David Mullich (; born ) is an American

game producer A video game producer is the top person in charge of overseeing development of a video game. History The earliest documented use of the term ''producer'' in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Ar ...

and

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

. He created the 1980

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...

'', produced the 1995 adaptation ''

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a post-apocalyptic short story by American writer Harlan Ellison. It was first published in the March 1967 issue of ''IF: Worlds of Science Fiction''. The story is set against the backdrop of World War ...

'', and developed ''

Heroes of Might and Magic III ''Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia'' (commonly referred to as ''Heroes of Might & Magic 3'', or ''Heroes 3'', or abbreviated HoMM 3) is a turn-based strategy game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Comput ...

'' and '' Heroes of Might and Magic IV''.

Career

Mullich's began working in video game industry in 1978 when his

COBOL COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural, and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily ...

professor at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

hired him to work as a clerk and programmer at Rainbow Computing, an early computer store in the Los Angeles area. Sherwin Steffin, who was a frequent customer at the store, recruited Mullich to develop games for his new start-up game publishing company,

Edu-Ware Edu-Ware Services, Inc. was an educational software, educational and Video game, entertainment software publisher established in 1979 by Sherwin Steffin and Steven Pederson. It was known for adventure games, role-playing video games, and flight ...

Services. Upon graduating in 1980 with a degree in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

, Mullich joined Edu-Ware as a full-time employee, and as his first assignment created the

''. Mullich designed most of Edu-Ware's adventure games and

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

s, and programmed the company's EWS3 graphics engine and many of its

educational programs An educational program is a program written by the institution or ministry of education which determines the learning progress of each subject in all the stages of formal education. See also * Philosophy of education *Curriculum In education, ...

. Edu-Ware's ''

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

'' game series were accused of violating the copyrights of

Game Designers' Workshop Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a Board wargame, wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers. History Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973. ...

's tabletop game '' Traveller''. Mullich redesigned the games and started a new series called ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

''. '' Windfall: The Oil Crisis Game'' was an early

simulation video game Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

. He eventually left Edu-Ware for Electric Transit. In 1987, Mullich joined Walt Disney Computer Software, where he produced video games based upon Disney characters, films, and television shows with external developers and licensees. He left due to internal politics from upper management. In 1991, he joined developer Interactive Support Group to create driving and

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and ...

s for fifth-generation console systems

CD-I The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...

and 3DO. Mullich next became development director at game publisher

Cyberdreams Cyberdreams Interactive Entertainment was a video game publisher located in California that specialized in adventure games developed in collaboration with famous names from the fantasy, Horror fiction, horror and science fiction genres between 19 ...

, where he became involved with ''

'' as soon as he heard about its development. While participating in a game design panel at the Computer Game Developer's Conference, Mullich met Jon Van Caneghem, founder of game developer

New World Computing New World Computing, Inc. was an American video game developer and video game publisher, publisher founded in 1984 by Jon Van Caneghem, his wife, Michaela Van Caneghem, and Mark Caldwell. It was best known for its work on the ''Might and Magic ...

. Van Caneghem hired Mullich in 1997 to lead the ''

'' development team. Mullich led the team through '' Heroes of Might and Magic IV''. The hero Sir Mullich in '' Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade'' is named after him. With the financial demise of parent company

The 3DO Company The 3DO Company was an American video game company based in Redwood City, California. It was founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins in a partnership with seven other companies to develop the 3DO standard of video gaming hardware ...

, Mullich left New World for software publisher

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

, where he worked on '' Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines'', a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

based upon the ''

Source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute ...

'' engine. When his contract with Activision concluded, Mullich was hired by fellow Cyberdreams alumni Jamie Ottilie to be the development director of his mobile game publishing start-up, Abandon Mobile. During the filming of

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' film trilogy, Mullich was a well-known member of the J.R.R. Tolkien on-line fan community, being a news reporter and film messageboard moderator for the website Tolkien Online and, under the pseudonym Ancalagon The Black, publisher of "The Complete List of Film Changes", documenting the differences between the films and the books.

Personal life

Married with children, Mullich lives in

Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The area, west of Interstate 5, is expanding with residential development and already includes major commercial and industrial parks. It stra ...

Games

Titles developed or produced by Mullich span three decades. Most of his games are listed below in chronological order (non-entertainment titles excluded).

Published by Edu-Ware Services

*'' Space I'' (1979) *'' Space II'' (1979) *'' Windfall: The Oil Crisis Game'' (1980) *''

Network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

'' (1980) *''

'' (1980) *'' Empire I: World Builders'' (1981) *'' Rendezvous: A Space Shuttle Flight Simulation'' (1982) *'' Prisoner 2'' (1982) *'' Empire II: Interstellar Sharks'' (1982) *''Tranquility Base'' (1984) *'' Empire III: Armageddon'' (1984)

Published by Electric Transit

*'' Wilderness: A Survival Adventure'' (1986) *''Lunar Explorer: A Space Flight Simulator'' (1986)

Published by Walt Disney Computer Software

*''

Win, Lose or Draw ''Win, Lose or Draw'' is an American television game show that aired from 1987 to 1990 in syndication and on NBC. It was taped at CBS Television City (one of the few non- CBS game shows to tape there), often in Studios 31, 33, and 43 at vari ...

'' (1988) *''Matterhorn Screamer'' (1988) *''The Chase on Tom Sawyer's Island'' (1988) *'' DuckTales: The Quest for Gold'' (1990) *''Mickey's Crossword Puzzle Maker'' (1991)

Published by Philips Interactive Media of America

*''Video Speedway'' (1993)

Published by Cyberdreams

*''

'' (1995) *'' Dark Seed II'' (1995) *'' Noir: A Shadowy Thriller'' (1996)

Published by The 3DO Company

*''

'' (1999) *'' Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade'' (1999) *'' Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death'' (2000) *'' Heroes Chronicles: Conquest of the Underworld'' (2000) *'' Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements'' (2000) *'' Heroes Chronicles: Warlords of the Wastelands'' (2000) *'' Heroes Chronicles: The Final Chapters'' (2001) *'' Heroes of Might and Magic IV'' (2002)

Published by Activision

*'' Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines'' (2004)

Published by Abandon Mobile

*'' Bode Miller Alpine Racing'' (2006) *''NBC Sports Figure Skating'' (2006) *''NBC Sports Heads-Up Poker'' (2006) *''NBC Sports Real Golf'' (2006) *''

National Heads-Up Poker Championship The National Heads-Up Poker Championship was an annual poker tournament held in the United States and produced by the NBC television network. It is a $25,000 "buy-in" invitation-only tournament organized as a series of heads up poker, one-on-one ...

'' (2007) *''Marine Scout Sniper'' (2007) *''Freaky Creatures'' (2009)

Published by Spin Master Studios

*'' Bakugan Dimensions'' (2010) *'' Zoobles'' (2010)

References

External links

* *
Geek of the Week: David Mullich
at

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'' (known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021) is a website created in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa TechTarget and acted as the online sister publication to the print maga ...

David Mullich: The Interview
at Tea Leaves {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullich, David California State University, Northridge alumni American video game designers American video game directors American video game producers American video game programmers Edu-Ware Living people People from Valencia, Santa Clarita, California Year of birth missing (living people)