Digital Media Concepts/David Patrick Crane
Introduction
[edit | edit source] | |
| David Patrick Crane | |
| Age | 65 Years Old |
|---|---|
| Year | 1953 |
| Occupation | Game Designer, Gaming Programmer |
| Birth Place | Nappanee, Indiana |
| Cofounder of | Absolute Entertainment & Skyworks Interactive |
David Crane is an American born video game programmer and video game designer. The first company that he did any hardware design at was called National Semiconductor.
Early Life and Education or Biography
[edit | edit source]David Patrick Crane was involved in the field of hardware architecture. He was born in Indiana and graduated from Devry with a bachelors of science. One of the first projects given to him as an employee at Atari Inc. was to create games for the Atari 2600 console. After some time at the company he got together with one of his fellow coworkers Alan Miller who inspired him to leave Atari for better opportunities. David Patrick Crane started the company known as Activision. He helped cofound companies after Activision, for example Absolute Entertainment, Kickstarter, and Skyworks Technologies.
Noted Works
[edit | edit source]Crane created at least one successful game design for each company that he was employed at or that he was very involved in. At Activision he was the lead in creating a video game called Pitfall!. In this game the goal is to accomplish the objectives within the span of twenty minutes. Then he left to Absolute Entertainment due to changes in his wages and management. While with Absolute Entertainment he focused on the game David Crane’s Amazing Tennis and A Boy and his Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia. The first one consists of what the name suggest it is an Tennis simulation game and it even came with a Foot Locker coupon inside of it. Secondly A Boy and his Blob was on the NES console.
David Crane's Amazing Tennis
[edit | edit source]David Crane's Amazing Tennis is based on three round games. There are total of three different types of courts which consist of city, grass, and hard courts. It even goes as far as allowing you to choose the option of being left or right handed. There are choices to play against the computer, makes multiple types of tennis shots such as topspin, backspin, lob, and drop shots. It also gives you the option to play multiplayer. He created this game while working with Absolute Entertainment in 1992.
A Boy and his Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia
[edit | edit source]The second game is A Boy and his Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia, this was a platform game crated for the NES platform. In this video game you play as an unnamed boy and you also have the blob as your companion, the two are going on an endeavor to fight against the evil emperor. Throughout the game you can feed the blob different types of jellybeans in order to enable the blob to become tools that you can use to your advantage, there are a total of fourteen jellybeans. The types of enemies you encounter are snakes, falling rocks, and stalagmites. You are the one who controls the boy in the game but an AI is controlling the blob. This game was also created while Crane was employed at Absolute Entertainment in 1989.
Pitfall!
[edit | edit source]While being co founder of Activision he was the lead designer of the game Pitfall!. This was for the Atari 2600 console, Crane released this game 1982. The goal to this game was to collect all of the treasures in the jungle within twenty minutes. This game ended up doing very well it sold over four million copies, this was big step into the side scrolling game industry. Some of the obstacles you ma encounter in this video game are quicksand,rattlesnakes, crocodiles, scorpions, and rolling logs. The treasures in the game are diamonds, gold, and silver. The total amount of treasures needed to win this game is thirty two.
Awards
[edit | edit source]David Crane has many awards the most basic of these are the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Pioneer Award. This is given to someone who has "helped to create the interactive entertainment industry that we know today" (Joseph Olin,2010). It is normally given to those who have already retired from the industry.
References
[edit | edit source]“Video Game Designer, Programmer, and Industry Pioneer.” David Crane, www.dcrane.com/Home.html.
Kapko, Matt. “David Crane to Be Honored with First Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Pioneer Award.” AWN, www.awn.com/news/david-crane-be-honored-first-academy-interactive-arts-sciences-pioneer-award.