Chuck Kroegel (born 1952 in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

) is an American

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

. He was an executive for many years with

Strategic Simulations Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and publisher with over 100 titles to its credit from its founding in 1979 to its dissolution in 1994. The company was especially noted for its numerous wargames, its official compu ...

(SSI), and played a role in developing their position as an industry leader in

war games A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

and role-playing video games. His career in the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstrea ...

now spans over 30 years.

Career

In the 1970s Kroegel was a school teacher and later an HR manager who enjoyed playing computer war games. He had played games on his

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...

computer that had been designed by David Landry and the two corresponded. They decided to found a development studio, Tactical Design Group. Their first two games, ''

The Battle of Shiloh ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and '' The Battle of the Bulge: Tigers in the Snow'', were published by SSI in 1981. TDG created twelve SSI games from 1981 through 1988, the last being '' Battles of Napoleon''. In 1983 Kroegel left TDG to join SSI, which continued to publish TDG's games. In 1986 he designed '' Gettysburg: The Turning Point'' for TDG, although he was an employee of SSI. He ultimately became VP of Product Development for SSI, and later served as President of the company. Kroegel played a role in the creation of the

Gold Box Gold box may refer to: * Decorative boxes made in gold *'' Gold Box'', a series of video games of 1988 to 1992 * Gold box (phreaking), a phreaking box to create a bridge between two telephone lines {{disam ...

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'' games, and of the first graphical MMORPG, ''

Neverwinter Nights ''Neverwinter Nights'' is a series of video games developed by BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment, based on the ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Aside from also being set in the Dungeons & Dr ...

'' on AOL, and the

Panzer General ''Panzer General'' is a 1994 computer wargame developed and published by Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI). It simulates conflict during World War II. The designers of ''Panzer General'' were heavily influenced by the Japanese wargame series '' ...

series. When SSI was acquired by

The Software Toolworks The Software Toolworks (commonly abbreviated as Toolworks) was an American software and video game developer based in Novato, California. The company was founded by Walt Bilofsky in 1980 out of his Sherman Oaks garage, which he converted into ...

(which quickly thereafter became Mindscape) in 1994, Kroegel stayed on and later served as Executive VP and General Manager of the Mindscape Entertainment Division. He also stayed through a series of acquisitions that was to follow: Mindscape by

The Learning Company The Learning Company (TLC) was an educational software company founded in 1980 in Palo Alto, California and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company produced a grade-based line of learning software, edutainment games, and productivity ...

(which also acquired

Broderbund Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits ''Choplifter'', ''Lode Runner'', ''Karateka'', and '' ...

), The Learning Company by

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

, and the spin-off by Mattel to Gores (which occurred after he had left). Upon leaving SSI in 2000, Kroegel joined EA-owned

Westwood Studios Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...

, where he was the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

. In 2002 he joined Strategy First in Montreal, Canada working as their VP of Product Development. In April 2003 he joined Petroglyph to assist in creating that studio. Chuck Kroegel is currently CEO of Las Vegas game developer

Petroglyph Games Petroglyph Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Las Vegas. It was founded in 2003 by Joe Bostic, Michael Legg and Steve Tall, programmers formerly of Westwood Studios, after that company was closed down earlier that year. ...

since April 2003. He has been very involved with all the titles developed at Petroglyph, Star Wars: Empire at War (LUCASARTS), Universe at War (SEGA), Panzer General on Xbox live arcade (UBISOFT), Mytheon (TRUEGAMES), and Guardians of Graxia (Petroglyph), End of Nations (TRIONWORLDS), and Rise of Immortals (Petroglyph). He has also been involved in the design and development of four boardgames published by Petroglyph; Panzer General: Russian Assault, Panzer General: Allied Assault, Guardians of Graxia, and Heroes of Graxia.

References

External links

Kroegel's rap sheet
from MobyGames {{DEFAULTSORT:Kroegel, Chuck 1952 births American chief executives American chief operating officers American game designers American video game designers Board game designers Dungeons & Dragons video game designers Living people