Doug Church (born November 16, 1968, in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

), is an American

video game designer 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 ...

and producer. He attended MIT in the late 1980s, but left and went to work with

Looking Glass Studios Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Produc ...

, when they were making primarily

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few o ...

-based

immersive sim An immersive sim (simulation) is a video game genre that emphasizes player choice. Its core, defining trait is the use of simulated systems that respond to a variety of player actions which, combined with a comparatively broad array of player ...

games, including '' Ultima Underworld'', '' Ultima Underworld II'', ''

System Shock ''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game is set aboard a space ...

'' and '' Thief''. His colleague

Warren Spector Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...

claims, in fact, that Church was the one who originally coined the term "immersive simulation". Later, Church joined

Eidos Interactive Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned '' Tomb Raider'', which was ...

as technical director, lending programming and design expertise on a number of games from Ion Storm and

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California and part of Embracer Group. The studio developed the '' Gex'', ''Legacy of Kain'', and ''Tomb Raider'' series. Founded in 1992 by Madeline Canepa, Judy L ...

, including extensive design work on '' Tomb Raider: Legend''. In 2005, he left Eidos to join

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 ...

. In 2003, Church was given the International Game Developers Association's Community Contribution award, in part for his work as co-chair of the IGDA's educational committee developing relationships between the game industry and academia. He has also participated in many of the Indie Game Jams, including developing "Angry God Bowling," the prototypical game for the first IGJ. From July 2005 to 2009, Church worked at

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

office, as team leader on a project supervised by filmmaker

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

. On March 16, 2011,

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

announced that Church had been hired for an undisclosed position and project. In August 2016,

OtherSide Entertainment OtherSide Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 2013 by Looking Glass Studios co-founder Paul Neurath. In June 2016, the company opened a second studio in Austin, Texas, led by Warr ...

announced that Church had been hired as a creative consultant for the development of '' System Shock 3''.

Games

Church worked on the following games: *'' Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'' (1992) *'' Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds'' (1993) *''

'' (1994) *''

Flight Unlimited ''Flight Unlimited'' is a 1995 aerobatic flight simulator video game developed and published by LookingGlass Technologies. It allows players to pilot reproductions of real-world aircraft and to perform aerobatic maneuvers. They may fly freely, r ...

'' (1995) *'' Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri'' (1996) *''

Flight Unlimited II ''Flight Unlimited II'' is a 1997 flight simulator video game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. The player controls one of five planes in the airspace of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is shared with u ...

'' (1997) *'' Thief: The Dark Project'' (1998) *''

System Shock 2 ''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during produc ...

'' (1999) *''

Flight Unlimited III ''Flight Unlimited III'' is a 1999 flight simulator video game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It allows players to pilot simulations of real-world commercial and civilian aircraft in and around Seattle, W ...

'' (1999) *'' Thief II: The Metal Age'' (2000) *''

FreQuency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...

'' (2001) *''

Deus Ex ''Deus Ex'' is a series of role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technologies in a ...

(Game of the Year Edition)'' (2001) *'' Freedom Force'' (2002) *'' Whiplash'' (2003) *'' Deus Ex: Invisible War'' (2003) *'' Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This at Home'' (2003) *'' Thief: Deadly Shadows'' (2004) *'' Tomb Raider: Legend'' (2006) *'' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' (2012)

References

External links

November 2004 Gamasutra interview with Church"Formal Abstract Design Tools for Games"
a notable early effort to develop a common language of game design methodology. 1968 births American video game designers Living people Valve Corporation people {{eidos-stub