Doug Church (born November 16, 1968, in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

), is an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

and producer. He attended

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in the late 1980s, but left and went to work with

Looking Glass Studios Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Produ ...

, when they were making primarily

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

-based

immersive sim An immersive sim (simulation) is a video game genre that emphasizes player choice. Its core, defining trait is the use of simulated systems that respond to a variety of player actions which, combined with a comparatively broad array of player a ...

games, including ''

Ultima Underworld ''Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'' is a 1992 action role-playing game developed by Blue Sky Productions (later Looking Glass Studios) and published by Origin Systems. Set in the fantasy world of the ''Ultima'' series the story takes pla ...

'', '' Ultima Underworld II'', ''

System Shock ''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game ...

'' and ''

Thief Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal short ...

''. His colleague

Warren Spector Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...

claims, in fact, that Church was the one who originally coined the term "immersive simulation". Later, Church joined

Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Limited (formerly Domark Limited) was a British video game publisher based in Wimbledon, London. Among its franchises were '' Championship Manager'', '' Deus Ex'', ''Hitman'', '' Thief'' and ''Tomb Raider''. Domark was founded ...

as technical director, lending programming and design expertise on a number of games from

Ion Storm Ion Storm, L.P. was an American video game developer founded in Dallas, Texas in November 1996 by John Romero and Tom Hall, both formerly of id Software ; a branch in Austin, Texas was opened in 1997. In April 1999, Eidos Interactive acquired 5 ...

and

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the ''Tomb Raider'', '' Legacy of Kain'', and '' Gex'' series. Madeline Canepa, Judy Lange, and Dave Morse ...

, including extensive design work on '' Tomb Raider: Legend''. In 2005, he left Eidos to join

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

. In 2003, Church was given the

International Game Developers Association The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a nonprofit professional association whose stated mission is to "support and empower game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers." The IGDA is incorp ...

's Community Contribution award, in part for his work as co-chair of the IGDA's educational committee developing relationships between the game industry and academia. He has also participated in many of the

Indie Game Jam The Indie Game Jam (IGJ) was an effort to rapidly prototype video game designs and inject new ideas into the game industry. Started in 2002 by a group of game designer-programmers, the event featured a shared game engine technology and worked on by ...

s, including developing "Angry God Bowling," the prototypical game for the first IGJ. In 2009, he was chosen by

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. From July 2005 to 2009, Church worked at

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

office, as team leader on a project supervised by filmmaker

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

. On March 16, 2011,

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

announced that Church had been hired for an undisclosed position and project. In August 2016,

OtherSide Entertainment OtherSide Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 2013 by Looking Glass Studios co-founder Paul Neurath. In June 2016, the company opened a second studio in Austin, Texas, led by Warren ...

announced that Church had been hired as a creative consultant for the development of ''

System Shock 3 ''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during product ...

''.

Games

References

External links

November 2004 Gamasutra interview with Church"Formal Abstract Design Tools for Games"
a notable early effort to develop a common language of game design methodology. 1968 births American video game designers Living people Valve Corporation people {{eidos-stub