Brian Colin is an American video-game designer, artist and animator. Among his best-known works are the coin-operated arcade games Rampage, Arch Rivals and as well as General Chaos for the Sega Genesisgame console. He is the CEO of Game Refuge Inc., an independent video-game design and development studio with offices in Downers Grove, Illinois. He has been noted for his work inthe field of bitmapped video-game graphics and animation, creating video-game sprites and tiled background graphics with a recognizable, identifiable style. G
Career
Colin joined Bally/Midway as an artist and animator during the golden age of arcade video games. His first project was creating new character animation for the arcade gameDiscs of Tron, for which he was given onscreen credit. Between 1982 and 1984, he created in-game raster graphics and animation for numerous Bally/Midway arcade games, including Kozmik Krooz'r, Spy Hunter and Zwackery, the latter being the first game for which Colin was credited as a game designer. 1985's Sarge was designed by Colin along with Bally/Midway programmer Jeff Nauman. It was their first complete collaboration in a partnership that would continue into the 21st century. Their 1986 game Rampage was a success that set arcade earnings records; it was eventually ported to more than 25 different platforms and is still prominently featured in Midway arcade compilations for current systems. Colin continued to work with other Bally/Midway programmers on games like Max RPM and Xenophobe, but as of 1988's Blasted, he collaborated primarily with Nauman. Their next two games were released after Bally/Midway was acquired by Williams Electronics in 1988: Arch Rivals in 1989 and Pigskin 621 A.D. in 1990. An easter egg in Xenophobe was seen with the second stage being named "Colin's Rock", as tribute to Brian Colin. Colin left Williams/Bally/Midway to form the independent game development studio Game Refuge Inc. with Nauman in 1992. Starting with General Chaos in 1993, Colin has conceived and designed over 45 different video games under the Game Refuge brand, including the arcade games Rampage World Tour and . He has also branched out into video slot machine design, advergaming and touchscreen gaming. He continues to produce games for PCs and mobile platforms as the CEO of Game Refuge. More recently he has attempted to create a sequel General Chaos called "General Chaos II: Sons of Chaos" with Kickstarter backing.
