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David Crane
Photo: Joe Grand, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons12

David Crane

American video game designer and programmer (born 1954)

David Crane (born 1954) is an American video game designer and programmer. He is the co-founder of Activision, which he formed with former Atari co-workers in 1979.2

From Wikipedia’s article on David Crane (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1953.1

About

Crane grew up fascinated by technology and went to DeVry Institute of Technology. Following college, he went to Silicon Valley and got his first job at National Semiconductor. Through his friend Alan Miller he learned about potential video game design work at Atari, Inc., and began work there in 1977.

After Crane and other programmers felt they were not being paid fairly at Atari, he left the company in 1979. Crane and Miller formed Activision, the first company to independently publish games for the Atari 2600. The company grew to be massively successful, with Crane's game Pitfall! (1982) being one of the biggest sellers for the company. Crane continued to work for Activision making several games for the Atari 2600 and later the Commodore 64. After Activision hired Bruce Davis as the new CEO, Crane left Activision and later joined Garry Kitchen at Absolute Entertainment. At Absolute, Crane began working on several games for the Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

After Absolute closed in 1995, Crane formed Skyworks Technologies, who made browser games in the mid-1990s and was among the first developers of a type of game later known as advergames. While at Skyworks, Crane designed two of the company's bestsellers on the App Store, Arcade Bowling and Arcade Hoops Basketball. In the 2010s, Crane developed games for AppStar for iPhone and iPad and by the end of the decade created Audacity Games, a company that developed games for older consoles such as the Atari 2600.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Crane, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedDeVry University3

Early life

David Crane was born in Nappanee, Indiana in 1954. When he was young, Crane was fascinated by technology and engineering. He dismantled a black and white television to create a channel tuner near his bedside and make a TV in a cabinet on his wall and create a laser that could ignite a match at the end of a workbench. He intended to work on making gadgets that would help people in their lives but, in 2010, he reflected that "...video game design was even a better fit for that combination of skills. But as I was growing up there was no such thing as a videogame, so how could I know?" Crane's first encounter with a video game was with the Magnavox Odyssey that his parents bought him. He later admitted he was "bored by the rudimentary games" but was fascinated by the technology's potential.

Crane first encountered a computer through a Boy Scout master who worked in data processing and began learning Hollerith code for punched cards. He attended a computer programming extension campus. Once Crane graduated in 1972, he could code in three different programming languages. Crane went to the DeVry Institute of Technology in Phoenix, Arizona. He completed the four-year course in 33 months and received his degree in electrical engineering.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Crane (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: engineer.6

Personal life

  • Born1953, Nappanee7
  • CitizenshipUnited States8

Outside engineering and video game development, Crane was an avid tennis player. Crane had played tournament tennis for decades, as well as playing in doubles with Alan Miller. While working at Absolute, Crane felt his video game career did not allow him to play enough tennis and enrolled at an expert tennis class at Cañada College. Crane said that during his adult life, he performed at the rating of 5.0 on the NTRP (National Tennis Rating Program) scale, a standardized scale Crane described as being from 1.0 for beginner to "7.0 for Roger Federer". In 2010, Crane said he still plays tennis in tournament league competitions, but due to age and injuries he is no longer at the 5.0 level.

Despite his love for the sport, Crane stated he never had interest in developing a tennis-themed game until he began developing games for the Super Nintendo, specifically with David Crane's Amazing Tennis.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Crane (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

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