Sidney K. 'Sid' Meier (born February 24, 1954) is a world-famous Canadian game programmer and designer. His first game was inspired by arcade flight simulators; specifically, the ease with which he could exploit their pitiful A.I.s (with some help from a friend) pushed him to write a better one. He and his friend Bill Stealy went on to found MicroProse, and from there, the rest is history.
Meier is best known for two wildly popular game franchises: Civilization, the Trope Codifier for the 4X Turn-Based Strategy genre, and Railroad Tycoon, the Trope Codifier for the business management simulator genre. However, these are most definitely not the only games he is famous for, and chances are pretty good that any serious strategy or simulation gamer has at least one of his titles in his collection. Many of them include his name proudly displayed in the game's title. These include:
- Sid Meier's Civilization VI (2016) 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Starships (2015), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth (2014), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's CivWorld (2011), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Civilization V (2011), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (2008), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Railroads! (2006), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV (2005), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords (2006), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword (2007), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2008), 2K Games
- Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004), Atari, Inc.
- Sid Meier's Pirates! for Xbox (2005), 2K Games
- Age of Mythology (2002), Microsoft
- Sid Meier's SimGolf (2002), Electronic Arts Inc. (Not to be confused with SimGolf by Maxis.)
- Sid Meier's Civilization III (2001), Infogrames
- Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests (2003), Atari, Inc.
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999), Electronic Arts Inc.
- Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire (1999), Electronic Arts Inc.
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack (2000), Electronic Arts Inc.
- Sid Meier's Antietam! (1998), Electronic Arts Inc.
- Sid Meier's Gettysburg! (1997), Electronic Arts Inc.
- Sid Meier's Civilization II (1996), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Vikings: The Strategy of Ultimate Conquest (1996), GT Interactive
- Sid Meier's Civ Net (1995), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Sid Meier's C.P.U. Bach (1994), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Sid Meier's Colonization (1994), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- F-15 Strike Eagle III (1993), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Pirates! Gold (1993), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Return of the Phantom (1993), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- High Command: Europe 1939-45 (1992), Three-Sixty Pacific
- Gunship 2000 (1991), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Civilization (1991), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Railroad Tycoon (1990), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Covert Action (1990), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- F-15 Strike Eagle II (1989), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- M1 Tank Platoon (1989), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Red Storm Rising (1989), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Sword of the Samurai (1989), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- F-19 Stealth Fighter (1988), MicroProse Software,
- Pirates! (1987), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Conflict in Vietnam (1986), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Gunship (1986), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Crusade in Europe (1985), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Decision in the Desert (1985), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- F-15 Strike Eagle (1985), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Silent Service (1985), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- Solo Flight (1985), MicroProse Software, Inc.
- NATO Commander (1984), US Gold
- Spitfire Ace (1984), MicroProse Software, Inc.
(List shamelessly copied from his official company bio)
Note that, in addition to all of the above, he is also a mighty psionic XCOM Colonel.
Tropes Sid Meier's works tend to display as a whole include:
- Billed Above the Title: If it’s his game or even just something tangentially related, you bet Sid Meier’s name will be the first thing slapped in front of the title.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: A staple of his games, with probably the most famous example being the “Settler-Deity” difficulty options of the Civilization series.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: Gee, I wonder who designed all these games…
- Shown Their Work: The main point of Sid Meier’s games is to offer impressively in-depth and well-thought experiences of various settings and scenarios, both drawing from real history and hard science fiction. Even the more abstraction-heavy Civilization and Pirates! still draw upon even the most granular elements of real history and teach the player about it directly.