Gary Grigsby
Video game designer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gary Grigsby is a designer and programmer of computer wargames. In 1997, he was described as "one of the founding fathers of strategy war games for the PC."[1] Computer Games Magazine later dubbed him "as much of an institution in his niche of computer gaming as Sid Meier, Will Wright, or John Carmack are in theirs."[2]
Gary Grigsby | |
|---|---|
| Occupations | Computer wargame designer and programmer |
| Years active | 1979–present |
Career
Gary Grigsby purchased a TRS-80 computer in May 1979,[3] to write wargames, but did not know how to approach the two publishers of computer wargames, Strategic Simulations (SSI) and Avalon Hill. In February 1982, he called SSI to complain about a bug in its Torpedo Fire; during the conversation Joel Billings encouraged Grigsby to submit his designs. That year Guadalcanal Campaign, written in BASIC, became his first game for SSI,[4] and was nominated for "Best Adventure Game for Home Computer" at the 1983 Origins Game Fair.[5] Through 1997 he created for SSI several titles that are considered classics of the wargame genre, including Kampfgruppe, USAAF, War in Russia and the Steel Panthers series.[6] Two games, Battle of Britain and 12 O'clock High, were done for TalonSoft in the late 90s. In 2001 Grigsby started a game development company called 2 By 3 Games with Billings and Keith Brors.[7] Their latest Grigsby-designed title, Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2, was released by Matrix Games in 2021.
Game designs
- Guadalcanal Campaign (1982)[8]
- Bomb Alley (1982)[8]
- North Atlantic '86 (1983)[8]
- Carrier Force (1983)[8]
- Objective: Kursk (1984)[8]
- War in Russia (1984)[8]
- Reforger '88 (1984)[8]
- Kampfgruppe (1985)[8]
- Mech Brigade (1985)[8]
- USAAF (1985)[9]
- Battlegroup (1986)[8]
- Warship (1986)[9]
- War in the South Pacific (1987)[8]
- Battle Cruiser (1987)[8]
- Panzer Strike (1988)[8]
- Typhoon of Steel (1988)[9]
- Overrun! (1989)[8]
- Second Front: Germany Turns East (1990)[9]
- Western Front (1991)[9]
- Carrier Strike (1992)[8]
- Gary Grigsby's Pacific War (1992)[8]
- Gary Grigsby's War in Russia (1993)[8]
- Steel Panthers (1995)
- Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles (1996)
- Steel Panthers III: Brigade Command 1939–1999 (1997)
- Battle of Britain (1999)
- 12 O'Clock High: Bombing the Reich (1999)
- Uncommon Valor: Campaign for the South Pacific (2002)
- War in the Pacific: The Struggle Against Japan 1941–1945 (2004)
- Gary Grigsby's World at War (2005)
- Gary Grigsby's World at War A World Divided (2006)
- Gary Grigsby's War Between the States (2008)
- Gary Grigsby's War in the East (2010)
- Gary Grigsby's War in the West (2014)
- Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2 (2021)