Ian Colin Graham Bell (born 31 October 1962 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire) programmed, designed and developed the computer game ''

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

'' (1984) with David Braben, which met with much acclaim.

Education

Bell attended the independent St Albans School. He studied at Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating with a degree (1st) in

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

in 1985, and a Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science in 1986.

Career

Worked as a Senior Software Engineer for Autodesk. Bell was a speaker at the 2009 GameCity game festival. Bell mentioned in his speech about the impact of games:

You're reaching into the minds and the imaginary spaces of children, and you're to an extent shaping their characters and their life stories. I'm glad liteisn't Doom because I'm glad that even though we didn't really think in these terms, I think its effect on players and on people's lives is good, both in the sense of giving them good memories but also in making people think in different ways and awakening interest.

Game development

His work on ''Elite'' (1984), included programming in machine code using assembly. The game was based on an open-ended non-linear game model, and included revolutionary

3D graphic 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the ...

s, at the time. Prior to ''Elite'', he developed ''Free Fall'', a game set inside a

coriolis Coriolis may refer to: * Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (1792–1843), French mathematician, mechanical engineer and scientist * Coriolis force, the apparent deflection of moving objects from a straight path when viewed from a rotating frame of referen ...

space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...

with the player controlling an alien punching astronaut, described by Bell as "the first ever Beat 'em up". ''Free Fall'', also a game for the BBC Micro, was published by

Acornsoft Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. As well as games, it also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and util ...

in 1983. Bell put later ''Free Fall'' and ''Elite'' with the associated source code for

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

download on his website.

References

External links

*
The Guardian article ''Masters of Their Universe'' (2003)Gameplay video of Free Fall (1983)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Ian 1962 births Living people British video game programmers British computer programmers Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge People from Hatfield, Hertfordshire British video game designers Video game producers