David Braben
From Entertainment Bobber Wiki
David Braben is a founder of Frontier Developments. Not only that, he is also a legend in the video game development industry. Along with Ian Bell, he co-wrote the space simulator Elite starting in 1982, while the authors were still at Cambridge University. It was first published by Acornsoft on the BBC Micro in September 1984 to huge acclaim. Later, the rights to other computer platforms were auctioned by Jacui Lyons of Marjacq. British Telecom then went on to publish the game on many other platforms under the name of Firebird. Elite is a hugely influential game which is considered as one of the best games ever made.
In 1987, in only three months, David Braben wrote Zarch as a launch title on Acorn's Archimedes series of computers. The game consisted of a weird craft flying over a rolling patchwork quilt landscape, and many other games since have copied this technique. Zarch was exceedingly well reviewed at the time, as most other games were either 2D platformers, or wire-frame 3D. The ACE magazine (now Edge), in relation to the game, featured a tag line "SOLID 3D - the future of games". Zarch was also reviewed with a score of 979 - the highest rating ACE had given at that time.
Frontier: Elite II, the long awaited sequel to Elite, was written in five and a half years by David Braben, with Konami of Japan as publisher. In 1993, Konami decided to get out of PC publishing, and sold the rights to Gametek. The game was released in October 1993 and was in the top few slots in the UK Gallup chart for the best part of the following year. It was the best selling game in Europe 1993 according to Gallup.
Braben incorporated Frontier Developments in 1994, and that studio has recently been earning its pay with licensed Wallace and Gromit games and theme park simulators. Their latest, the console-oriented Thrillville, found an audience, though it now appears that Frontier is moving on to bigger things – Braben’s team is currently working on The Outsider, a next-generation techno-thriller that promises to tell its story in a new, completely interactive fashion.
