Greg Costikyan | |
|---|---|
 Costikyan in 2006 | |
| Born | (1959-07-22)July 22, 1959 (age 65)[1] New York City, U.S.[1] |
| Pen name | Designer X |
| Occupation | Game designer, science fiction writer |
| Education | Brown University (BS) |
| Genre | Role-playing games |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Edward N. Costikyan (father) |
Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, inNew York City[1]), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X",[2] is an Americangame designer andscience fiction writer.[3]Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-basedwargames,role-playing games,boardgames,card games,computer games,online games, andmobile games. Several of his games have wonOrigins Awards. He co-foundedManifesto Games, now out of business, with Johnny Wilson in 2005.
Greg Costikyan is the son of attorney and politicianEdward N. and Frances (Holmgren) Costikyan.[1] He and Warren Spector, a game designer, were friends since high school.[4] He is a 1982 graduate (B.S.) ofBrown University.[1] He married Louise Disbrow (a securities analyst), September 4, 1986.[1] They have three children.[5] He is a frequent speaker at game industry events including theGame Developers Conference andE³.
Greg Costikyan has been a game designer since the 1970s.[6] Costikyan worked atSPI until it was closed byTSR in 1982; he came toWest End Games in 1983.[7]: 186 His 1983 gameBug-Eyed Monsters brought West End Games into the science-fiction and fantasy genres, and the following year he licensed hisParanoia role-playing game to West End Games for publishing after trying unsuccessfully to find a publisher.[7]: 186–187 Costikyan designedToon (1984) forSteve Jackson Games after developing it from an idea suggested byJeff Dee; Costikyan felt that the game system was mostly "arbitrary" and that the theme of the game was far more important.[7]: 104 West End Games acquired licensing to make a game based onStar Wars, and Costikyan designedStar Wars: The Roleplaying Game, published in 1987, assisted by Doug Kaufman and others.[7]: 190
Costikyan andEric Goldberg left West End Games in January 1987, forming the short-lived Goldberg Associates.[7]: 191 When West End Games declared bankruptcy in 1998, Costikyan and Goldberg tried to recover the rights toParanoia; although West End's founderScott Palter tried to fight this, a judge gave the rights back to the creators in 2000.[7]: 194 Costikyan designed the role-playing gameViolence (1999) under the pseudonym "Designer X" forHogshead Publishing, and made sure that the game would widely available by releasing it under aCreative Commons license.[7]: 306–307 Costikyan and Goldberg licensedParanoia toMongoose Publishing, which began producing new books for the game in 2004.[7]: 398
Costikyan was the CEO ofManifesto Games, a start-up devoted to providing a viable path to market for independently developed computer games.[6] He subsequently worked as a consultant for several years before joining Guerillapps as lead game designer in March 2010 to develop its game "Trash Tycoon" forFacebook.[8] In May 2011, he joined Disney Playdom as senior games designer and in January 2014 assumed the same role at Loop Drop. In June 2015, Costikyan joinedBoss Fight Entertainment as senior games designer.[9]
He has written on games, game design, and game industry business issues for publications including: theNew York Times,Wall Street Journal Interactive,Salon,The Escapist,Gamasutra, andGame Developers Magazine, and is the author of science fiction novels.[6][10]
He has lectured on game design at universities including: the Copenhagen ITU, Helsinki University of Art & Design, RPI, andStony Brook University.[10]
As of 2019, Costikyan and Goldberg both joinedPlayable Worlds, a gaming startup founded byRaph Koster focused on producing the MMORPG,Stars Reach.
Costikyan's notable works include:
Costikyan's other RPG credits includeAcute Paranoia (1986) forParanoia,[12]: 353 andYour Own Private Idaho (1987) forThe Price of Freedom.[12]: 256
In addition, Costikyan is a widely published author on the subject of game design and the role of games in culture. His essay "I Have No Words and I Must Design"[19] is widely read as a conceptual approach to framing game design.
Costikyan worked on game design for many years, including writing and consulting forNokia. In September 2005, he left Nokia to join with Johnny Wilson, former editor ofComputer Gaming World, in founding the startup indie game publisherManifesto Games.[20] He regularly contributed to the now defunct Manifesto Games' website, and was editor in chief of their now defunct offshoot game review blogPlay This Thing.[21]
In the 1970s and '80s, Costikyan was a leading player ofSlobbovia. His novelOne Quest, Hold the Dragons includes several stories aboutcrottled greeps, a Slobbovianmeme.[citation needed]
In 1997, he designed the video gameEvolution: The Game of Intelligent Life.[22]
In February 2009, Costikyan updated the rules and re-released his 1979space combat game,Vector 3, under aCreative Commons license as a freePDF download.[23]
Costikyan has written four novels. The first two wereparodies of genrefantasy:Another Day, Another Dungeon (1990,ISBN 0-8125-0140-3) and its sequelOne Quest, Hold the Dragons (1995,ISBN 0-8125-2269-9).By the Sword (1993,ISBN 0-312-85489-7) is another irreverent fantasy about a youngbarbarian who is forced by circumstances to make his way in the larger world; it was originally serialized on the Prodigy online service.
His latest novel,First Contract (in French :Space O.P.A. - 2000,ISBN 0-312-87396-4), depicts (with much dry humor) the vast sociological and economic changes that happen after aliens arrive on Earth, and one entrepreneur's efforts to survive and make a new start.[24]
In 2013, Costikyan's non-fiction look at the role of uncertainty in game developmentUncertainty in Games was published by MIT Press. A paperback edition was subsequently published in 2015.ISBN 9780262527538.[25]
Costikyan is the winner of fiveOrigins Awards.[6] On March 7, 2007, Costikyan received theGame Developers Choice Awards Maverick Award. The award was given for his tireless efforts to create a viable channel for indie games.[26]He was inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame in 1999.[27]
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