Line #47 Creator/WarrenSpector


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warren_spector.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Spector in 2010 [[labelnote:*]]Image courtesy of [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:11.30.10SpectorDavidByLuigiNovi2.jpg Luigi Novi]].[[/labelnote]]]]
3
4	->''"There's a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of a game to a single person," says Warren Spector, creator of ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' and ''VideoGame/DeusEx''.''
5	-->--'''[[https://ca.ign.com/articles/2001/11/12/deus-ex-2 IGN]]''' subscribing to MediaNotes/TheAuteurTheory[[note]]Spector did not actually create ''Thief'' (the original idea, in fact, came from [[Creator/IrrationalGames Ken Levine]]), and while he did serve as the first game's producer, he left Looking Glass before it released and had an even more managerial role in the third game's development at Ion Storm.[[/note]]
6
7	Warren Evan Spector (b. October 2, 1955) is a legendary game designer and producer from [[UsefulNotes/OtherCitiesInTexas Austin, Texas]], best known for directing ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' and ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' and often credited as the grandfather of the ImmersiveSim genre.
8
9	Like many future video game designers, Spector began his career in tabletop, having been an [[JustForFun/OneOfUs avid player]] of Creator/AvalonHill's games and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' throughout his college years. After getting his master's degree in 1980[[note]]with a thesis on the critical history of Creator/WarnerBros cartoons[[/note]], he started working as an editor in ''The Space Gamer'' magazine in 1983, before quickly becoming the [[DaChief editor-in-chief]] for ''all'' of Creator/SteveJacksonGames' publications. In that capacity, he had co-developed and published SJG's first fully-fledged TabletopRPG, Creator/GregCostikyan's ''TabletopGame/{{Toon}}'' (1984), as well as writing for the ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' lines. In 1987, he was hired by Creator/{{TSR}} where he worked on the ''TabletopGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'' line and the second edition of ''AD&D'', among other things.
10
11	Spector made his break into the video game industry by joining Creator/OriginSystems in 1989, where his creative team-ups (as producer) with Richard Garriott and Chris Roberts produced two of Origin's most seminal titles, ''VideoGame/UltimaVI'' and the original ''[[VideoGame/WingCommanderTheKilrathiSaga Wing Commander]]'', respectively (both released in 1990). While still at Origin, he was tasked with producing an ''Ultima'' SpinOff then in development by Paul Neurath, Doug Church, et al. at Blue Sky Productions, which would become the UrExample of the ImmersiveSim -- ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'' (1992). The same year, Blue Sky became Creator/LookingGlassStudios, with Spector taking charge of its Austin branch soon thereafter -- although thanks to Origin and LGS's famously cozy relationship, he had worked on a number of games by ''both'' studios between 1992 and 1997, most notably, ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock''.
12
13	By 1997, however, Looking Glass (then working on ''Dark Camelot'' a.k.a. ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'') began struggling financially, and Spector dissolved the Austin studio after realizing that it was no longer sustainable. At that point, Creator/JohnRomero, who had just signed a six-game contract with Creator/EidosInteractive, approached him with an offer to lead what would become Creator/IonStorm Austin. Jumping at the chance to make the game of his dreams, Spector took up the offer and in 2000, released his most influential work, ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. When LGS shut down the same year after releasing ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'', many of its staff joined Spector's studio and went on to create ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' and ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'', while he took a more hands-off approach. ''Deadly Shadows'' was Ion Storm's sixth and final game for Eidos, who shut it down in 2005 after Spector and other senior staff had left.[[note]]Ion Storm Austin has actually outlived Looking Glass, Romero's Ion Storm Dallas, ''and'' Origin by five, four, and one year, respectively.[[/note]]
14
15	After departing from Ion Storm, Spector founded Junction Point Studios in 2005, which had reportedly worked on a canceled ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' episode for Creator/ValveSoftware, before being purchased by Creator/DisneyInteractiveStudios in 2007. There, Spector directed the development of ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' for the Platform/{{Wii}} and ''VideoGame/{{Epic Mickey 2\|ThePowerOfTwo}}'', as well as wrote the 2011 ''Franchise/DuckTales'' comics reboot for [[Creator/KaboomComics Boom! Kids]]. However, poor sales of ''Epic Mickey 2'' prevented Junction Point from [[CutShort finishing the planned trilogy]] when Disney shut them down in 2013. After this, Spector took a break from the gaming industry to teach game design at the University of Texas at Austin.
16
17	Paul Neurath managed to lure Spector back from his hiatus in 2016 with an offer to work on ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' (a SpiritualSuccessor to their own ''Ultima Unterworlds'') and ''VideoGame/SystemShock3'' at his newly-founded [=OtherSide=] Entertainment. Spector [[https://www.wired.com/2016/02/warren-spector-system-shock-3/ reportedly]] viewed these as his chance to WinBackTheCrowd that was disappointed by his ''Epic Mickey'' games (even though he himself views them as a natural evolution of his lifelong systemic game design philosophy), but after ''[=SS3=]'' was sold to Creator/TencentGames in 2020, he moved on to work on an unannounced original ImmersiveSim IP for [=OtherSide=].
18	----
19	!!Works
20
21	!!!At Creator/SteveJacksonGames:
22	* ''TabletopGame/{{Toon}}: The Cartoon Role-Playing Game'' (1984) -- co-authored with Creator/GregCostikyan
23
24	!!!At Creator/OriginSystems:
25	* ''VideoGame/UltimaVI'' (1990) -- writer, designer, producer
26	* ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' (1990) -- producer
27	* ''Bad Blood'' (1990) -- producer
28	* ''VideoGame/UltimaWorldsOfAdventure2MartianDreams'' (1991) -- producer
29	* ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII: The Serpent Isle'' (1993) -- producer
30	* ''VideoGame/WingsOfGlory'' (1995) -- producer
31	* ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}: No Remorse'' (1995) -- producer
32	* ''[=CyberMage=]: Darklight Awakening'' (1995) -- producer
33	* ''Transland'' (1996) -- designer
34
35	!!!At Blue Sky Productions[=/=]Creator/LookingGlassStudios:
36	* ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'' (1992) -- producer
37	* ''Ultima Underworld II'' (1993) -- producer
38	* ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' (1994) -- producer
39	* ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' (1998) -- special thanks (Spector left LGS during its production)
40
41	!!!At Creator/IonStorm Austin:
42	* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' (2000) -- project director, producer
43	* ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' (2003) -- studio director
44	* ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'' (2004) -- studio director
45
46	!!!At Junction Point Studios[=/=]Creator/DisneyInteractiveStudios:
47	* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' (2010) -- creative director, studio head
48	* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey2ThePowerOfTwo'' (2012) -- studio head
49
50	!!!At [=OtherSide=] Entertainment:
51	* ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' (2018) -- creative consultant
52	* ''System Shock 3''[[note]]Spector worked on the sequel from 2016 to 2020, when it was sold to Creator/TencentGames, effectively ending his involvement.[[/note]]

Context Creator / WarrenSpector