Will Wright (game designer)
William Ralph Wright (born January 20, 1960) is an American video game designer and co-founder of the game development company Maxis, which later became part of Electronic Arts. In April 2009, he left EA to run Stupid Fun Club Camp, an entertainment think tank in which Wright and EA are principal shareholders.[1][2][3]
Will Wright
- Anya Zavarzina
1
The first computer game Wright designed was Raid on Bungeling Bay in 1984, but it was SimCity that brought him to prominence. The game was published by Maxis, which Wright co-formed with Jeff Braun. Wright continued to innovate on the game's central theme of simulation with numerous other titles including SimEarth and SimAnt.
Wright has earned many awards for his work in game design. He is best known for being the original designer of The Sims series, of which Maxis developed the first entry in 2000. The game spawned multiple sequels, including The Sims 2, The Sims 3, The Sims 4 and their expansion packs. His latest work, Spore, released in September 2008 and features gameplay based upon the model of evolution and scientific advancement.[4] The game sold 406,000 copies within three weeks of its release.[5]
In 2007, he became the first game designer to receive the BAFTA Fellowship, which had previously only been presented to those in the film and television industries.
Early life and education[edit]
The son of a plastics engineer and an actress, Wright was born on January 20, 1960, in Atlanta, Georgia.[6][7] He attended a Montessori school until the age of nine.[6] When his father died of leukemia the same year, Wright moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his mother and his younger sister.[6] He graduated from the Baton Rouge Episcopal High School at the age of 16.[6]
Wright's interest in game design began in childhood with the Chinese strategy board game Go. In his own words, the game has a "simple set of rules" yet "the strategies in it are so complex" and he was "fascinated with the idea that complexity can come out of such simplicity."[8] As a teenager, Wright enjoyed playing board wargames such as PanzerBlitz.
After graduating high school, Wright studied architecture at Louisiana State University for two years. He then transferred to Louisiana Tech where he switched to mechanical engineering, with a particular interest in robotics, space exploration, military history, and language arts.[9] Two years later, in the fall of 1980, he transferred again to The New School in New York City. During this time, he lived in an apartment in Greenwich Village, and spent his free time "searching for spare parts in local electronics surplus stores."[9]
While living in New York City, he purchased an Apple II+ and taught himself Applesoft BASIC, Pascal, and assembly language in order to implement Conway's Game of Life.[10] After one year at the New School, Wright concluded five years of collegiate study without a degree and returned to Baton Rouge.[7][11]