Spotlight: Superstars of the Gaming Industry

For those of you that don't know me on a personal basis, my ultimate career goal is to be a game designer that helps to push the industry forward with his products, both from the inside with innovative gaming ideas as well as the outside with fresh approaches to the business. Particularly in regards to the way games are pitched, approved, developed, and marketed, the industry has clung on to some seriously archaic practices--but that is a topic deserving its own in-depth article. Let's just say that one aspect of my strategy is changing the way games are promoted, and it starts with promoting the creators themselves. Many consumers don't understand the difference between a publisher and a developer, let alone the creative talent that serves as the driving force for our favorite games. Below I am presenting who I think are the biggest, most influential, and most successful creative minds our industry has today, names that gamers from casual moms and dads to hardcore enthusiasts should all know. These are obviously some of my biggest idols in the industry and increasing mass-market awareness of creative talent starts and ends with these people.

VINCE ZAMPELLA & JASON WEST-- let's start with two names you might have just heard because they've been in the news a lot this year. They are undoubtedly best known for founding and directing Infinity Ward, creators of the Call of Duty/Modern Warfare series, and following an ugly dispute with parent company Activision-Blizzard, have left to form an independent studio named Respawn Entertainment. Before Infinity Ward, they created the Medal of Honor franchise for Electronic Arts (who Respawn is again partnered with). They have attracted the eye of Hollywood agents and must be regarded as the mastermind architects of the first-person shooter action blockbuster.

CLIFF BLESZINSKI-- Probably one of the most recognizable names on this list simply because Microsoft has leveraged him as the face of Epic Games in press coverage of their Gears of War series. A long time employee of Epic and high-level designer for Unreal, he got his biggest break as lead designer of Gears of War, the first real "killer app" for the Xbox 360. Since then he has been involved in overseeing and promoting Epic's projects big and small, from the Gears and Unreal sequels to new projects like Chair Entertainment's Shadow Complex and People Can Fly's Bulletstorm.

SHIGERU MIYAMOTO-- widely-regarded as the grandfather of modern video games, he hit the scene creating the arcade hit Donkey Kong for Nintendo in the 80s, but his true claim to fame has been constructing just about all of Nintendo's massive stable of franchises, including Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Pikmin, Kirby, Wii Fit and many others; needless to say, it's quite obvious why you should know who he is. His understudy, EIJI AONUMA, is another important Nintendo designer, having taken point on every Zelda game since Majora's Mask on the Nintendo 64.

HIDEO KOJIMA-- Much like Miyamoto at Nintendo, Kojima-san has risen to deity-like status at Konami, where his brainchildren are the multiple PlayStation-selling games that make up the Metal Gear Solid series. Despite repeated Brett Favre-esque retirement claims, Kojima-san has maintained tight oversight and creative control over Metal Gear and his internal team at Kojima Productions. Konami values him so much that they put him in charge of their effort to revive Castlevania on consoles with this fall's Lords of Shadow.

WARREN SPECTOR-- another old name in the industry, Spector has long been at the forefront of pushing engaging, interactive storytelling. His resume includes a plethora of critically-acclaimed darlings, such as Ultima, System Shock, Thief, and Deus Ex. He is currently working on Epic Mickey, Disney Interactive's Wii-exclusive title coming this fall, and recently tweeted his desire to design a game based on Duck Tales.

PETER MOLYNEUX-- Molyneux made his name creating PC "god games" Populous and Black & White as creative head of Microsoft-owned, UK-based Lionhead Studios. He's also served as creative director of all the Fable titles, claiming during the development of the original that he wanted to create "the best RPG ever made." He's consistently been a great designer to interview as his passion for the medium always seems like it can hardly be contained--and making his PR handlers pretty nervous. Last year, Molyneux was promoted to the creative boss of all of Microsoft Game Studios' European branch, though he is still actively involved in the development of Lionhead's games, including this fall's Fable III.

MARTY O'DONNELL-- He's the only person on this list that's not directly involved with the big picture design of his games, but that doesn't mean he isn't equally important. He's known for his work on Bungie's Halo games as sound director and composer and his work is easily on the level of Hollywood legends like Hans Zimmer and maybe even John Williams. He is without a doubt the best in the business when it comes to audio production, and mark my words we've yet to see his best work, especially now that Bungie is moving on into uncharted territory after Halo: Reach.

Dr. RAY MUZYKA & Dr. GREG ZESCHUK-- "The Doctors", as they are often referred to, are founders of arguably the most talented game developer on the planet: BioWare. They went through med school together but after completing their degree decided they wanted to give a shot at exercising their creative muscles, so they founded BioWare with another of their med school buddies. Since then, they have cemented BioWare's reputation as the pre-eminent RPG house with Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. Their mission with their games has been to consistently push the medium forward and truly take advantage of the player interaction element inherent to the game medium. Their studio has fostered other talent, including CASEY HUDSON, who has served as creative director for the Mass Effect series.

SHINJI MIKAMI-- Mikami-san is probably the most under-appreciated of top tier Japanese game designers. While his exposure has increased as of late at his new studio, Platinum Games, he had formerly created a slew of masterpieces at Capcom and its now-closed subsidiary Clover. His more notable games include Resident Evils 0-4, Dino Crisis, Devil May Cry, Steel Battalion, Viewtiful Joe, Killer 7, Bayonetta, and the upcoming Vanquish. He is currently the head of aforementioned Platinum, a studio of former Clover developers that is one of the preeminent studios in Japan.

KEN LEVINE--the creative boss at Boston-based Irrational Games, Levine comes from the Warren Spector school of game design, having worked with him on Thief: The Dark Project. He has gone on to develop critical darlings such as Tribes, System Shock 2, Freedom Force, and most recently BioShock. Just last week, 3 years after BioShock's release, he unvieled Irrational's next project: the equally stunning and original BioShock Infinite.

TODD HOWARD-- he is the creative head of Bethesda Game Studios, known best for The Elder Scrolls series and most recently Fallout 3. His next title is shrouded in mystery, but much like Levine and Irrational before the Infinite announcement, that doesn't mean it isn't highly anticipated. Howard and his team at Bethesda have solidified themselves as cream of the crop when it comes to the open-world RPG as there let-you-do-anything-and-I-mean-anything approach has captured the imagination (and free time) of countless gamers.

AMY HENNIG-- she's the creative director at Naughty Dog and the only female on this list. At Naughty Dog, she's overseen the creation of PlayStation 2's standout series Jak and Daxter, while in the HD era she has lead development on PS3 blockbusters Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves...the latter regarded as one of the best games of this console generation when it comes to both story and gameplay, as well as the intertwining of the two.

DAVID CAGE-- Cage is the leader--creatively and otherwise--of French development studio Quantic Dream. If you've played any of their games (most notably Indigo Prophecy or Heavy Rain) then you know that their products represent an entirely different approach to game design, one that is rooted closer to cinema (with an interactive filter) than "traditional" games. In fact, it's hard to describe one of their games without actually playing it, but suffice to say that David Cage holds an increasingly ambitious vision for the future of the medium that comes through in his envelope-pushing creations.

Well there you have it: the biggest and brightest stars of today's development landscape. That's not to say that this is a comprehensive list, especially when it comes to gaming's history; the reality is that there are many, many people who have influenced the medium. If the above heavyweights have piqued your interest, perhaps you might be interested in looking up some of the biggest names of gaming's past, many of whom still have upcoming projects in the pipeline: Tim Schafer (Brutal Legend, Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, Psychonauts); Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Parasite Eve, Lost Odyssey); Tomonobu Itagaki (Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden); Yuji Naka (Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS); Michel Ancel (Beyond Good & Evil, Rayman, King Kong); David Jaffe (Twisted Metal, God of War, Calling All Cars); Jordan Mechner (Prince of Persia); Will Wright (SimCity, The Sims, Spore); Sid Meier (Civilization).