Mark Nelson is an American video game designer and humor writer best known for his work with

Bethesda Game Studios Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. It is best known for its action role-playing franchises, including ''The Elder Scrolls'', '' Fallout'', and '' Starfield''. B ...

and the game series

The Elder Scrolls ''The Elder Scrolls'' is a series of action role-playing games, action role-playing video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series focuses on Nonlinear gameplay, free-form gameplay in an ...

. In March 2007, he joined computer games company

Big Huge Games Big Huge Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Timonium, Maryland since 2000, known first for real-time strategy games such as ''Rise of Nations'', later for the console RPG '' Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning'', and more recen ...

to create a new role-playing game, joining industry veteran Brian Reynolds and long-time collaborator

Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. Tabletop role-playing games Ken Rolston began working as a professional g ...

. Mark has a bachelor's degree from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and is a member of the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

. He has been a professional games designer since 1999. In 2013, Nelson founded Nelson Game Design LLC, a game consulting company providing comprehensive design services. From 2014 to 2016, Nelson served as design director at robotics company

Sphero Sphero, Inc. (formerly Orbotix) is an American consumer robotics and toy company based in Boulder, Colorado. Their first product, the Sphero, is a white spherical robot launched in December 2011 capable of rolling around under the control of a s ...

. While there, he was responsible for the design of the successful BB-8 app-controlled droid released in 2015. In July 2017, Nelson was named Chief R&D and Design Officer of Bit Fry Game Studios, Inc.

Early career

Before entering the computer game field, Mark spent many years as both a writer and editor. He designed multimedia training for

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

, edited

environmental impact statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...

s for the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

, and was an editor of ''The Washington Wit'', a Washington, DC–based humor magazine.

Videogame industry

Nelson joined Bethesda Game Studios as a designer on '' The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind''. He then led the design on its expansions, '' The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal'' and '' The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon''. Nelson went on to work as a designer on award-winning games '' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'', and ''

Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...

''. He was the lead designer on 2007's '' The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles''. Mark joined

in 2007 and served as lead narrative designer on their

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

project, cancelled when the studio was sold in 2009. Nelson went on to be the lead designer and creative director of '' Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning'', a single player RPG designed by Big Huge Games, a Baltimore subsidiary of

38 Studios 38 Studios, LLC was an American video game development studio and publisher based in Providence, Rhode Island. The company was founded in Maynard, Massachusetts, in 2006 as Green Monster Games by baseball player Curt Schilling. Schilling's go ...

. The game was created for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

PS3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

and PC platforms and is set in the world of

Amalur Amalur or Ama Lurra (Basque for "Mother Earth"), is the mother of Ekhi, the sun, and Ilazki, the moon, in Basque mythology. She is the home not only of living beings, but also of mythological creatures, divinities and souls. Amalur (Mother Ea ...

. In July 2007, Nelson became the design director for

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher known for its social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile an ...

East, a

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

-based social game studio, which produced the titles '' FrontierVille'' and ''

CityVille 2 ''CityVille 2'' is a defunct casual social city-building simulation game developed by Zynga and released globally on Facebook November 1, 2012. ''CityVille 2'' was a 3D game that was story-based, with a mystery that unfolds as the player’s city ...

''. In February 2013, Nelson left Zynga when the Zynga East studio was shut down.

Games

*''

'' (2012) (design director) *'' Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning'' (2011) (creative director, lead designer) *''

'' (2008) (designer) *'' The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles'' (2007) (lead designer) *'' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' (2006) (designer) *''

Pirates of the Caribbean ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with Wa ...

'' (2003) (additional design) *'' The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon'' (2003) (writer, designer) *'' The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal'' (2002) (writer, designer) *'' The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind'' (2002) (writer, designer)

References

External links

Mark E. Nelson
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video 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, game controller, controlle ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Mark Year of birth missing (living people) American video game designers Bethesda Softworks employees Living people American video game writers Zynga people