikings)
- Reiner Knizia (Ra, Modern Art, Tigris and Euphrates, Samurai, Lost Cities, Schotten Totten, Blue Moon, The Lord of the Rings)
- Wolfgang Kramer (El Grande, Java, Mexica, Tikal, Princes of Florence, Torres)
- Alan R. Moon (Capitol, Elfenland, Union Pacific, Ticket to Ride)
- Christian T. Petersen (Twilight Imperium, A Game of Thrones (board game), World of Warcraft (board game))
- Paul Randles (Pirate's Cove, Key Largo)
- Alex Randolph (Twixt, Raj, Geister, Enchanted Forest, Inkognito, Ricochet Robots)
- Ken Rolston, part of the core team at West End Games
- Charles S. Roberts (Tactics II (first commercial board wargame)), founder of Avalon Hill
- Uwe Rosenberg (Agricola, Bohnanza)
- Sid Sackson (Acquire, Can't Stop, Kohle, Kies & Knete)
- Michael Schacht (Web of Power, Dschunke, Industria, Hansa)
- Andreas Schmidt (Heaven & Ale)
- Karl-Heinz Schmiel (Attila, Die Macher)
- Emiliano Sciarra (Bang!)
- Andreas Seyfarth (Manhattan, Puerto Rico)
- Daniel Stahl (Pirate's Cove)
- Vital Lacerda (Vinhos, CO2, Kanban, The Gallerist)
- Gertrude Strohm ("Popping the Question"; "Novel Fortune Telling")
- Jerry Taylor (Hammer of the Scots, Crusader Rex)
- Klaus Teuber (The Settlers of Catan, Adel Verpflichtet, Entdecker, Löwenherz)
- Martin Wallace (Liberte, Age of Steam, Struggle of Empires, Princes of the Renaissance)
- Klaus-Jürgen Wrede (Carcassonne)