Steve Cartwright
Encyclopedia
Steve Cartwright is an American
computer and video game designer. He is best known as one of the original Activision
game designers credited with such hits as Barnstorming
, Megamania
, Seaquest
and Hacker
. After an 8-year run at Electronic Arts
(EA) where Cartwright designed and produced the Tiger Woods
products as well as EA's first on-line sports site, he later designed, produced
, or otherwise developed products accounting for up to 70% of revenue for Glu Mobile.
as the fifth game designer/programmer at Activision
. Cartwright's titles included:
and Accolade. Among his products were the Sierra-style graphic adventures Search for The King and Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.—the first product to use live actors captured in front of a blue screen
responsibility on the fledgling PGA TOUR line and helped redesign the NBA Live product line. Among the many innovations to the golf line were the first use of digitized golfers, the first EA golf product with 3D terrain, and the first use of a targeting arc and putting guides in a golf product. Later, with the addition of Tiger Woods
, EA's golf franchise became the number one golf product in the world—quickly eclipsing both Sony's Hot Shots Golf and Links
by Access
.
In 1999, Cartwright designed and producer Tiger Woods '99. Additionally, Cartwright designed the product to include 1-button access to a game server
and match server—making this EA's first online multiplayer sports game. Later, with the addition of the "Play Against The Pros" feature, Cartwright was awarded co-patent
holder rights to the technology that eventually became the basis of the PGA TOUR's Shotlink technology.
as an internal developer at Glu Mobile, originally known as Sorrent. After a 10-year hiatus from programming
, Cartwright developed six of Sorrent's first eight products. During the 2004 presidential election, Cartwright took his previous product FOX Sports Boxing, added a little political twist and humor, and created the summer's Bush vs. Kerry Boxing
. He was later named Director of Production where products he designed, produced, or otherwise developed accounted for up to 70% of Glu Mobile revenue.
. TAG is a games-on-demand television network. While at TAG, Cartwright was involved with titles such as:
at his startup Slipgate Ironworks. The company ended up closing its doors before the MMO's release.
, lead designer on Zynga's CityVille, and helped RockYou establish a relationship with legendary designer John Romero
and his new company Loot Drop
. After managing through a difficult transition period following the layoff of nearly 1/3 of the company, Cartwright transitioned to Sr. Director of Design. He currently works closely with Executive Producer Jennifer Gee on the relaunch of RockYou's Zoo World 2 Facebook project.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
computer and video game designer. He is best known as one of the original Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
game designers credited with such hits as Barnstorming
Barnstorming (video game)
Barnstorming is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. Barnstorming was the first game designed by Cartwright...
, Megamania
Megamania
Megamania is an Atari 2600 game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. It took about six months to develop the concept, and another three months to fine tune the game. It was later released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit family in 1983, ported by Glyn Anderson...
, Seaquest
Seaquest (video game)
Seaquest is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982.-Gameplay:Seaquest is a submarine combat game in which the player controls a water vessel and must avoid, collect, or destroy various objects at different levels of depth.The player must pick up...
and Hacker
Hacker (computer game)
Hacker is a 1985 computer game by Activision. It was designed by Steve Cartwright, produced by Brad Fregger and was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari XL/XE, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS, MSX and ZX Spectrum...
. After an 8-year run at Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
(EA) where Cartwright designed and produced the Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
products as well as EA's first on-line sports site, he later designed, produced
Game producer
A video game producer is the person in charge of overseeing development of a video game.The earliest documented use of the term producer in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Arts in 1982...
, or otherwise developed products accounting for up to 70% of revenue for Glu Mobile.
Activision
In 1982, Cartwright joined college classmate David CraneDavid Crane (programmer)
David Crane is a video game designer and programmer.Crane started his programming career at Atari, making games for the Atari 2600. After meeting co-worker Alan Miller in a tennis game, Miller told Crane about a plan he had to leave Atari and found a company that would give game designers more...
as the fifth game designer/programmer at Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
. Cartwright's titles included:
- BarnstormingBarnstorming (video game)Barnstorming is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. Barnstorming was the first game designed by Cartwright...
- MegamaniaMegamaniaMegamania is an Atari 2600 game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. It took about six months to develop the concept, and another three months to fine tune the game. It was later released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit family in 1983, ported by Glyn Anderson...
- SeaquestSeaquest (video game)Seaquest is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982.-Gameplay:Seaquest is a submarine combat game in which the player controls a water vessel and must avoid, collect, or destroy various objects at different levels of depth.The player must pick up...
- Plaque AttackPlaque AttackPlaque Attack is a 1983 video game for the Atari 2600 that was made by Activision. Loosely based on Space Invaders, the player must prevent food from destroying teeth in a person's mouth...
- FrostbiteFrostbite (video game)Frostbite is a 1983 arcade game designed by Steve Cartwright for the Atari 2600 video game console. It was published by Activision in 1983.-Overview:...
- HackerHacker (computer game)Hacker is a 1985 computer game by Activision. It was designed by Steve Cartwright, produced by Brad Fregger and was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari XL/XE, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS, MSX and ZX Spectrum...
- Hacker IIHacker 2Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers is a 1986 computer game developed and published by Activision. It is the only sequel to the 1985 game, Hacker. It was released for several platforms of the home computer era. As with the first game, it was designed by Steve Cartwright.-Plot:Hacker II is notably...
- AliensAliens (film)Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton...
- Air Rally
Accolade
In 1988, Cartwright joined Activision founders Alan Miller and Bob WhiteheadBob Whitehead
Bob Whitehead is a game designer and programmer. He is a renowned pioneer and entrepreneur of the video game industry, having been instrumental in forming two video game developers. One, Activision, was the first third-party video game developer.-Career:...
and Accolade. Among his products were the Sierra-style graphic adventures Search for The King and Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.—the first product to use live actors captured in front of a blue screen
- Fast Break
- Search for The King
- Lost in LA
Electronic Arts
In 1993, Cartwright joined Electronic Arts. He soon took over producerGame producer
A video game producer is the person in charge of overseeing development of a video game.The earliest documented use of the term producer in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Arts in 1982...
responsibility on the fledgling PGA TOUR line and helped redesign the NBA Live product line. Among the many innovations to the golf line were the first use of digitized golfers, the first EA golf product with 3D terrain, and the first use of a targeting arc and putting guides in a golf product. Later, with the addition of Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
, EA's golf franchise became the number one golf product in the world—quickly eclipsing both Sony's Hot Shots Golf and Links
Links (computer game)
Links was the name of a series of golf simulation computer games, first developed by Access Software, and then later by Microsoft Game Studios after Microsoft acquired Access Software. The line of golf games was a flagship brand for Access, and the series spanned several years: from 1990 to 2003...
by Access
Indie Built
Indie Built, Inc. was a Salt Lake City, Utah based video game developer founded in 1982 by Bruce Carver as Access Software.They are popular for creating the golfing Links series and also for creating the video game detective series based on the character Tex Murphy.In 1987, Access announced The...
.
In 1999, Cartwright designed and producer Tiger Woods '99. Additionally, Cartwright designed the product to include 1-button access to a game server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
and match server—making this EA's first online multiplayer sports game. Later, with the addition of the "Play Against The Pros" feature, Cartwright was awarded co-patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
holder rights to the technology that eventually became the basis of the PGA TOUR's Shotlink technology.
- PGA TOUR 486
- NBA Live 95NBA Live 95NBA Live 95 was the first of the NBA Live video games series. The cover featured an action shot of the 1994 NBA Finals. The game was developed by EA Sports and released on December 3, 1994. The game was re-released with NBA Live 06 as part of the EA Retro Series....
- PGA TOUR 96PGA Tour 96PGA Tour 96 is a 1995 sports video game originally released for Sega Genesis, Sony PlayStation and 3DO then ported on Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Gear and Game Boy.-Summary:...
- PGA TOUR Pro
- Tiger Woods 99
- Tiger Woods 2000
Glu Mobile
In 2002, Cartwright joined veteran Scott OrrScott Orr
Scott Orr is an American computer game and video game designer best known as the original lead designer on the first video game console versions of the North American best-selling game, Madden NFL Football...
as an internal developer at Glu Mobile, originally known as Sorrent. After a 10-year hiatus from programming
Game programming
Game programming, a subset of game development, is the programming of computer, console or arcade games. Though often engaged in by professional game programmers, many novices may program games as a hobby...
, Cartwright developed six of Sorrent's first eight products. During the 2004 presidential election, Cartwright took his previous product FOX Sports Boxing, added a little political twist and humor, and created the summer's Bush vs. Kerry Boxing
Bush vs. Kerry Boxing
Bush vs. Kerry Boxing is a boxing video game developed and published by Sorrent for mobile phones. It was released in North America on August 22, 2004.The game allows the player to choose to play as either George W...
. He was later named Director of Production where products he designed, produced, or otherwise developed accounted for up to 70% of Glu Mobile revenue.
- FOX Sports Football
- FOX Sports Basketball
- FOX Sports Boxing
- FOX Sports Track & Field
- Yao Ming Basketball
- Atari's DRIV3R
- DeerhunterDeerhunterDeerhunter is an American four-piece indie rock group originating from Atlanta, Georgia. The band, consisting of Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver, and Lockett Pundt, have described themselves as "ambient punk," though they incorporate a wide range of genres, including noise rock, art...
- Bush vs. Kerry BoxingBush vs. Kerry BoxingBush vs. Kerry Boxing is a boxing video game developed and published by Sorrent for mobile phones. It was released in North America on August 22, 2004.The game allows the player to choose to play as either George W...
- ZUMAZuma-People:* Jacob Zuma , the President of South Africa and the African National Congress* Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma , South African Minister of Foreign Affairs and Jacob Zuma's ex-wife* Sibusiso Zuma -People:* Jacob Zuma (b. 1942), the President of South Africa and the African National Congress*...
- Kingdom of Heaven
- Robots
- Diner DashDiner DashDiner Dash is a strategy video game and time management game initially developed by New York City-based American game development studio GameLab and published by San Francisco-based PlayFirst. It is now owned and published by PlayFirst...
- DRIVER: Vegas
TAG Networks
In 2006, Cartwright joined TV Head—now TAG Networks—as Executive ProducerGame producer
A video game producer is the person in charge of overseeing development of a video game.The earliest documented use of the term producer in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Arts in 1982...
. TAG is a games-on-demand television network. While at TAG, Cartwright was involved with titles such as:
- BattleshipBattleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
- Tetris World Tour
- Sudoku Puzzle Master
- Beach Solitaire
- High Stakes Hold'em
- SpadesSpadesSpades is a partnership trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s, in which the object is for each pair or partnership to take at least the number of tricks they bid on before play began. Spades is a descendant of the Whist family of card games, which also includes Bridge,...
- Hearts
- Diner DashDiner DashDiner Dash is a strategy video game and time management game initially developed by New York City-based American game development studio GameLab and published by San Francisco-based PlayFirst. It is now owned and published by PlayFirst...
- Astrology Central
- Set
- Club 21Club 21Club 21 is a luxury retail company established in 1972 by Singaporean entrepreneur-hotelier Christina Ong.Club 21 started as a small boutique in Singapore’s Tanglin Shopping Centre and has expanded to operate multi-label fashion stores at Four Seasons Singapore, as well as licensed boutiques in...
- TriPeaks Solitaire
- Barney's Music Studio
- Angelina BallerinaAngelina BallerinaAngelina Ballerina is a fictional mouse, created by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig, who is featured in a popular series of children's books...
- Thomas and Friends
- Bob the BuilderBob the BuilderBob the Builder is a British children's animated television show created by Keith Chapman. In the original series Bob appears as a building contractor specialising in masonry in a stop motion animated programme with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of...
Slipgate Ironworks
In 2008, Cartwright spent several months developing and pursuing VC funding for a Kid's MMO in the vein of Club Penguin. This endeavor was abandoned when he joined legendary designer John RomeroJohn Romero
Alfonso John Romero is a game designer, programmer, and developer in the video game industry. He is best known as a co-founder of id Software and was a designer for many of their games, including Wolfenstein 3D, Dangerous Dave, Doom and Quake...
at his startup Slipgate Ironworks. The company ended up closing its doors before the MMO's release.
Streakwise Sports
In 2009, Cartwright joined former colleagues Adam Bellin and Sam Nelson in project design to make sports statistics fun and entertaining. The first project, Streakwise Draft Tracker 2011, reached as high as #2 on the AppStore with virtually no marketing.RockYou
In 2010, Cartwright joined RockYou as GM of the Redwood City Games Studio. In his first few weeks, he recruited John YooJohn Yoo
John Choon Yoo is an American attorney, law professor, and author. As a former official in the United States Department of Justice during the George W...
, lead designer on Zynga's CityVille, and helped RockYou establish a relationship with legendary designer John Romero
John Romero
Alfonso John Romero is a game designer, programmer, and developer in the video game industry. He is best known as a co-founder of id Software and was a designer for many of their games, including Wolfenstein 3D, Dangerous Dave, Doom and Quake...
and his new company Loot Drop
Loot Drop
Loot Drop, Inc. is a social game company headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company was co-founded by John Romero, Brenda Brathwaite, and Robert Sirotek in November 2010. On January 20, 2011, it was announced that their first game development deal was signed with RockYou...
. After managing through a difficult transition period following the layoff of nearly 1/3 of the company, Cartwright transitioned to Sr. Director of Design. He currently works closely with Executive Producer Jennifer Gee on the relaunch of RockYou's Zoo World 2 Facebook project.