John R. Taylor III
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John R. Taylor III (born January 13, 1957) is an American
computer game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, mo ...
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 ...
, serial entrepreneur and
massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, although t ...
pioneer. He is a co-founder (with his
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
classmate
Kelton Flinn Kelton Flinn is an American computer game designer who is a major pioneer in online games. He is a co-founder (with his University of Virginia classmate John Taylor) of the seminal online game company Kesmai, which they began in 1982. His be ...
) of the game company
Kesmai Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim '' Air Warrior'' on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphica ...
, which they founded in 1981. In 2011, Taylor was awarded the Online Game Legend Award by the
Computer 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 ...
.


Game development and career history


Early career

In the late 1970s Taylor co-founded the
Charlottesville, VA Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen ...
-based company Amber Electronics to design and build high end audio equipment for the consumer audiophile market. The business was sold and as of 2012, Amber Electronics operates in Australia. After Amber Electronics, Taylor spent five years at
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
’s Industrial Electronics Development Lab, where he developed test systems for Computer Numerical Controls and motion control systems for advanced robotics.


Founding of Kesmai

In 1981, along with Dr.
Kelton Flinn Kelton Flinn is an American computer game designer who is a major pioneer in online games. He is a co-founder (with his University of Virginia classmate John Taylor) of the seminal online game company Kesmai, which they began in 1982. His be ...
, Taylor founded
Kesmai Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim '' Air Warrior'' on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphica ...
, the oldest US online multiplayer game company. The name Kesmai was generated from an auto-name generation program, while they were trying to name the island featured in Kesmai's first online role playing game. In 1982, the company was incorporated and Taylor and Flinn decided to name the company Kesmai as well. Taylor and Dr. Flinn's efforts demonstrated the commercial viability of the online game industry. Taylor was instrumental in pioneering the design of text-based MUDs and role-playing games as well as the first multiplayer flight simulation game with a graphical interface - '' Air Warrior''. He, along with Dr. Flinn also designed and developed a massively online gaming enabling technology called ARIES. Taylor expanded the business into the publishing of third party online games via distribution agreements with U.S., Japanese and European online providers. Kesmai's major titles include: :*
MegaWars III ''MegaWars III'' was a massively multiplayer empire building game written by Kesmai and run continuously on CompuServe between 1984 and 1999. It was one of CompuServe's most popular games throughout its lifetime with thousands of players joining ...
(1983) — ''MegaWars III'' was the first game Kesmai published for
CompuServe CompuServe, Inc. (CompuServe Information Service, Inc., also known by its initialism CIS or later CSi) was an American Internet company that provided the first major commercial online service provider, online service. It opened in 1969 as a times ...
in 1983. Ironically, the reason they wanted to go to CompuServe was to have enough computation power to do ''Island of Kesmai'', but it proved too computationally expensive. Consequently, ''MegaWars III'' was developed. ''MegaWars'' III, was an adaptation of a game called ''"S"''. Another irony: Not one of the ''MegaWars'' games are related to each other except by name; the original was based on the old university mainframe game ''DECWAR''. :*
Island of Kesmai ''Island of Kesmai'' is a discontinued multi-user dungeon (MUD) online game. An early entry in the genre, the game was innovative in its use of roguelike pseudo-graphics. It is considered a major forerunner of modern massively multiplayer o ...
(1985) — The rewrite of Flinn and Taylor's old text action adventure game went live at the end of 1985 after a long internal test cycle. It cost $6 an hour at 300 baud (the slow dial-up modems of the day), $12 for 1200 baud (the fast dial-up modems). :*
Stellar Warrior Stellar means anything related to one or more stars (''stella''). The term may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Stellar'' (magazine), an Irish lifestyle and fashion magazine * Stellar Loussier, a character from ''Mobile Suit Gu ...
(1985) — This rewrite of ''Mega Wars III'' introduced substantially simplified game play to expand its potential audience, and debuted on the
GEnie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...
online service the same day that ''Islands of Kesmai'' went live on CompuServe. :* Air Warrior (1986) — This game, offered on GEnie, is a key milestone in the history of computer games because it was the first commercial multiplayer online game to add graphics, displaying a 3D airplane dogfight environment. The original game was developed for the Apple Macintosh, and was followed by Amiga and Atari ST versions; the IBM PC version debuted in 1987. In another major innovation, Kesmai combined Mac, Amiga, Atari ST, and IBM PC players all in the same game, flying against each other. :* Multiplayer BattleTech: EGA (1991) — This title takes the ''Air Warrior'' concept to a futuristic land-based combat using heavily armed giant robots called Mechs. The game was very popular with players who fought for supremacy over the ''BattleTech'' universe. The game was technologically challenging for computers at the time due to the need for the computer to draw more terrain than it needed to draw when planes are flying in the air where much of the background is plain blue sky.


News Corporation and Electronic Arts

In 1994, Taylor negotiated the sale of
Kesmai Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim '' Air Warrior'' on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphica ...
Corporation to Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
. Taylor remained at News Corporation for six years and was instrumental in developing Kesmai's
GameStorm GameStorm was an online gaming service founded by Kesmai corporation in November 1997. It offered several online video games at a flat monthly fee of $10 per month, a relatively radical payment system in the age of pay-by-hour online gaming. Both ...
, a pay-for-play web based gaming service. News Corporation sold its online game business to
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 ...
where Taylor was General Manager of EA Virginia and also Chief Production Officer for EA.com.


Castle Hill Studios and Video Gaming Technologies, Inc.

In 2001, Taylor co-founded Castle Hill Studios in 2001, a game development and technology company. Castle Hill worked with Microsoft, Electronic Arts and others to develop online gaming concepts and designs based on top-rated television, movie and gaming properties. In 2003, Taylor joined
Video Gaming Technologies Video Gaming Technologies is an American supplier of gambling machines. VGT was founded in 1991 in Franklin, Tennessee by Jon Yarbrough. VGT was privately owned, until it was bought in October 2014 by the Australian company Aristocrat Leisure ...
, a Class II casino gaming company, as Vice President of Engineering. He returned to Castle Hill in 2010 and now develops and manages intellectual properties for gaming systems.


Personal life

Taylor graduated from the University of Virginia in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with Distinction and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with Distinction. He received a master's in Computer Science from the university in 1985. In October 2011, Taylor was awarded th
Online Game Legend Award
by the Computer Game Developers Association. Taylor is active in his community and has been involved in the Boy Scouts of America since 1998. He was awarded the
Silver Beaver Award The Silver Beaver Award is the council-level distinguished service award of Scouting America. Recipients of the award are registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council. Those deemed ...
by the
Virginia Headwaters Council The Virginia Headwaters Council (VAHC) is the local council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) that serves Scouts in areas of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and West Virginia and areas of central Virginia. History The first council in the area ...
(formerly Stonewall Jackson Council).


References


External links


Air Warrior Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, John R. III 1957 births Living people American video game designers