David Mullich () is an American

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 ...

and

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 ...

best known for creating the cult classic 1980 adventure game ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

'', producing the 1995 adaptation '' I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream'', and developing many games in the ''

Heroes of Might and Magic ''Heroes of Might and Magic'', known as ''Might & Magic Heroes'' since 2011, is a series of video games originally created and developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing. As part of the ''Might and Magic'' franchise, the series ...

'' franchise. With a career spanning more than twenty-five years, Mullich worked not only for some of the first video game publishers, but went on to work for some of the biggest game companies of today.

Career

Mullich's work in video games began at the birth of the video game industry in 1978 when his COBOL professor at California State University, Northridge hired him to work as a clerk and programmer at

Rainbow Computing Rainbow Computing was an Apple II retailer and video game software publisher that was established in 1976 by Gene Sprouse and Glenn Dollar in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often ref ...

, one of the first computer stores to open in the Los Angeles area. Sherwin Steffin, who was a frequent customer at the store, recruited Mullich to develop games for his new start-up game publishing company, Edu-Ware Services. Upon graduating in 1980 with a degree in

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 practical disciplines (includi ...

, Mullich joined Edu-Ware as a full-time employee, and as his first assignment created the ground-breaking adventure game ''

''. Mullich went on to design most of Edu-Ware's innovative line of adventure games and role-playing video games, and programmed the company's EWS3 graphics engine as well as many of its

educational programs An educational program is a program written by the institution or ministry of education which determines the learning progress of each subject in all the stages of formal education. See also * Philosophy of education *Curriculum In education ...

. As the company grew, he was promoted to Vice President of Software Development and managed other programmers coding both entertainment and educational products designed by him and other members of the design staff. After five years, Mullich and several other key Edu-Ware employees left to form their own company, Electric Transit, which specialized in first-person 3D games and became

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 ...

' first affiliated label publisher. In 1987, Mullich joined

Walt Disney Computer Software Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include: People Given name * Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record racer * Walt Be ...

, where he produced video games based upon Disney characters, films, and television shows with external developers and licensees. Four years later he joined developer Interactive Support Group to create driving and action games for fifth-generation console systems CD-I and 3DO. Mullich next went on to become development director at game publisher

Cyberdreams Cyberdreams Interactive Entertainment was a video game publisher located in California that specialized in adventure games developed in collaboration with famous names from the fantasy, horror and science fiction genres between 1990 and 1997. H ...

, where he produced award-winning games in collaboration with notables such as science fiction author Harlan Ellison, fantasy artist

H.R. Giger Hans Ruedi Giger ( ; ; 5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014) was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as " biomechanical". Giger later abandoned airbrush for pastels, mark ...

and horror director

Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. Craven has commonly been recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre due to the cultural imp ...

. While participating in a game design panel at the Computer Game Developer's Conference, Mullich met

Jon Van Caneghem Jon Van Caneghem (born 1962/1963)New World Computing New World Computing, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1984 by Jon Van Caneghem, his wife, Michaela Van Caneghem, and Mark Caldwell. It was best known for its work on the Might and Magic role-playing video ga ...

. Van Caneghem hired Mullich in 1997 to lead the thirty-person development team for ''

''. Mullich ran the team behind the best-selling

strategy game A strategy game or strategic game is a game (e.g. a board game) in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous, decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decisi ...

franchise for five years, including the development of ''

Heroes of Might and Magic III ''Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia'' (commonly referred to as ''Heroes of Might & Magic 3'', or ''Heroes 3'', or abbreviated HoMM 3) is a turn-based strategy game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Comput ...

'', named by ''video gamer'' magazine in 2005 as the 25th best game of all time. With the financial demise of parent company

The 3DO Company The 3DO Company (formerly THDO on the NASDAQ stock exchange), also known as 3DO, was an American video game company. It was founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, in a partnership with seven other companies. After 3DO's flagsh ...

, Mullich left New World for software publishing giant

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

to produce '' Star Trek'' themed real-time strategy games and the '' Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines'' role-playing game based upon the ''

Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam (service), Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life (video game), Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half- ...

'' engine. When his contract with Activision concluded, Mullich was hired by fellow Cyberdreams alumni Jamie Ottilie to be the development director of his mobile game publishing start-up, Abandon Mobile. During the filming of Peter Jackson's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' film trilogy, Mullich was a well-known member of the J.R.R. Tolkien on-line fan community, being a news reporter and film messageboard moderator for the website Tolkien Online and, under the pseudonym Ancalagon The Black, publisher of "The Complete List of Film Changes", documenting the differences between the films and the books. The hero Sir Mullich in '' Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade'' is named after him.

Personal life

Married with children, Mullich lives in

Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California. This area, with major commercial and industrial parks, straddles State Route 126 and the Santa Clara River. Development projects continue to be built in ...

Games

Titles developed or produced by Mullich span three decades. Most of his games are listed below in chronological order (non-entertainment titles excluded).

Published by Edu-Ware Services

*'' Space I'' (1979) *'' Space II'' (1979) *'' Windfall: The Oil Crisis Game'' (1980) *''

Network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

'' (1980) *''

'' (1980) *'' Empire I: World Builders'' (1981) *'' Rendezvous: A Space Shuttle Flight Simulation'' (1982) *'' Prisoner 2'' (1982) *'' Empire II: Interstellar Sharks'' (1982) *''Tranquility Base'' (1984) *'' Empire III: Armageddon'' (1984)

Published by Electric Transit

*'' Wilderness: A Survival Adventure'' (1986) *''Lunar Explorer: A Space Flight Simulator'' (1986)

Published by Walt Disney Computer Software

*''

Win, Lose or Draw ''Win, Lose or Draw'' is an American television game show that aired from 1987 to 1990 in syndication and on NBC. It was taped at CBS Television City (one of the few non- CBS game shows to tape there), often in Studios 31, 33, and 43 at various ...

'' (1988) *''Matterhorn Screamer'' (1988) *''The Chase on Tom Sawyer's Island'' (1988) *'' DuckTales: The Quest for Gold'' (1990) *''Mickey's Crossword Puzzle Maker'' (1991)

Published by Philips Interactive Media of America

*''Video Speedway'' (1993)

Published by Cyberdreams

*'' I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream'' (1995) *'' Dark Seed II'' (1995) *'' Noir: A Shadowy Thriller'' (1996)

Published by The 3DO Company

*''

'' (1999) *'' Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade'' (1999) *'' Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death'' (2000) *'' Heroes Chronicles: Conquest of the Underworld'' (2000) *'' Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements'' (2000) *'' Heroes Chronicles: Warlords of the Wastelands'' (2000) *'' Heroes Chronicles: The Final Chapters'' (2001) *''

Heroes of Might and Magic IV ''Heroes of Might and Magic IV'' is a turn-based strategy game developed by Gus Smedstad through New World Computing and published by the 3DO Company for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers in 2002. A Macintosh port was subsequentl ...

'' (2002)

Published by Activision

*'' Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines'' (2004)

Published by Abandon Mobile

*'' Bode Miller Alpine Racing'' (2006) *''NBC Sports Figure Skating'' (2006) *''NBC Sports Heads-Up Poker'' (2006) *''NBC Sports Real Golf'' (2006) *''

National Heads-Up Poker Championship The National Heads-Up Poker Championship was an annual poker tournament held in the United States and produced by the NBC television network.

'' (2007) *''Marine Scout Sniper'' (2007) *''Freaky Creatures'' (2009)

Published by Spin Master Studios

*'' Bakugan Dimensions'' (2010) *'' Zoobles'' (2010)

References

External links

* *
Geek of the Week: David Mullich
at

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

Fellowship of the Ring
at

Wired Magazine ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fr ...

(includes interview with Mullich and "Ancalagon The Black")
David Mullich: The Interview
at Tea Leaves {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullich, David California State University, Northridge alumni American video game designers American video game directors American video game producers American video game programmers Edu-Ware Living people People from Valencia, Santa Clarita, California Year of birth missing (living people)