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Countdown to CGE 2007 ~ July 2007 ~ 28 JUL 2007 |
Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest:
DON DAGLOW
Don
L. Daglow started writing games on college mainframe computers in 1971, and has
now been involved in game development for 33 years. During the "Before Pong" era
and in the mid-70's he designed and programmed the first-ever computer baseball
game in 1971 (now recorded in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown), one of
the two original "college computer Star Trek games" (1972), and the first
mainframe computer role-playing game (Dungeon, 1976). Dungeon was
also the first RPG to display maps and to calculate line of sight visual
displays.
Hired by Mattel Electronics in late 1980 as one of the original five members of
the in-house Intellivision Game Design Team (with Mike Minkoff, Rick Levine,
John Sohl and Manager Gabriel Baum), Don created the first sim game
(Intellivision Utopia, 1982) before being promoted to be Director of
Intellivision game development. While at Mattel he also designed the first game
ever created with TV camera angles, Intellivision World Series Baseball
(1983), with programmer Eddie Dombrower.
In 1983 Don joined a small game company called Electronic Arts as a Producer,
where over the next three years he produced 14 titles, including Adventure
Construction Set and Racing Destruction Set (with Intellivision
veterans Rick Koenig, Connie Goldman and Dave Warhol). While at EA he
co-designed Computer Game Hall of Fame title Earl Weaver Baseball (1987),
again teaming with Eddie Dombrower.
After serving as head of Broderbund's Entertainment and Education division, Don
founded Stormfront Studios in 1988 and has served as president and CEO of the
company for the last 16 years. In Stormfront's early years he designed the first
original play-by-email game (Quantum Space for AOL, 1989), Tony La
Russa Baseball (1991), and the first massively multiplayer online graphic
adventure, Neverwinter Nights for AOL (1991-97, with programmer Cathryn
Mataga), which paved the way for Ultima Online and Everquest. He
co-designed the first 3D perspective Real Time Strategy Game (Stronghold,
published by SSI, 1992) with Mark Buchignani, David Bunnett and Hudson Piehl.
Stormfront's most recent titles are Demon Stone (PS2, Xbox) for Atari and
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PS2, Xbox) for EA and New Line
Cinema, based on the film by Peter Jackson. The company also created the
NASCAR franchise for EA Sports. Don's work has earned recognition in
publications ranging from Computer Gaming World to Inc., Upside,
The Red Herring and the San Francisco Business Times.
Electronic Games called him "one of the best-known and respected producers
in the history of the field."
In 2003 Don was elected to the Board of Directors of the Academy of Interactive
Arts and Sciences. That same year he received the Classic Gaming Expo
Achievement Award for "groundbreaking accomplishments that shaped the Video Game
Industry." He holds a BA in Creative Writing from Pomona College and a M.Ed.
from Claremont Graduate University.