- David Crane (programmer)
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David Crane 
David Crane at the Retro Gaming Expo 2011Born Nappanee, Indiana, United States Nationality American Occupation Game Programmer, Game Designer David Crane (born in Nappanee, Indiana, United States) is a video game designer and programmer.[1]
Crane started his programming career at Atari, making games for the Atari 2600. After meeting co-worker Alan Miller in a tennis game, Miller told Crane about a plan he had to leave Atari and found a company that would give game designers more recognition. From this meeting, Crane left Atari in 1979 and co-founded Activision, along with Miller, Jim Levy, Bob Whitehead, and Larry Kaplan. His games won many awards while he was at Activision. At Activision, he was best known as the designer of Pitfall!.[2] Pitfall! was a huge hit, and maintained the top slot on the Billboard charts for 64 weeks and was named video game of the year in 1982.[3]
Crane maintained that the Atari policy of relying on mangled adaptations of arcade games would result in a glut of cheap, unappealing games, which became one of the contributing factors to the Video Game Crash of 1983. He believed instead that tailoring new games to the strengths and weaknesses of the 2600 machine would have yielded positive results. The reasoning was that while the new games would have lacked the instant-promotion of an already-known name, word of mouth among video gamers, being a young and highly-social group, would have gradually made up for it if the game was good.[citation needed]
In 1986, Crane left Activision to co-found Absolute Entertainment with Garry Kitchen. The two of them left mainly because of Jim Levy's departure, and the way the newly appointed CEO of Activision, Bruce Davis, treated video games more like commodities rather than creative products. Although Crane worked for Absolute, he did all of his programming at his home in California. With Absolute, he was known for Amazing Tennis and A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia, a successful NES title following the adventures of the protagonist and his companion, a shape-shifting blob. In 1995, Absolute Entertainment was dissolved.[citation needed]
In 1995, Crane co-founded Skyworks Technologies, and is the organization's Chief Technical Officer.
Gameography
Year Title Credits Publisher 1978 Outlaw Programmer Atari 1979 Canyon Bomber Programmer Atari 1979 Slot Machine Programmer Atari 1980 Dragster Designer Activision 1980 Fishing Derby Designer Activision 1981 Laser Blast Designer Activision 1981 Freeway Designer Activision 1981 Freeway Designer Activision 1981 Kaboom! Graphics Activision 1982 Pitfall! Designer, programmer Activision 1983 The Activision Decathlon Designer, programmer Activision 1984 Pitfall II: Lost Caverns Designer, programmer, audio Activision 1984 Ghostbusters Designer, programmer Activision 1985 Little Computer People Designer, programmer Activision 1986 Transformers: The Battle to Save the Earth Designer Activision 1987 Skate Boardin' Designer, programmer Activision 1988 Super Skate Boardin' Designer, programmer Activision 1989 A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia Designer, programmer Absolute Entertainment 1990 The Rescue of Princess Blobette Designer, programmer Absolute Entertainment 1991 The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants Programmer Absolute Entertainment 1991 The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World Designer Absolute Entertainment 1991 Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly Programmer Absolute Entertainment 1992 David Crane's Amazing Tennis Designer, programmer Absolute Entertainment 1993 Toys Designer, producer Absolute Entertainment 1994 Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit! Designer Absolute Entertainment 1994 Night Trap Programmer Digital Pictures 1997 SPQR: The Empire's Darkest Hour Advice GT Interactive References
- ^ Covert, Colin. "Meet David Crane: Video Games Guru". Atari Magazine. Atari Magazine. http://www.atarimagazines.com/hi-res/v1n2/davidcrane.php. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ^ Kohler, Chris (27 January 2010). "Pitfall! creator David Crane named videogame pioneer". Wired. http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-01/27/pitfall!-creator-david-crane-named-videogame-pioneer. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ^ "Alumnus Profile". DeVry University. DeVry University. http://www.alumni.devry.edu/news-events-alumni/profiles/david-crane.jsp. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
External links
- David Crane's profile at MobyGames
- Legends of the C64 article on David Crane and Activision
- Meet David Crane: Video Games Guru magazine interview from 1983
- The Dot Eaters article featuring Crane, Pitfall! and Activision
- "Playing Catch-Up: 'A Boy And His Job: Activision's David Crane'", interview with Crane on Gamasutra
Categories:- Activision
- Atari
- American video game designers
- Video game programmers
- Living people
- Video game specialist stubs
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