Paul Norman (born December 18, 1951) is an American game designer, musician, composer, and

computer 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 ...

. He has been active in the music scene since 1970 and has been involved with the development of computer entertainment and information since 1982, including the production of '' Forbidden Forest'' in 1983.

Career

Early career

Norman spent fifteen years working as a professional touring and studio musician.

Forbidden Forest

Norman programmed his first major computer program in the 1980s: a video game called '' Forbidden Forest''. Norman's wanted to create a cinematic experience for its user, and he used 6502 machine language to program the game. ''Forbidden Forest'' was originally developed for a company known as Synchro, which went out of business when the game was about three-quarters complete. However, the game was eventually bought out by American developer

Cosmi Cosmi may refer to: * Cosmi Corporation Cosmi Corporation (COSMI) is an American computer software company based in Carson, California. Software publishing Cosmi Corporation was established in 1982, founded by George Johnson. The company publish ...

and brought to completion. The finished game was described as a "technical masterpiece" by ''

Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...

''. The game was released in 1983.

Aztec Challenge

Norman's second title was a graphic adventure game named '' Aztec Challenge'', which was released in 1983 for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

. A game with the same title was released for the

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

. Norman authored the game's music, programming, and game design. Like his previous game, ''Aztec Challenge'' received praise for its "high standard of graphics and sound" from the game magazine publication ''

Your Commodore ''Your Commodore'' was a magazine for Commodore International, Commodore computers, including the Commodore 64, Amiga, and the Commodore Personal computer, PC range. It was published in the UK from October 1984 until late 1989 when the name was s ...

''.

Caverns of Khafka and Super Huey

Following the release of ''Aztec Challenge'', Norman developed another game titled '' Caverns of Khafka'', inspired by an 8-bit

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

computer game of the same name by Robert Bonifacio. The game was released sometime between 1983 and 1984. On the development of '' Super Huey'' (claimed to be the first helicopter simulator launched on the gaming market), Norman cites the television show ''

Airwolf ''Airwolf'' is an American action military drama television series that centers on a high-technology military helicopter, code-named ''Airwolf'', and its crew. The show follows them as they undertake various exotic missions, many involving esp ...

'' and the movie ''

Blue Thunder ''Blue Thunder'' is a 1983 American action thriller film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Gordon Carroll, Phil Feldman, and Andrew Fogelson and directed by John Badham. The Blue Thunder helicopter itself did exist as two copies of modifie ...

'' as inspirations for its gameplay. The game went on to sell over two million copies. A

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

version of the game and its sequel were made available to the public in 2021.

1990s to present day

In 1990, Norman joined a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

development team at Tiger Media, acting as a scriptwriter, audio and music producer, creator, and engineer. After two years as a design consultant for

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

, he was contracted to produce audio and video content for the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

Software titled ''Carriers: Fortress at Sea''. Between 1995 and 1999, Norman became a consultant and contributor for internet projects, using

Java programming Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers ''write once, run anywh ...

to handle various responsibilities, from GUI to data processing. He spent the next two years developing ideas and methods for a better model of Internet presentations and entertainment, employing

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...

and Caligari Truespace as tools. Later, he developed a web system for learning to play musical instruments, including guitar, piano, and harmonica. Though the website was launched in 2014, it is no longer available to the public.

Games

References

External links

Digittarius - Official Web Site of Paul Norman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, Paul 1951 births American video game designers Place of birth missing (living people) Living people