Joseph Ybarra (born ~1954) is an American producer and designer of

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 ...

s. He left Apple Computer in 1982 to work at the new

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 ...

that was founded by his fellow ex-employee

Trip Hawkins William Murray "Trip" Hawkins III (born December 28, 1953) is an American entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company, and Digital Chocolate. Career A fan of the Strat-O-Matic Football pen and paper games, Hawkins started his f ...

. He was the original producer of the first

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...

Professional biography

Joe Ybarra worked at Apple Computer before leaving in 1982 to work at

, a

startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend ...

founded by his fellow ex-Apple employee,

. There he became one of the original

game producer A video game producer is the top person in charge of overseeing development of a video game. History The earliest documented use of the term ''producer'' in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Ar ...

s and game designers at

in 1982 (along with Stewart Bonn,

Dave Evans (Apple) David, Dave, or Dai Evans may refer to: Academics * Sir David Emrys Evans (1891–1966), Welsh classicist and university principal * David Evans (microbiologist) (1909–1984), British microbiologist * David Stanley Evans (1916–2004), British ...

Susan Lee-Merrow Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

and Pat Marriott), where the concept of a game producer was created by

. During this time he produced several highly acclaimed computer games, including ''

M.U.L.E. ''M.U.L.E.'' is a 1983 multiplayer video game written for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers by Ozark Softscape. Designer Danielle Bunten Berry (credited as Dan Bunten) took advantage of the four joystick ports of the Atari 400 and 800 to a ...

'' by Dani Bunten and

Ozark Softscape Danielle Bunten Berry (February 19, 1949 – July 3, 1998), formerly known as Dan Bunten, was an American game designer and programmer, known for the 1983 game ''M.U.L.E.'', one of the first influential multiplayer video games, and 1984's '' T ...

, ''

Seven Cities of Gold The myth of the Seven Cities of Gold, also known as the Seven Cities of Cibola (), was popular in the 16th century and later featured in several works of popular culture. According to legend, the seven cities of gold referred to Aztec mythology r ...

'' (also by Bunten), ''

Starflight ''Starflight'' is a space exploration, combat, and trading role-playing video game created by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. Originally developed for IBM PC compatibles, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Mac ...

'' and '' Dr. J. and Larry Bird Go One on One'' by Eric Hammond. Ybarra was also the original producer on the first version of ''

''. He later became president of game publisher Infocom and produced MMORPGs for

Sierra Online Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre ...

and

Monolith Productions Monolith Productions, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington. The company has been a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment since August 2004. History Monolith Productions was founded on October ...

. He had been working with Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and its subsidiary FireSky on the

Stargate Worlds ''Stargate Worlds'' (abbreviated as ''SGW'') was to be a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) video game, but it was put on hold and never released. It was developed by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME) in association with ...

MMO as Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations. However, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment filed for bankruptcy on February 12, 2010 and no longer sells or operates Stargate: Resistance. On March 11, 2013 Joe Ybarra announced a Kickstarter project for a simulation game called Shackleton Crater, billed as "the lunar colonization strategy game based on today's science and tomorrow's dream." However, it was closed down before achieving its funding goals.

Video games produced or designed by Joe Ybarra

Alien Legacy ''Alien Legacy'' is a sci-fi strategy game developed by Joe Ybarra, Ybarra Productions and published by Sierra Entertainment, Sierra On-Line in 1994 for MS-DOS. Gameplay The game includes elements of city construction, research, resource manage ...

* Earth Orbit Stations *

* John Madden Football * Dr. J. and Larry Bird Go One on One *

Shadowbane ''Shadowbane'' was a free-to-play fantasy role-playing video game (MMORPG) created by Wolfpack Studios and published on March 25, 2003 by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Originally commercial and subscription-driven, ''Shadow ...

* Spellcraft: Aspects of Valor *

The Bard's Tale ''The Bard's Tale'' is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present). The initial title of the series was '' ...

The Matrix Online ''The Matrix Online'' (abbreviated as ''MxO'') was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) initially developed by Monolith Productions and later, a few months after launch, by Sony Online Entertainment. It was advertised as ...

* The Shadow of Yserbius

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ybarra, Joe Electronic Arts employees Infocom Living people Madden NFL Video game producers Video game designers Year of birth missing (living people)