Greg Costikyan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Greg Costikyan, also known as Designer X, is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including hex-based wargames, role-playing games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile games. Several of his games have won Origins Awards.
A few of Costikyan's notable works include Toon, Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Pax Britannica, Paranoia, The Creature That Ate Sheboygan, MadMaze, and Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed.
In addition, Costikyan is a widely-published author on the subject of game design and the role of games in culture. His essay, "I Have No Words and I Must Design" is widely read as a conceptual approach to framing game design.
Lately, his studies have tended towards mobile phone game design, and Costikyan has been writing and consulting for Nokia. On September 23rd, 2005, he resigned from his position at Nokia to found the startup indie game publisher Manifesto Games.
His fictional works feature the fantasy genre parody Another Day, Another Dungeon and its sequel One Quest, Hold the Dragons. A more recent work, First Contract, depicts (with much dry humor) the vast sociological and economic changes that happen after aliens arrive on Earth, and one entrepreneur's efforts to survive and make a new start. He also wrote a lively adventure story, titled By the Sword, about a young barbarian who is forced by circumstances to make his way in the larger world.
Costikyan lives in New York City and is a 1982 graduate of Brown University. He is a frequent speaker at game industry events including the Game Developers Conference and E³.
