List of game designers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A game designer is a person who invents games at the conceptual level.[1] Outstanding board game designers are recognized annually by awards such as the Spiel des Jahres and the As d'Or.[2] The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design, a division of the Game Manufacturers Association, inducts outstanding individuals into the Hall of Fame.[3]
Card game designers
Crossword designers
Paper-and-pencil game designers
The following game designers work on paper-and-pencil games other than crosswords. These games can be played solely with paper and pencils (or other writing implements), usually without erasing.
| Designer | Notable work | Honors | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Bartle | Spellbinder | [6][7] | |
| John Horton Conway | Sprouts, Hackenbush, and Conway's Game of Life | [8][9][10] | |
| Howard Garns | designer of the modern Sudoku puzzle | [11] | |
| Wayne Gould | designer of Sudoku puzzles | [12] | |
| Piet Hein | Hex (aka Polygon) | [13] | |
| David L. Hoyt | designer of Jumble word puzzles for Tribune Content Agency | [14] | |
| Jeff Knurek | designer of Jumble word puzzles for Tribune Content Agency | [14] | |
| László Kozma | Obstruction | [10] | |
| Édouard Lucas | Dots and boxes (la pipopipette) | [15] | |
| Tetsuya Miyamoto | KenKen | [16] | |
| Martin Naydel | Jumble (Scramble) | [17] | |
| Pedro Ocón de Oro | creator of word search puzzles, hieroglyph puzzles for ABC and Blanco y Negro, and developer of the transfusion of letters in puzzles, often using the pseudonym Ocón de Oro | [18] | |
| Mike Paterson | Sprouts | [19][10] | |
| Roger Price | Mad Libs | [20] | |
| Sid Sackson | Patterns II | Hall of Fame | [3] |
| Claude Shannon | Shannon switching game | [21] | |
| Will Shortz | developed the current form of Ditloid | [22] | |
| Leonard Stern | Mad Libs | [20] |
Pinball game designers
Outstanding pinball game designers are recognized by the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame.[23] Some notable players include George Gomez, Pat Lawlor, and Steve Ritchie.[24]
Role playing game designers
Video game designers
Some of the most infuencial video game designers are discussed in a books series by Bloomsbury Publishing including Todd Howard, Keiji Inafune, Eugene Jarvis, Jane Jensen, Hideo Kojima, Brenda Laurel, and Shigeru Miyamoto.[25] Ralph H. Baer is notable as an invotor of video games, designing the Magnavox Odyssey home video game system.[26]