Simon Phipps is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

self-taught

game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall ...

and

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 ...

. He began making games in 1982 when he wrote his first published

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, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

he wrote while he was at school. He spent a few months writing

business software Business software (or a business application) is any software or set of computer programs used by business users to perform various business functions. These business applications are used to increase productivity, measure productivity, and perf ...

before he was approached to provide some freelance artwork for

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

-based

Gremlin Graphics Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in ...

. At his interview, he was offered a full-time position. In 1988, he was one of the founders of

Core Design Core Design Limited (known as Rebellion (Derby) Ltd between 2006 and 2010) was a British video game developer based in Derby. Founded in May 1988 by former Gremlin Graphics employees, it originally bore the name Megabrite until rebranding as Co ...

, where he would work on many of their titles until leaving in 1996. Phipps then worked on

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide ...

's hit '' Shadow Man'', alongside game designer Guy Miller. Phipps worked for Acclaim Teesside, but about 9 months into making the game '' ShadowMan: 2econd Coming'', he left for

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 th ...

(EA) where he worked alongside Guy Miller on the

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students a ...

games for five years. In 2006, he moved to EA's studio

Criterion Games Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford. Founded in January 1996 as a division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2004. Many of Crite ...

working on a number of unpublished titles as well as contributing to their website and video podcast. In early 2009 he left EA and joined

Eurocom Eurocom (formerly Eurocom Entertainment Software) was a British video game developer founded in October 1988 by Mat Sneap, Chris Shrigley, Hugh Binns, Tim Rogers and Neil Baldwin, to specifically develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment S ...

Games

* ''

Jet Power Jack Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Encelad ...

'' * '' Masters of the Universe: the Movie'' * ''

Skate Crazy Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish * Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae * Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae * Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongi ...

'' * ''

Night Raider ''Dive Bomber'' (known as ''Night Raider'' in Europe) is a video game developed by Acme Animation in 1988 for the Commodore 64. It was ported to Atari ST, Apple II, ZX Spectrum and MS-DOS. Plot ''Dive Bomber'' is a game in which the player fli ...

'' * ''

Rick Dangerous ''Rick Dangerous'' is a platform game developed by Core Design for the Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. The game was released in 1989 and published by MicroProse on the Firebird Software labe ...

'' * ''

Switchblade A switchblade (aka switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, Stiletto, flick blade, or spring knife (Sprenger,Benson, Ragnar (1989). ''Switchblade: The Ace of Blades''. Paladin Press. pp. 1–14. . The sw ...

'' * ''

Saint and Greavsie's Football Trivia In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern O ...

'' * '' Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Computer Game'' * ''

Rick Dangerous 2 ''Rick Dangerous 2'' is a platform game developed by Core Design for the Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. It was released in 1990 and published by Micro Style as a sequel to '' Rick Dangerous''. Plot At th ...

'' * ''

Thunderhawk ThunderHawk is a discontinued web browser from Bitstream available for a full range of operating systems in high end (Windows mobile and Symbian browsers) and mass-market (Java browser) mobile phones and personal digital assistants. It is basical ...

'' * ''

Wolfchild ''Wolfchild'' is a platform game originally released for the Amiga and the Atari ST by Core Design in 1992. It was later released for the SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega CD, Master System, and Game Gear. The plot revolves around biotechnolog ...

'' * ''

Asterix and the Power of the Gods ''Asterix and the Power of the Gods'' is a 1995 platform game for the Sega Mega Drive based on the comic book series ''Asterix'', most notably '' Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield''.

'' * ''

Bubba 'n' Stix ''Bubba 'n' Stix'' is a side-scrolling platform game for the Sega Genesis, Amiga and CD32 developed and released by Core Design. The Genesis version was released by Tengen in the United States and featured a promotional tie-in with the Bubblic ...

'' * '' Shellshock'' * '' College Slam'' * '' ShadowMan'' * '' ShadowMan: 2econd Coming'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers h ...

'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, ...

'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and is the third in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The book follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third year at Hogwarts School of W ...

'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fourth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and ...

'' * ''

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fifth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter's struggles through his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Wi ...

References

External links

Phipps' Webpage
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phipps, Simon 1966 births Living people British video game designers British video game programmers