Video Game Designer

David Mullich is an award-winning game designer and producer best known for producing the cult-classic video game, The Prisoner. Prior to getting into the game design industry, he worked as an architect, writer, graphic designer, and audio technician. After discovering computer games while visiting a college in Southern California, David started his career as a game programmer, creating titles such as Lemonade Tycoon, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man. In between jobs, he earned a degree in computer science and began working on game design at the home computer gaming company Origin, where he honed his skills and gained a reputation as one of the leading game designers in the business.

Today, David is mainly known for his work as a game designer on World of Warcraft, but he’s had his hand in many other high-end video games, including Darkscape and Theme Park. Prior to getting into the game industry, David worked for several years as a production assistant for Electronic Arts. While there he created the animation for one of their popular games, Sam and Max. This experience allowed him to develop his programming abilities, resulting in Sam and Max: Puppy Power. While this was only one of two projects done in this fashion, it’s a good example of what David has been doing. From that point on, he continued to work on titles for Electronic Arts, providing critical input as they created their next game, Manhunt: Vietnam.

A prolific game designer, David has also contributed his talent to numerous Hollywood movies, most notably Raiders of the Lost Ark. In fact, the novelization of the movie featured a character named John Rambo, who had previously worked as a game designer for Electronic Arts. Now, Rambo returns in the video game sequel, Tomb Raider Anniversary, on which he can be seen as the leader of a squad in combat. It’s quite possible that Rambo, and possibly others, are influenced by the design work that he did. For all we know, he may even get a cameo in one of the upcoming Wii titles.

David started his career as a computer graphics artist while attending art center college in Los Angeles. While there he was a standout player on a game designed by one of the faculty members, John Schram, whose work Davidwelen later worked on. When he left school, David began freelance work in the field of computer games design, first working for a company that designed text-based adventure games. From there, he moved on to freelancing, working with a number of different companies.

Now, David has a job at the well-known entertainment software company, Electronic Arts (EA). What’s interesting about this is that he is no longer a video game designer. Instead, he is a producer. So, what does that mean for you as a game designer who wants to work with David?

First of all, as a video game designer you need to understand that most of the things you do require the assistance of other people. Even though you are the only individual doing the work, you still have to coordinate the efforts of your team. That means you will likely be involved in a great deal of meetings and phone calls, both with EA and with your fellow designers. This is why it’s important for you to network with individuals in the industry and with people in the art center college where you are studying. By so doing, you will be able to set yourself up as a leader in an organization where you can learn much more about your craft and what you can contribute to making great video games. For motorcycle games, try Ride 4!