Andy Hollis is an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

and producer, mainly known for his

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

s. He was one of the founding members of

MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizatio ...

Video game development

He began his career at MicroProse Software, where he was responsible for games such as ''

Kennedy Approach ''Kennedy Approach'' is an air traffic control simulation computer game released by MicroProse for the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 in 1985. It was designed by Andy Hollis. Ports for the Amiga and Atari ST were published in 1988. Gamepl ...

'', ''

Gunship A gunship is a military aircraft armed with heavy aircraft guns, primarily intended for attacking ground targets either as airstrike or as close air support. In modern usage the term "gunship" refers to fixed-wing aircraft having laterally-mo ...

'', ''

F-15 Strike Eagle II ''F-15 Strike Eagle II'' is an F-15E Strike Eagle combat flight simulator released in 1989 by MicroProse and is the sequel of '' F-15 Strike Eagle''. It was followed in 1992 by ''F-15 Strike Eagle III'', the final game of the series. The fighter ...

'', ''

F-19 Stealth Fighter ''F-19 Stealth Fighter'' is a combat flight simulator developed and released in 1988 (PC DOS) and 1990 ( Amiga and Atari ST) by MicroProse, featuring a fictional United States military aircraft. It is the 16-bit remake of the 8-bit game '' Pr ...

'' and ''

F-15 Strike Eagle III ''F-15 Strike Eagle III'' is an F-15 Strike Eagle combat flight simulator released in 1992 by MicroProse and is the sequel of '' F-15 Strike Eagle'' and ''F-15 Strike Eagle II''. It is the final game in the series. The fighter is equipped wit ...

'', as well as science fiction titles '' Lightspeed'' and '' Hyperspeed''. In 1993, Hollis joined

Origin Systems Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott, Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres ...

, where he was responsible for creating games for

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

' ''

Jane's Combat Simulations ''Jane's Combat Simulations'' was a brand of PC flight and combat flight simulators released by Electronic Arts (EA). The Jane's Information Group branding was licensed by Electronic Arts to lend authenticity and accuracy to their growing line of ...

'' brand. Among the simulations created at Origin are '' AH-64D Longbow'', ''

Longbow 2 ''Longbow 2'' is the sequel to the best-selling ''Jane's AH-64D Longbow'' from '' Jane's Combat Simulations'', developed by Origin Systems with executive producer Andy Hollis on board, and released by Electronic Arts on November 30, 1997. Game ...

'' and '' Jane's F-15''. In 1996,

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

named him as the number five in their listing of the Most Influential People in Computer Gaming, "honored for helping to bring back serious flight simulations that don't alienate beginners."GameSpot
/ref> When Origin changed its focus to online games, he moved around within Electronic Arts and was working on

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

games and a

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

online game. He returned to Origin in 2003 after two years of retirement, where he oversaw the development of ''

Ultima X ''Ultima X: Odyssey'' was to be a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based in the '' Ultima'' universe, developed by Origin Systems for Electronic Arts. Development ''Ultima X: Odyssey'' was officially announced on August 22, ...

'', which was cancelled before release in 2004. Later, he served as president of Fastlane Games, Inc., working on the development of a massively multiplayer online game for NCsoft before retiring again in 2006.

Games

Motorsports

Hollis has won a total of thirteen

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...

Solo national championships, and is an instructor for the Evolution Performance Driving School. He served on the Solo Events Board (SEB) and its various advisory committees for 20 years, and is a very active member of the SCCA's Solo program. In 2006, his seven straight class wins and two Super Challenge victories lead to the Overall Championship in SCCA ProSolo. In 2010, he repeated as Overall champ and added a Solo national championship in the STX class. 2011 brought another Solo championship, this time in STC. 2012 was another undefeated season in a new car and class (STF Mazda 2), with six straight Pro Solo class wins, a third Overall title and a fourth Solo championship. Notably, Hollis has won the Pro Solo Super Challenge 14 times, 13 of which have been in the last ten years. In 2014, he added an SMF class championship to his tally. Continuing through 2014, Hollis has been a participant in the

One Lap of America The Brock Yates' One Lap of America is an annual motorsports event in the United States that has been held since 1984. It is the successor to the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an underground auto race of the 1970s. Th ...

, finishing in the overall top ten for five years running. This, despite competing in a car from the slowest class. An avid track day enthusiast in th
One Lap CRX
he instructs at a variety of road courses in Texas.

References

External links

Andy Hollis
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollis, Andy Year of birth missing (living people) American video game designers American video game producers American video game programmers Electronic Arts employees Living people MicroProse people