Timothy Cain

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Timothy Cain at GDC Online 2010

Timothy Cain , called Tim, is an American computer game developer . One of his best-known works is the development of the 1997 computer role-playing game Fallout for Interplay Entertainment . Cain was also a co-founder of the former development studio Troika Games . In 2009 he was named one of the 100 best game developers of all time by the game magazine IGN .

education

Cain attended the University of Virginia and a graduate school in California. During that time he was helping a friend program a card game called Grand Slam Bridge for Cybron Corporation, released in 1986. In 1989 he earned a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine .

Career as a game developer

In August 1991, Cain began working as a freelance programmer for the Californian game developer Interplay on the creation of the editor The Bard's Tale Construction Set . After completing the project in 1991, he was employed full-time. Together with the then freelance artist Leonard Boyarsky , he worked as a designer and programmer on the economic simulation Wall Street Manager: The simulation of the financial market , which was published in 1993.

In 1994 he worked for several months as the only employee on a new game that later became the post-apocalyptic computer role-playing game Fallout . He developed the basic concept, based on the RPG rule set GURPS, and began programming the isometric game engine . He continued to take over the producer role from Thomas R. Decker , who at the time had numerous other projects to oversee. After a development period of three and a half years, Fallout was finally released in 1997. During this time, Cain also advised on the programming of Stonekeep (1995) and helped code the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (1997). Before he left Interplay in January 1998, he was involved in the development of the Fallout successor Fallout 2 , for which he contributed the framework and some design work.

Together with his Fallout colleagues Leonard Boyarsky and Jason D. Anderson , he founded the development studio Troika Games in April 1998 . He acted as project manager and lead programmer of the first project Arcanum: Von Steammaschinen und Magie , a steampunk / fantasy role-playing game for Sierra On-Line , which was released in 2001. He also acted as project manager and lead designer for the next project, the role-playing game The Temple of Elemental Evil based on Dungeons & Dragons . The title was published by Atari in 2003 after a development time of 20 months . The title was heavily criticized by the trade press due to its numerous programming errors. Although Cain enjoyed developing the game, he was disappointed with the end result as it did not meet his original expectations. For Troika's third and final project, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines published by Activision in 2004 , Cain helped with the programming. He also worked on the pitch of a new post-apocalyptic role-playing game, for which Troika could not find a publisher and financier. As a result, Troika had to lay off most of its employees at the end of 2004 and finally ceased operations in February 2005 for lack of orders.

In August 2005, Cain got a position as Programming Director at Carbine Studios , where he worked on a fantasy MMO for NCSoft . In October 2007 he was appointed Design Director. In July 2011 he left the company.

In October 2011, Tim Cain joined Obsidian Entertainment as a Senior Programmer . There he is currently working on the upcoming role-playing game Project Eternity , which was financed through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.com .

Private life

Cain has hereditary color blindness . According to his own information, he can now only perceive significantly less than half of the color spectrum. He is a passionate hobby cook with a preference for Japanese and Chinese cuisine . On July 14, 2011, he married his partner Robert Land.

Ludography

Web links

Commons : Timothy Cain  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Green, Jeff (October 2005). "The Bard's Tale", Computer Gaming World (255): 76.
  2. ↑ a b IGN - 85. Tim Cain ( English ) In: IGN . News Corp . Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. 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. Retrieved June 5, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / games.ign.com
  3. ↑ a b Matt Barton: Matt Chat 66: Fallout with Tim Cain, Pt. 1 ( English ) YouTube . June 27, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  4. ↑ Odin: Fallout Developers Profile - Tim Cain ( English ) In: No Mutants Allowed . Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. 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. Retrieved June 5, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nma-fallout.com
  5. ^ Matt Barton: Matt Chat 68: Arcanum and More with Tim Cain ( English ) YouTube . July 11, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ Erin Hoffman: The Rise and Fall of Troika ( English ) In: The Escapist . December 26, 2006. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  7. ↑ http://www.carbinestudios.com/news/ncsofts_carbine_studios_names_tim_cain_design_director.htm  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.carbinestudios.com  
  8. ↑ Tom Curtis: Fallout Creator, Troika Co-Founder Tim Cain Joins Obsidian ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM, plc . October 12, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  9. ↑ Jason Schreier: The People Behind Fallout And Planescape Are Making My Dream RPG ( English ) In: Kotaku . September 14, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  10. ↑ Will Ooi: Unmasking the Gamers: Tim Cain - Industry Veteran, Programmer, and Original Creator of Fallout ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM, plc . October 26, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  11. ↑ Cain's private Facebook account Married Robert Land July 14, 2011 ( Memento from December 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
personal data
SURNAME Cain, Timothy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cain, Tim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American computer game developer
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century