Sid Meier
Sidney K. Meier is a Canadian-American programmer, designer, and producer of several strategy video games and simulation video games, including the Civilization series. Meier co-founded MicroProse in 1982 with Bill Stealey and is the Director of Creative Development of Firaxis Games, which he co-founded with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds in 1996. For his contributions to the video game industry, Meier was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Meier was born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, to parents of Dutch and Swiss descent, giving him both Canadian and Swiss citizenship. A few years later the family moved to Michigan, where Meier grew up and studied history and computer science, graduating with a degree in computer science from the University of Michigan.Career
Following college, Meier worked in developing cash register systems for department stores. During this period, Meier purchased an Atari 800 circa 1981, which helped him realize that computer programming could be used to make video games. He found a co-worker, Bill Stealey, who had a similar interest in developing games, and shared the games that Meier had developed. The two decided to launch a new company for computer game development.Meier founded MicroProse with Stealey in 1982. After a few initial 2D action games, such as Meier's platformer Floyd of the Jungle, MicroProse settled into a run of flight simulation titles beginning with Hellcat Ace and continuing with Spitfire Ace, Solo Flight, and F-15 Strike Eagle, all designed and programmed by Meier.
In 1987, the company released Sid Meier's Pirates!, which began a trend of placing Meier's name in the titles of his games. He later explained that the inclusion of his name was because of the dramatic departure in the design of Pirates! compared to the company's earlier titles. Stealey decided that it would improve the company's branding, believing that it would make those who purchased the flight simulators more likely to play the game. Stealey recalled: "We were at dinner at a Software Publishers Association meeting, and Robin Williams was there. And he kept us in stitches for two hours. And he turns to me and says 'Bill, you should put Sid's name on a couple of these boxes, and promote him as the star.' And that's how Sid's name got on Pirates, and Civilization."
The idea was successful; by 1992 an entry in Computer Gaming Worlds poetry contest praised Meier's name as "a guarantee they got it right". Meier is not always the main designer on titles that carry his name. For instance, Brian Reynolds has been credited as the primary designer behind Sid Meier's Civilization II, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and Sid Meier's Colonization, while Jeff Briggs designed Sid Meier's Civilization III, Soren Johnson led Sid Meier's Civilization IV, Jon Shafer led Sid Meier's Civilization V and Will Miller and David McDonough were the designers of .
After the release of F-19 Stealth Fighter, Meier focused on strategy games, later saying "Everything I thought was cool about a flight simulator had gone into that game." Inspired by SimCity and Empire, he created Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon and later the game series for which he is most widely recognized, Sid Meier's Civilization, although he designed only the first installment. Meier eventually left MicroProse and in 1996 founded Firaxis Games along with veteran designer and gaming executive Jeff Briggs. The company makes strategy games, many of which are follow-ups to Meier's titles, such as the new Civilization games and Sid Meier's Pirates!. In 1996, he invented a "System for Real-Time Music Composition and Synthesis" used in C.P.U. Bach. Next Generation listed him in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", calling him "a prolific developer of some of the best games in 's catalog".
According to Firaxis employees, Meier has been constantly developing a special game engine since around 1996 which he uses to prototype his game ideas and which he has not shared with anyone else. Dennis Shirk, a senior producer, said in 2016 that Meier would sometimes arrive at the office and announce he had a new game prototype for the company to try out and see if it could be developed further. The engine believed by Firaxis employees to be based on his original Civilization source, but expanded over the years with updates that he or other engineers will write for him.
Personal life
Meier lives in Hunt Valley, Maryland, with his wife Susan, whom he met at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cockeysville, where he plays the organ. The couple sing in the church choir.Awards
- In 1996, GameSpot put Meier at the top of their listing of the "Most Influential People in Computer Gaming of All Time", calling him "our Hitchcock, our Spielberg, our Ellington".
- That same year, Computer Gaming World ranked him as eighth on the list of the "Most Influential Industry Players of All Time", noting that no game designer has had as many CGW Hall of Fame games as Sid Meier.
- In 1997, Computer Gaming World ranked him as number one on the list of the "Most Influential People of All Time in Computer Gaming", for game design.
- In 1999, he became the second person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame.
- In 2008, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developer's Conference.
- In 2009, he came fifth in a Develop survey that asked some 9,000 game makers about their "ultimate development hero".
- In 2009, he was ranked second in IGN's list of "Top Game Creators of All Time", and was called "the ideal role model for any aspiring game designer".
- In 2017, he was awarded the Life Achievement by the Golden Joystick Awards.
Games
| Release | Game | Notes |
| 1982 | Formula 1 Racing | The first commercial game by Sid Meier, published by Acorn Software Products Inc. |
| 1982 | Hellcat Ace | Sid Meier's first project for MicroProse according to Bill Stealey. |
| 1982 | Chopper Rescue | Sid Meier said in 2007 that this was his first project for MicroProse. |
| 1982 | Spitfire Ace | |
| 1982 | Floyd of the Jungle | |
| 1983 | NATO Commander | |
| 1983 | Wingman | |
| 1985 | Air Rescue I | |
| 1984 | Solo Flight | |
| 1985 | F-15 Strike Eagle | |
| 1985 | Silent Service | World War II submarine simulation game |
| 1985 | Crusade in Europe | |
| 1985 | Decision in the Desert | |
| 1986 | Conflict in Vietnam | Last Sid Meier game released for the Atari 8-bit family. |
| 1986 | Gunship | |
| 1987 | Sid Meier's Pirates! | A pirate simulation game based around life of a pirate, a privateer, or a pirate hunter in the 16th-18th centuries. The first game to have Sid Meier's name included in its title. |
| 1988 | Red Storm Rising | Nuclear submarine simulation game, based on the novel by Tom Clancy. |
| 1988 | F-19 Stealth Fighter | |
| 1989 | F-15 Strike Eagle II | |
| 1989 | Sword of the Samurai | |
| 1990 | Covert Action | An espionage game offering a range of arcade-style game modes. |
| 1990 | Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon | A business simulation game that paints the early development of railroads in the United States and Europe. With the release of Sid Meier's Railroads!, this series now has four installments. |
| 1991 | Sid Meier's Civilization | A vastly successful turn-based strategy game, that has now run to a franchise. This is Meier's most successful game franchise to date, having sold over 35 million copies as of August 2016. |
| 1991 | Nighthawk F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0 | Sequel/remake of F-19 Stealth Fighter. |
| 1993 | Pirates! Gold | Remake of 1987's Pirates! game that included several new features, such as extra missions. |
| 1994 | Sid Meier's Colonization | A turn-based strategy game themed on the early European colonization of the New World. |
| 1996 | Sid Meier's Civilization II | Follow-up to Sid Meier's successful Civilization; Brian Reynolds was lead designer on the game. |
| 1997 | ' | This would be the last game that Sid Meier worked on for MicroProse. |
| 1997 | Sid Meier's Gettysburg! | Sid Meier's first real-time tactical game. |
| 1998 | Sid Meier's Antietam! | Sid Meier's Gettysburg and Antietam are part of his Civil War set. |
| 1999 | Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri | Brian Reynolds was lead designer on this adaptation of Civilization to an outer space theme. |
| 2001 | Sid Meier's Civilization III | Jeff Briggs designed the third installment of the series, with more complex rules, graphics and gameplay. |
| 2002 | Sid Meier's SimGolf | A golfing simulation in which the player built their own golf course and played it against computer players, co-created by Maxis. |
| 2004 | Sid Meier's Pirates! | Follow-up to the acclaimed Pirates! game from 1987, updating the graphics and featuring some entirely new gameplay elements. |
| 2005 | Sid Meier's Civilization IV | Designed by Soren Johnson. A full 3D engine replaces the isometric maps of Civilization II and III. |
| 2006 | Sid Meier's Railroads! | When Take 2 shut down PopTop Software and folded it into Firaxis, Meier once again became responsible for the Railroad Tycoon series, and this is billed as the sequel to Railroad Tycoon 3. |
| 2008 | Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | A seventh generation console edition of Civilization. |
| 2008 | Sid Meier's Pirates! Mobile | The game was developed and published by Oasys Mobile and was led by one of the original programmers for Pirates! Gold. |
| 2008 | Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Mobile | Developed by Blue Heat and published by Oasys Mobile. This mobile version allows players to build their own transportation empire. |
| 2008 | ' | A 2008 remake of the 1994 Colonization, and a standalone game based on the Civilization IV engine. |
| 2010 | Sid Meier's Civilization V | Headed by Jon Shafer with new features. |
| 2011 | Sid Meier's CivWorld | A massively multiplayer online game released on Facebook. Game closed down on May 29, 2013. |
| 2013 | Sid Meier's Ace Patrol | A World War I flight strategy game published by 2K Games. |
| 2013 | Sid Meier's Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies | A World War II flight strategy game published by 2K Games. |
| 2014 | Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution 2 | A mobile sequel to Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution. |
| 2014 | A spiritual successor to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri built atop the Civilization V engine | |
| 2015 | Sid Meier's Starships | Follows on from Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth |
| 2016 | Sid Meier's Civilization VI | Sixth main title in the Civilization series. |
Computer Gaming World reported in 1994 that "Sid Meier has stated on numerous occasions that he emphasizes the 'fun parts' of a simulation and throws out the rest". "Meier insisted", the magazine reported that year, "that discovering the elusive quality of fun is the toughest part of design". According to PC Gamer, "Though his games are frequently about violent times and places, there is never any blood or gore shown. He designs and creates his games by playing them, over and over, until they are fun."
Meier worked with a team on a dinosaur-themed game starting in early 2000, but announced in an online development diary in 2001 that the game had been shelved. Despite trying various approaches, including turn-based and real-time gameplay, he said he found no way to make the concept fun enough. In 2005, he said, "We've been nonstop busy making other games over the past several years, so the dinosaur game remains on the shelf. However, I do love the idea of a dinosaur game and would like to revisit it when I have some time."