Jump to content

Mark Cerny: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Rich Lem (talk | contribs)
406 edits
→Production history: Italicizing God of War III
Rich Lem (talk | contribs)
406 edits
→Production history: Linking to games where available, changing section heading to reflect removal of "Special Thanks" credits
Line 23: Line 23:
Cerny was an early employee of [[Kleiner Perkins]]-backed video game startup [[Crystal Dynamics]] in 1992, and was ''de facto'' head of engineering during production of its first two products, ''[[Crash 'n Burn (1993 video game)|Crash 'n Burn]]'' (1993) and ''[[Total Eclipse (1996 video game)|Total Eclipse]]'' (1994).{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}}
Cerny was an early employee of [[Kleiner Perkins]]-backed video game startup [[Crystal Dynamics]] in 1992, and was ''de facto'' head of engineering during production of its first two products, ''[[Crash 'n Burn (1993 video game)|Crash 'n Burn]]'' (1993) and ''[[Total Eclipse (1996 video game)|Total Eclipse]]'' (1994).{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}}


==Production history==
==Significant games==
* ''Major Havok'' (1983, arcade) — Programmer, Designer
* ''Major Havok'' (1983, arcade) — Programmer, Designer
* ''[[Marble Madness]]'' (1984, arcade) — Programmer, Designer
* ''[[Marble Madness]]'' (1984, arcade) — Programmer, Designer
* ''Shooting Gallery'' (1987, Master System) — Programmer, Designer
* ''Shooting Gallery'' (1987, Master System) — Programmer, Designer
* ''Missile Defense 3-D'' (1987, Master System) — Programmer, Designer
* ''Missile Defense 3-D'' (1987, Master System) — Programmer, Designer
* ''Shanghai'' (1988, port to Master System) — Programmer
* ''[[Shanghai (video game)|Shanghai]]'' (1988, port to Master System) — Programmer
* ''California Games'' (1989, port to Master System) — Programmer
* ''[[California Games]]'' (1989, port to Master System) — Programmer
* ''Dick Tracy'' (1990, Genesis) — Programmer, Designer
* ''Dick Tracy'' (1990, Genesis) — Programmer, Designer
* ''[[Kid Chameleon (video game)|Kid Chameleon]]'' (1991, Genesis) — Programmer, Designer
* ''[[Kid Chameleon (video game)|Kid Chameleon]]'' (1991, Genesis) — Programmer, Designer
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]'' (1992, Genesis) — Producer
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]'' (1992, Genesis) — Producer
* ''Crash ‘n Burn'' (1993, 3DO) — Programmer, Designer
* ''[[Crash N Burn (1993 video game)|Crash ‘n Burn]]'' (1993, 3DO) — Programmer, Designer
* ''Total Eclipse'' (1994, 3DO) — Programmer, Designer
* ''[[Total Eclipse (1993 video game)|Total Eclipse]]'' (1994, 3DO) — Programmer, Designer
* ''[[Disruptor (video game)|Disruptor]]'' (1996, PlayStation) — Executive Producer, Designer
* ''[[Disruptor (video game)|Disruptor]]'' (1996, PlayStation) — Executive Producer, Designer
* ''[[Crash Bandicoot (video game)|Crash Bandicoot]]'' (1996, PlayStation) — Executive Producer
* ''[[Crash Bandicoot (video game)|Crash Bandicoot]]'' (1996, PlayStation) — Executive Producer
Line 52: Line 52:
* ''[[Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction]]'' (2007, PS3) — Design Consultant
* ''[[Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction]]'' (2007, PS3) — Design Consultant
* ''[[Resistance 2]]'' (2008, PS3) — Designer
* ''[[Resistance 2]]'' (2008, PS3) — Designer
* ''God of War III'' (2010, PS3) — Design Consultant
* ''[[God of War III]]'' (2010, PS3) — Design Consultant
* ''[[Killzone 3]]'' (2011, PS3) — Design Consultant
* ''[[Killzone 3]]'' (2011, PS3) — Design Consultant


Revision as of 22:29, 28 January 2013

Mark Cerny
Mark Cerny, 2010
Born1964
OccupationGame designer
SpouseKatsura Cerny

Mark Cerny (born 1964) is a video game industry figure who has worked as a game designer, programmer, producer and business executive. As president of Cerny Games, which he founded in 1998, he now acts as a consultant in the video game industry. In 2004, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Game Developers Association.[1]

Career

Cerny, a fan of computer programming and arcade games, started in the game industry at the age of 17 when he joined Atari in 1982. In those earlier days of professional game development, teams were small and each member was responsible for a wider range of roles than today.[2]

Cerny's first major success is usually cited as Marble Madness in which he, at age 18, acted as the designer. For years he worked with Sega in Japan and the United States, where he worked on Sonic the Hedgehog 2.[3] He was the vice president and then president of Universal Interactive Studios. He continues to work with Naughty Dog (where he has worked on Crash Bandicoot and later consulted on the Jak and Daxter series), Insomniac Games (Spyro the Dragon and Ratchet and Clank), and Sony.

From his extensive experience on the "dos and don'ts" in the game industry he has developed the "Cerny method", a strategy for game development. His method prefers a free-form, pre-production stage that explores a game's viability prior to full development.[4] For example, he advocates that if the first level produced does not excite customers, then the game idea should be set aside before too much effort is put into it.[1]

The International Game Developers Association awarded Cerny with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards (IGDA) in 2004.[2] IGNA stated, "It's rare to find a 'jack-of-all-trades' who not only has the high-level vision for great game design but can act as the glue to adhere all the pieces together. His unusual but highly effective methodology has brought us some of the most entertaining games in history."[5] He was described as the "master collaborator". His success rests not only on the number of games he's worked on, but also on their quality and commercial success (having sold several dozen million units).[6]

Cerny was an early employee of Kleiner Perkins-backed video game startup Crystal Dynamics in 1992, and was de facto head of engineering during production of its first two products, Crash 'n Burn (1993) and Total Eclipse (1994).[citation needed]

Significant games

Notes

  1. ^ a b Breeden II, John. "A Lifetime of Achievement". www.gameindustry.com. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  2. ^ a b Perry, Douglas C. "IGN: Interview with Mark Cerny". pc.ign.com. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  3. ^ Horowitz, Ken. "Interview: Mark Cerny". www.sega-16.com. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  4. ^ McLean, John. "Gamasutra - Conversations From GDC Europe: Mark Cerny, Jonty Barnes, Jason Kingsley". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  5. ^ Calvert, Justine. "IGDA Lifetime Achievement Award for Mark Cerny - News at GameSpot". www.gamespot.com. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  6. ^ "Production Genius Mark Cerny to Receive IGDA's Lifetime Achievement Award at 4th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards". International Game Developers Association. February 9, 2004. Retrieved March 16, 2010.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Mark_Cerny&oldid=535414992"