David Perry (game developer)

This article is about David Perry, the game developer. For the David Perry who is a co-commentator on the UK video game TV show 'GamesMaster', please see Dave Perry, and for other uses, please see David Perry (disambiguation)

David Perry with a miniature of Earthworm Jim.

David Perry (born 1967) is an Irish game developer who has created dozens of computer games, the best known of which include Earthworm Jim, MDK, Messiah and Enter the Matrix. He is the founder of Shiny Entertainment, which has created games for many internationally-known brands and companies, including Disney, 7 Up, McDonald's, Orion Pictures, and Warner Bros. [1] To date, Perry's games have generated over $500,000,000 USD worth of sales. [2]

Biography

Perry was born on April 4, 1967 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, growing up in the towns of Templepatrick and Donegore in County Antrim, attending Templepatrick Primary School and then Methodist College Belfast.

He began writing computer game programming books in 1981 at the age of 15, creating his own games for the Sinclair ZX81. According to an interview with the BBC, Perry recalls that his first game was a driving game, "a black blob avoiding other black blobs", which he wrote and sent to a magazine, which printed it. He sent them more games and they sent him a check for £450 -- a bit of a problem for a teenager who did not yet have a bank account. His work continued though, until he was making £3,500/year.

At the age of 17, he moved to London, where he developed games for publishers such as Elite Systems, Mirrorsoft, and Virgin Games, working on titles such as The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Terminator.

In 1991, he moved to the United States to work for the American division of Virgin Games, leading the development teams for several award-winning products, including Disney's Aladdin, 7-UP's Cool Spot, and McDonald's Global Gladiators.

On October 1, 1993, Perry formed his own company in Laguna Beach, California, Shiny Entertainment, naming the company after the song "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M.. [3] The company's first game Earthworm Jim was a hit, selling millions of copies on multiple platforms, including Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo and PC. The title character, an "average worm" who stumbled upon a magical suit which turned him into a superhero, became immensely popular, and spawned a variety of other types of merchandise: action figures, comic books, and a syndicated television cartoon series on the Warner Kids Network, with the title character voiced on the show by Dan Castellaneta (also known as the voice behind Homer Simpson).

In 2002, Shiny Entertainment was acquired by Atari, Inc. in a multi-million dollar deal, with Perry signed to a longterm contract to continue on as President. Also in 2002, Perry collaborated with the Wachowski Brothers on games in coordination with their Matrix series of movies. [4]

In February 2006, following the news that Atari was intending to sell off its internal development studios, Perry announced that he was temporarily resigning from Shiny, in order to help find a new buyer for the company.[5]

Perry is on the advisory board for the Game Developers Conference, and speaks frequently at industry venues such as E-3, Comdex, and SIGGRAPH, as well as at major universities such as USC, and MIT. [6]. He is also well-known as a Master of Ceremonies at the annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

Works

Perry has worked on many titles, including:

Games

Cool Spot, 1993

• Dan Dare III: The Escape, 1990 (programmer)
• Overlord (game), 1990, Virgin Mastertronic Ltd.
• Smash T.V., 1991, Ocean
• Paperboy 2, 1991, Mindscape (programmer)
• Extreme (game), 1991, Digital Integration Ltd.
• Supremacy [7]

• The Terminator, 1992, Virgin Games
• Global Gladiators, 1993, Virgin Games w/ McDonald's - Game of the Year [8]
• Cool Spot, 1993, Virgin Interactive (winner of "Best Music, Best Sound") [9]

Probe Software

• Aladdin, 1994, Sega

Shiny Entertainment

Earthworm Jim on Super Nintendo

• Earthworm Jim, 1993 (programmer)
  • Earthworm Jim, the TV series, 1995 (producer)
• Disney's The Jungle Book, 1994, Virgin Interactive
• Earthworm Jim 2, 1995 (additional programmer)
• Mutant Penguins, 1996, Atari
• MDK, 1997, Shiny (producer)
• Savage (game), 1998, Acclaim Studios
• Wild 9, 1998, Interplay (producer)
• R/C Stunt Copter, 1999, Titus Interactive
• Messiah, 1999
• Sacrifice, 2000, Interplay (executive producer)
• Enter the Matrix, 2003, Atari (lead designer)
  • The Making of "Enter the Matrix" - video
• The Matrix Path of Neo, 2005, Atari

References

• BBC, "Top developer's code for success", July 4, 2003
• IMDB entry for David Perry
• Official Shiny Entertainment website
• DPerry.com (David Perry's official site) (official biography)
• DPFILES.COM Talent Pool Forum
• Smart computing, "The Emerald Isle’s ‘Shiny,’ Happy Game Developer", October 2000
• Gamedev.net interview
• Eurogamer.net interview
• Eurogamer.net "Dave Perry resigns from Shiny", February 20, 2006
• Nextgame.it interview, 1999

External links

• David Perry profile on MobyGames