Don Daglow

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Don Daglow at GDC 2010

Don Landers Daglow (born September 12, 1952 in San Francisco , California ) is an American developer and producer of computer games. He is one of the long-standing pioneers in the game industry, starting with the development for mainframes up to the seventh generation of consoles .

biography

Don Daglow attended San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California . From 1970 to 1974 he studied English drama at Pomona College in Claremont (California) , from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree. He also earned a Master of Education from Claremont Graduate University from 1974 to 1976 and then worked for four years as a tutor.

As early as 1971 he began to develop computer games. In 1975/76 Daglow developed the role-playing game Dungeon for the mainframe computer PDP-10 , which, along with dnd, is one of the first computer games to be influenced by the role-playing rules Dungeons & Dragons and one of the very first computer role-playing games. In the course of his career, Daglow returned several times to this license and has so far developed six licensed games. Further developments during his college days were a script game based on Star Trek .

In 1980 Daglow got a job with the toy manufacturer Mattel as a programmer for the in-house game console Intellivision . There he developed, among other things, Utopia (1981), which became a great commercial success and is considered the first simulation game or the first god simulation . By the end of his three year tenure, Daglow was promoted to director of game development. During the so-called Video Game Crash in 1983, Daglow was hired by Trip Hawkins as a producer for the game publisher Electronic Arts . In 1987 he moved to Brøderbund for one year as Executive Publisher in the Entertainment & Education department .

In 1988 Daglow finally founded his own company Beyond Software, which in 1991 was renamed Stormfront Studios because of the same name and was led by Daglow as President and CEO. Stormfront developed the first graphic MMORPG with Neverwinter Nights (1991) and the first real-time strategy game in 3D with Stronghold (1993) . On April 1, 2008, it was announced that the company had ceased operations due to a lack of orders.

In addition to his work as a developer, Daglow also became known through numerous lectures at industry events such as the Game Developers Conference and his involvement in various industry organizations. From 2003 to 2011 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , and since 2011 he has been President of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Foundation. In the reception, the terms “console war” and video game crash were mostly traced back to Daglow. Furthermore, he is often said to have coined the term Next Gen as a term for a new, upcoming generation of consoles, which Daglow himself denies.

Ludography (excerpt)

Awards

  • 1993–1995: Inc. 500, Inc. magazine's annual top list of the fastest growing private US companies .
  • 2003: Classic Gaming Expo Award for "fundamental successes that shaped the computer game industry"
  • 2003: Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences : Award for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering ( The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers )
  • 2008: National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences : Emmy Technology Award for creating the first graphic online role-playing game ( Neverwinter Nights )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographical Data of Don Daglow in: Fantasy & Science Fiction , Volume 62, Issues 368-373, Mercury Press, 1981, page 33
  2. ↑ Alistair Wallis: Playing Catch Up: Stormfront Studios' Don Daglow ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM, plc . October 19, 2006. Retrieved December 23, 2009.
  3. ↑ Olsen, Jennifer (July 2001). "Profiles: Don Daglow — breaking typecasts", Game Developer 8 (7): Jan.
  4. ↑ Jon "BuckGB" Birnbaum: Stormfront Studios Interview ( English ) In: Gamebanshee . UGO entertainment. April 16, 2005. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  5. ↑ Edge editor: Stormfront Studios Closing ( English ) In: Edge . Future Publishing. April 1, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.interactive-entertainment.net
  7. ↑ http://www.cgexpo.com/bios/ddaglow.htm
  8. ^ Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences : Winner category "Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering 2003" . Official website. Last accessed October 10, 2011.
  9. ↑ National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: Stormfront Studios Honored At 59th Annual Emmy Technology Awards For Creating First Graphical Online Role-Playing Game ( English ) In: MCV . McCormack & Morrison. January 10, 2008. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 14, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mcvuk.com
personal data
SURNAME Daglow, Don
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Daglow, Don Landers (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American computer game developer
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California