Chris Sawyer
Chris Sawyer | |
---|---|
Born | Video game designer | 27 October 1967
Years active | 1983–2005 2010–2017 |
Known for | |
Website | www |
Christopher Sawyer is a Scottish
Early life
Sawyer was born in Stirling, Scotland,[3] and had an interest with computers and programming from an early age, writing simple scripts in BASIC on a ZX81 at a local store in Doune. Being unable to afford a BBC Micro, Sawyer purchased a Camputers Lynx with which he could write simple programs in machine code. He graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Microprocessor Systems from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.[5][6][2]
Career
Memotech & MS-DOS titles (1983–1993)
Sawyer began to write games in
Tycoon games (1994–2004)
Inspired by
While working on the basic game engine for this sequel, Sawyer had used some of the revenue from Transport Tycoon to travel across Europe and the United States and developed an interest in roller coasters,[9] having ridden over 600 of them by the 2010s, inspiring what would become RollerCoaster Tycoon.[3][10] Sawyer developed RollerCoaster Tycoon in x86 assembly language by himself, using only the services of freelance graphic designer Simon Foster and composer Allister Brimble.[5] After creating RollerCoaster Tycoon, he resumed work on the sequel for Transport Tycoon, but again postponed it to create RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. Upon completing that project, he resumed his work on the Transport Tycoon sequel, finally releasing it in 2004 as Chris Sawyer's Locomotion.[11]
Sawyer also served as a consultant for Atari in the development of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, which was designed by Frontier Developments. Sawyer understood that further development of the franchise would require 3D graphics but was not interested and left the work to Frontier.[3]
Departure from industry (2005–2010)
In November 2005, Sawyer sued Atari, claiming that they had failed to pay him certain royalties.[12] Atari sued Sawyer for damages in 2007,[13] and the two settled out of court for an undisclosed amount paid to Sawyer in February 2008.[14] Due to a combination of the legal issues with Atari, and a general detest of the violent nature of video games of the time, Sawyer temporarily stepped away from video games after the release of Locomotion.[3] In an interview, Sawyer also cited a desire to take a break after working on games for 20 years, to spend more time on his personal interests.[3] Asked about the period by Wired he replied that he "made a few trips to ride roller coasters around the world."[15]
31X & Tycoon rereleases (2010–2017)
In 2010, Sawyer founded 31X Ltd. which he initially planned to use as a
31X's first product was Transport Tycoon for iOS and Android, released in 2013, which was assisted with Origin8.[17][3] Sawyer continued to work with Origin8 to bring the first two RollerCoaster Tycoon games into RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic released for mobile in December 2016. The game later received ports to Microsoft Windows and macOS in September 2017.[18][19][3]
Second departure (2017- present)
After the completion of Classic, Sawyer "...decided to take a back seat again and devote more time to other aspects of [his] life."[2] Asked about future projects in 2016 he said "I'd never rule out creating a new original game but I think it's unlikely. I feel like I'm getting on a bit now age-wise and want to take things a bit easier!"[3] He has also indicated that there is no need for a solo assembly coder such as himself in the modern games industry. Asked about the future in 2020, he replied “I also feel I’ve now created all the games I wanted to create... and working on someone else’s game designs just doesn’t excite me.”
Atari continue to produce titles using the RollerCoaster Tycoon intellectual property under license from Sawyer. He has little involvement with these titles, beyond playing the occasional build.[20] In 2022, Sawyer extended Atari's rights to the franchise for another decade.[21] For the franchise's 25th anniversary in 2024, Atari sold a number of art pieces autographed by Sawyer.[22]
Development style
Asked about his philosophy and style for games design, Sawyer indicated that he had "just kind of worked on ideas which I thought were fun at the time." However, he has identified a Lego-like approach to his work, in which the player deals with small, individual components that go on to be part of larger, more intricate systems. He has also expressed a dislike of modern 3D graphics, describing this as a reason he let Frontier develop RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. "The world of games moved on and I didn't, and I miss the flawed style and clunky simplicity of games from 20 years ago. I admire the amazing graphics and awesome size and realism of many modern games but for some reason can't summon much enthusiasm to play them."[3]
Personal life
Sawyer values privacy, rarely gives interviews and does not have a social media presence. In this regard Sawyer is unlike many of his 1990s contemporaries such as John Romero and Peter Molyneux, who adopted much more public personas. Asked about his relative lack of a public online presence in 2013 he said that social media "takes time away from what I need to concentrate on". He volunteers with the media team at a local primary school. Sawyer travels the world to visit roller coasters as an enthusiast, and gave his "coaster count" at 770 in 2024.[23][24][25]
Works
Year | Title | Publisher |
---|---|---|
1984 | Qogo | Oxford Data |
1985 | Chamberoids | Megastar Games |
Arcazion | Syntax Soft | |
Escape from Zarcos | Megastar Games | |
Missile Kommand | Syntax Soft | |
Mission Omega | ||
Revenge of the Chamberoids | Megastar Games | |
Sepulcri Scelerati | ||
Target Zone | Syntax Soft | |
Qogo 2 | Megastar Games | |
Quazzia | ||
1988 | Virus | Firebird Software |
1989 | Revenge of Defender | Epyx |
1990 | Xenomorph | Pandora
|
Conqueror | Rainbow Arts | |
1991 | Elite Plus | Microplay Software |
Birds of Prey | Electronic Arts | |
1992 | Campaign | Empire Interactive |
1993 | Dino Dini's Goal | Virgin Games
|
Frontier: Elite II | GameTek, Konami | |
1994 | Transport Tycoon | MicroProse |
1995 | Transport Tycoon World Editor | |
Transport Tycoon Deluxe
| ||
Frontier: First Encounters | GameTek | |
1999 | RollerCoaster Tycoon | Hasbro Interactive
|
2002 | RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 | Infogrames
|
2004 | RollerCoaster Tycoon 3[a] | Atari |
Chris Sawyer's Locomotion | ||
2016 | RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic[3] |
Notes
- ^ As a consultant
References
- ^ "AP01 Appointment of Director". Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Chris Sawyer (Transport Tycoon/RollerCoaster Tycoon) - Interview". Arcade Attack. 9 August 2018. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Yin-Poole, Wesley (3 March 2016). "A big interview with Chris Sawyer, the creator of RollerCoaster Tycoon". Retrieved 3 April 2016.
- ^ Faraday, Owen. "Enigmatic developer Chris Sawyer on remaking Transport Tycoon for mobile devices". Wired.
- ^ a b "Chris Sawyer Software Development". chrissawyergames.com. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- ^ "Chris Sawyer Software Development". chrissawyergames.com. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
- ^ Key, Andy. "Examples". www.nyangau.org.
- ^ "Memotech MTX 512 - Software". www.primrosebank.net.
- ^ a b Hrodey, Matt (3 January 2020). "RollerCoaster Tycoon: the best-optimised game of all time?". PCGamesN. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ "10 things you (probably) never knew about Chris Sawyer's Tycoon games..." from Chris Sawyer Software Development website
- ^ Chris Sawyer (2004). Chris Sawyer's Locomotion Manual. Atari.
- Gamasutra(8 November 2005)
- ^ "Planet Coaster dev Frontier sues RollerCoaster Tycoon World maker Atari". Eurogamer. 3 January 2017.
- ^ "Sawyer settles Atari suit" from Develop (magazine) (5 February 2008)
- ^ Faraday, Owen. "Enigmatic developer Chris Sawyer on remaking Transport Tycoon for mobile devices". Wired.
- ^ Gamasutra. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ "31X - About". 31x.net.
- ^ Souppouris, Aaron (22 December 2016). "Classic 'RollerCoaster Tycoon' comes to iOS and Android". Engadget. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
- ^ Sarkar, Samit (22 December 2016). "First two RollerCoaster Tycoon games arrive on Android, iOS". Polygon. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
- ^ "A big interview with Chris Sawyer, the creator of RollerCoaster Tycoon". Eurogamer.net. 3 March 2016.
- ^ "Atari will hold RollerCoaster Tycoon rights for another decade". Eurogamer.net. 11 October 2022.
- ^ Inc, Atari (28 March 2024). "RollerCoaster Tycoon Celebrates 25th Anniversary with New Online Store". GlobeNewswire News Room.
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has generic name (help) - ^ "A big interview with Chris Sawyer, the creator of RollerCoaster Tycoon". Eurogamer.net. 3 March 2016.
- ^ Faraday, Owen. "Enigmatic developer Chris Sawyer on remaking Transport Tycoon for mobile devices". Wired.
- ^ CarlyF (21 March 2024). "RollerCoaster Tycoon Creator Chris Sawyer: Community Q&A". atari-club. Retrieved 12 April 2024.