Sid Meier
| Sid Meier | |
|---|---|
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| Born | February 24, 1954 Sarnia, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Game designer |
| Years active | 1982—present |
| Employer | Firaxis Games |
| Known for | Civilization series |
| Spouse | Susan Meier |
| Children | Ryan Meier |
Sidney K. "Sid" Meier (born February 24, 1954) is a Canadian-American programmer and designer of several popular computer strategy games, most notably Civilization. He has won accolades for his contributions to the computer games industry. Meier is a Director of Creative Development for computer game developer Firaxis Games, which he co-founded with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds in 1996.
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[edit] Early life
Meier was born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.[citation needed] He graduated from the University of Michigan.[citation needed]
[edit] Career
Meier founded MicroProse together with Bill Stealey in 1982.[1] MicroProse initially developed flight simulator video games, such as F-15 Strike Eagle and F-19 Stealth Fighter. In 1987, the company released Sid Meier's Pirates!, which also began a trend of placing Meier's name in the titles of his games. Meier later explained that the inclusion of his name was because of the dramatic departure in the design of Pirates! compared to the company's earlier games. Stealey decided that it would improve the company's branding, believing that it would make those who purchased the flight simulators more likely to play Pirates!. After the release of F-19 Stealth Fighter, Meier decided to focus on developing strategy games. He later said, "Everything I thought was cool about a flight simulator had gone into that game." Inspired by SimCity and Empire!, Meier created Railroad Tycoon and later the game series for which he is most widely recognized, Civilization,[2] although he designed only the first installment. Meier eventually left MicroProse and in 1996 founded Firaxis Games along with veteran designer and gaming executive Jeff Briggs. Today Firaxis makes strategy games, many of which are follow-ups to Meier titles, such as Civilization V and Pirates!. In 1996 he was awarded US Patent 5,496,962 for a "System for Real-Time Music Composition and Synthesis" used in a product called "CPU Bach".[3]
Meier is not always the main designer on titles that carry his name. For instance, Brian Reynolds has been credited as the primary designer behind Sid Meier's Civilization II, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and Sid Meier's Colonization,[4][5] while Jeff Briggs designed Sid Meier's Civilization III, Soren Johnson led Sid Meier's Civilization IV and Jon Shafer Sid Meier's Civilization V. Currently Meier's role appears to be that of a creative director, simultaneously contributing to multiple projects.[citation needed]
Meier worked with a team on a dinosaur themed game starting early 2000, but announced in an online development diary on January 24, 2001 that the game had been shelved. Despite trying various approaches, including turn-based and real-time gameplay, he said he found no way to make the concept fun enough. In August 2005, Meier said, "We've been nonstop busy making other games over the past several years, so the dinosaur game remains on the shelf. However, I do love the idea of a dinosaur game and would like to revisit it when I have some time."[6]
[edit] Awards
In 1999, Meier became the second person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame.[7] The first to receive that honor was Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo.
In 2008, Meier received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developer's Conference.[8]
Meier has been ranked 2nd in IGN's list of Top 100 Game Creators of All Time.[9]
The people search company PeekYou claims Meier has the largest digital footprint of any game developer.[10]
[edit] Personal life
Meier currently lives in Hunt Valley, Maryland with his wife, Susan, and son, Ryan. He met his wife at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cockeysville, where they both sing in the choir.[11]
[edit] Games
[edit] 1980s
| Game | Release year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spitfire Ace | 1982 | The first project in which Sid played a major role in the game creation stage. |
| HellCat Ace | 1982 | |
| Floyd of the Jungle | 1982 | |
| NATO Commander | 1984 | |
| Solo Flight | 1984 | |
| Kennedy Approach | 1985 | |
| F-15 Strike Eagle | 1985 | One of the first combat flight simulators.[citation needed] |
| Silent Service | 1985 | A World War II submarine simulation game, and Meier's first foray out of flight sims. |
| Crusade in Europe | 1985 | |
| Decision in the Desert | 1985 | |
| Conflict in Vietnam | 1986 | |
| Gunship | 1986 | |
| Sid Meier's Pirates! | 1987 | |
| Red Storm Rising | 1988 | Naval warfare game based on the novel by Tom Clancy |
| F-19 Stealth Fighter | 1988 | |
| F-15 Strike Eagle II | 1989 | |
| Sword of the Samurai | 1989[12] |
[edit] 1990s
| Game | Release year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Covert Action | 1990 | |
| Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon | 1990 | A business simulation game that paints the early development of railroads in the United States and Europe, a time when competition between railroad companies was very fierce. With the release of Sid Meier's Railroads!, this series now has four installments. |
| Sid Meier's Civilization | 1991 | Meier's most successful game franchise to date. It has lived through several versions (see below) and sold over 6 million copies. This game is a turn-based strategy game. |
| Pirates! Gold | 1993 | |
| C.P.U. Bach | 1993 | 3DO Console exclusive interactive music-generating program. |
| Sid Meier's Colonization | 1994 | A turn-based strategy game themed on the early European colonization of the New World, starting in 1492 and lasting until the age of independence in 1850. To achieve victory in this game, the player must declare independence, and win in a revolutionary war against their mother country in Europe (France, England, Netherlands, or Spain). |
| Sid Meier's Civilization II | 1996 | Follow-up to Sid Meier's successful Civilization; Brian Reynolds was lead designer on the game. |
| Magic: The Gathering | 1997 | This would be the last game that Sid Meier worked on for MicroProse. |
| Sid Meier's Gettysburg! | 1997 | Sid Meier's first real-time tactical game. |
| Sid Meier's Antietam! | 1998 | Sid Meier's Gettysburg and Antietam are part of his Civil War set. |
| Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri | 1999 | Brian Reynolds was lead designer on this adaptation of Civilization to an outer space theme. Alpha Centauri is set in a futuristic setting on an alien world, with ideological factions substituting for civilizations. This is a much more versatile version of Civilization, featuring economics and unique military customization, as well as diplomacy. |
[edit] 2000s
| Game | Release year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sid Meier's Civilization III | 2001 | Jeff Briggs designed the third installment of the series, with more complex rules, graphics and gameplay. New features include expanded diplomacy (much like Alpha Centauri); the introduction of "culture" as a tool for domination; and "strategic resources" required for trade and to produce certain units. Sales of this installment made the Civilization series the best selling PC series to date. |
| Sid Meier's SimGolf | 2002 | A golfing simulation in which the player built their own golf course and played it against computer players. The game was co-created by Maxis. Not to be confused with Maxis' 1996 title SimGolf. |
| Sid Meier's Pirates! | 2004 | Follow-up to the acclaimed Pirates! game from 1987, updating the graphics and featuring some entirely new gameplay elements and an all new ballroom dancing segment. |
| Sid Meier's Civilization IV | 2005 | Designed by Soren Johnson. A full 3D engine replaces the isometric maps of Civilization II and III. This installment makes "Religion" (present in earlier versions only as a means of population pacification and control) a tool of domination, alongside the Culture and Diplomacy elements from previous incarnations. |
| Sid Meier's Railroads! | 2006 | When Take 2 shut down PopTop Software and folded it into Firaxis, Meier once again became responsible for the Railroad Tycoon series, and this is billed as the sequel to Railroad Tycoon 3. |
| Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | 2008 | A seventh generation console edition of Civilization. This is the only Civilization title available for seventh generation consoles. |
| Sid Meier's Civilization IV: War of Two Cities | One of three Sid Meier properties to be launched by Oasys Mobile, this Sid Meier property takes the major civilizations and pits them against one another in a real time one on one battle to take over the opponent's major city. The game was developed by Floodgate Entertainment. | |
| Sid Meier's Pirates! Mobile | The game was developed and published by Oasys Mobile and was led by one of the original programmers for Pirates! Gold. | |
| Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Mobile | Developed by Blue Heat and published by Oasys Mobile. This version is based on the Sid Meier classic game series; the mobile version allows players to build their own transportation empire. | |
| Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization | 2008 | A 2008 remake of the 1994 Colonization, and a standalone game based on the Civilization IV engine. |
[edit] 2010s
| Game | Release year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sid Meier's Civilization V | 2010 | Jon Shafer was the lead designer of the game. New features include Social Policy (which replaces "Civics" system), unit stacking change, City-States and fully animated leaders. |
| Sid Meier's CivWorld | 2011 | A massively multiplayer online game released for Facebook. |
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- ^ Plunkett, Luke (August 31, 2011). "Remembering The House That Civilization Built". Kotaku. Gawker Media. http://kotaku.com/5836022/remembering-the-house-that-civilization-built.
- ^ Rouse III, Richard (2005). Game Design: Theory & Practice Second Edition. Wordware Publishing. pp. 20-39. ISBN 1556229127.
- ^ US A system for automatically generating musical compositions on demand one after another without duplication ... in a variety of genres and forms so that concerts based on generated compositions will have a varied mix of pieces incorporated therein. 5496962, Meier, Sidney K. & Jeffery L. Briggs, "System for Real-Time Music Composition and Synthesis", issued 5 March 1996
- ^ Interview with Brian Reynolds from GameSpy
- ^ "The Sid Meier Legacy: Sid Meier's Colonization" from GameSpot
- ^ Firaxis Games: Community: Ask Sid from Firaxis' official website
- ^ "Special Awards - Sid Meier, Firaxis Games". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. http://www.interactive.org/special_awards/details.asp?idSpecialAwards=8. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
- ^ "Game Developer's Choise Online Awards – Sid Meier". Game Developers Conference. UBM TechWeb. http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/pr/pr_2008_0108.htm. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
- ^ "IGN - 2. Sid Meier". IGN. News Corporation. http://games.ign.com/top-100-game-creators/2.html. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
- ^ "The PeekScores of the Biggest Names in the History of Video Games". PeekYou. http://score.peekyou.com/the-peekscores-of-the-biggest-names-in-the-history-of-video-games/. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ "Game Boy" article about Meier from Baltimore magazine (Typeset version in PDF)
- ^ Sid Meier bio from Firaxis Games website
[edit] External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sid Meier |
- Sid Meier's biography and his games history at Firaxis.com
- Sid Meier at MobyGames
- Sid Meier at the Internet Movie Database
- "The Sid Meier Legacy" from GameSpot
- Torsen, Tor (December 1, 2006). "Q&A: Sid Meier chronicles Civilization". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162633.html?q=Civilization. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
- "The Most Influential People in Video Gaming of All Time". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/features/15most/html/mi_01.html. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
