Rachel Bernstein is a

video game design 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 ...

er and

developer Developer may refer to: Computers * Software developer, a person or organization who develop programs/applications * Video game developer, a person or business involved in video game development, the process of designing and creating games * Web d ...

based in

San Francisco, USA San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Education

Bernstein graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

with a degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

in 1987.

Career

From 1987 to 1994, Bernstein worked as a

software engineer Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ''p ...

. In 1994, she co-founded the company

Frog City Software Frog City Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 1994 by Rachel Bernstein, Bill Spieth and Ted Spieth, acquired by Take-Two Interactive in 2003, became part of the 2K ...

with the brothers Bill and Ted Spieth. Bernstein wrote the code and assembled a development team for a prototype that later became the game

Imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

. The project received funding from

Strategic Simulations Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and video game publisher, 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 ...

in 1995, with president

Chuck Kroegel Chuck Kroegel (born 1952 in Oakland, California) is an American video game designer. He was an executive for many years with Strategic Simulations (SSI), and played a role in developing their position as an industry leader in war games and role ...

describing it as, 'the thinking man's

Civilisation A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of State (polity), a state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and Symbol, symbolic systems of communication beyond natural language, natur ...

'. Imperialism was released in 1997 and has an

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

community rating of 7.8/10. Bernstein oversaw the development of games Imperialism II and Trade Empires, for which she wrote a detailed project breakdown. In 2003, Bernstein sold Frog City to

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...

, but continued to run the company as Take-Two's subsidiary. Bernstein joined

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 ...

in 2007 and became an executive producer for

Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a Division (business), division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright (game designer), Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by Electronic Arts, EA in 1997. Maxi ...

, overseeing the development of the Wii version of

MySims Agents ''MySims Agents'' is a 2009 mystery life simulation video game published by Electronic Arts. The fifth instalment in the ''MySims'' series, it was released in Europe on September 25, 2009 for both the Nintendo DS and the Wii. It was slated for rel ...

(2009) and

The Sims Medieval ''The Sims Medieval'' is a life simulation video game that was released in March 2011 by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, and on September 22, 2011 for iOS, as part of ''The Sims'' series. It was also made available for Windows ...

(2011). Since 2013, Bernstein has served as an executive producer at

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

for the Android Play Studio. She has been a speaker at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

, TEDxYouth, and the 2016 Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit in San Francisco.

References

Video game developers American software engineers American video game designers Women video game developers Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) {{videogame-bio-stub