Simon Phipps is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

self-taught

game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall ...

and

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 ...

. He began making games in 1982 when he wrote his first published

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, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, ''StarForce Lander'' (a version of ''

Lunar Lander A lunar lander or Moon lander is a Lander (spacecraft), spacecraft designed to Moon landing, land on the surface of the Moon. As of 2024, the Apollo Lunar Module is the only lunar lander to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing s ...

'') he wrote while he was at school. He spent a few months writing

business software Business software (or a business application) is any software or set of computer programs used by business users to perform various business functions. These business applications are used to increase productivity, measure productivity, and per ...

before he was approached to provide some freelance artwork for

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

-based

Gremlin Graphics Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited, was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established i ...

. At his interview, he was offered a full-time position. In 1988, he was one of the founders of

Core Design Core Design Limited (known as Rebellion (Derby) Ltd between 2006 and 2010) was a British video game developer based in Derby. Founded in May 1988 by former Gremlin Graphics employees, it originally bore the name Megabrite until rebranding as Co ...

, where he would work on many of their titles until leaving in 1996. Phipps then worked on

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally founded by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes, and Jim Scoroposki from a storefront in Oyster Bay in 1987, the company built a global develop ...

's hit '' Shadow Man'', alongside game designer Guy Miller. Phipps worked for Acclaim Teesside, but about 9 months into making the game '' ShadowMan: 2econd Coming'', he left for

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 ...

(EA) where he worked alongside Guy Miller on the

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

games for five years. SimonNottsVGE

In 2006, he moved to EA's studio

Criterion Games Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford. Founded in January 1996 as a Division (business), division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2 ...

working on a number of unpublished titles as well as contributing to their website and video podcast. In early 2009 he left EA and joined

Eurocom Eurocom Entertainment Software was a British video game developer founded in October 1988 by Mat Sneap, Chris Shrigley, Hugh Binns, Tim Rogers and Neil Baldwin, to develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Eurocom expanded to Handh ...

. Simon has been a regular guest of th
Nottingham Video Games Expo
(NottsVGE) which was established in 2022 and has so far been held across two different venues across Nottingham. In 2024, Simon was part of the Nottingham Video Games Expo on the 20th and 21 July, which was held at The Belgrave Rooms. Simon exhibited unique game design art, plus delivered a talk across the weekend of the expo about his work in the gaming industry. Over previous years, Simon has been part of the Nottingham Video Game Expo delivering talks and Q&A.

Games

* '' Jet Power Jack'' * '' Masters of the Universe: the Movie'' * '' Skate Crazy'' * '' Night Raider'' * ''

Rick Dangerous ''Rick Dangerous'' is a platform game developed by Core Design for the Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. The game was released in 1989 and published by MicroProse on the Firebird Software label ...

'' * ''

Switchblade A switchblade (also known as switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, gravity knife, flick blade, or spring knife) is a pocketknife with a sliding or pivoting blade contained in the handle which is extended ...

'' * '' Saint and Greavsie's Football Trivia'' * '' Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Computer Game'' * ''

Rick Dangerous 2 ''Rick Dangerous 2'' is a platform game developed by Core Design for the Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. It was released in 1990 and published by Micro Style as a sequel to '' Rick Dangerous''. Plot At the ...

'' * '' Thunderhawk'' * '' Wolfchild'' * '' Asterix and the Power of the Gods'' * ''

Bubba 'n' Stix ''Bubba 'n' Stix'' is a side-scrolling platform game for the Sega Genesis, Amiga and Amiga CD32, CD32 developed and released by Core Design. The Genesis version was released in the United States and featured a promotional tie-in with the Bubbli ...

'' * '' Shellshock'' * ''

College Slam ''College Slam'' is a college basketball video game published by Acclaim. It was released for the Super NES, Genesis, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PC. It includes most major Division I colleges, but some, such as the University of T ...

'' * '' ShadowMan'' * '' ShadowMan: 2econd Coming'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and was Rowling's debut novel. It follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who disco ...

'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ...

'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' ( ; also ) is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the third installment in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The novel follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third yea ...

'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the fourth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwar ...

'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the fifth and longest novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter's struggles through his fifth year at Hogwart ...

References

External links

Phipps' Webpage
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phipps, Simon 1966 births Living people British video game designers British video game programmers