Sidney K. Meier (born February 24, 1954, in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) is an American programmer and designer of several popular computer strategy games. Meier has won accolades for his contributions to the computer games industry. Meier is a Director of Creative Development for computer game developer Firaxis Games, which he co-founded with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds in 1996.
Career
Sid Meier founded MicroProse together with Bill Stealey in 1982. At MicroProse, Meier developed the game series for which he is most widely recognized, Civilization, although he designed only the first installment. Meier eventually left MicroProse and in 1996 founded Firaxis Games along with veteran designer and gaming executive Jeff Briggs. Today Firaxis makes strategy games, many of which are follow-ups to Meier titles, such as Civilization IV and Pirates!.
In 1999, Meier became the second person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. The first to receive that honor was Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo.
Meier is not always the main designer on titles that carry his name. For instance, Brian Reynolds has been credited as the primary designer behind Civilization 2, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, and Sid Meier’s Colonization, while Jeff Briggs designed Civilization III and Soren Johnson led Sid Meier’s Civilization IV. Currently Meier’s role appears to be that of a creative director, simultaneously contributing to multiple projects.
Meier worked with a team on a dinosaur themed game starting early 2000, but announced in an online development diary on January 24, 2001 that the game had been shelved. Despite trying various approaches, including turn-based and real-time gameplay, he said he found no way to make the concept fun enough. In August 2005, Meier said “We’ve been nonstop busy making other games over the past several years, so the dinosaur game remains on the shelf. However, I do love the idea of a dinosaur game and would like to revisit it when I have some time.”
In January 2008, CMP Game Group announced that Meier would be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developer’s Conference.
Meier currently lives in Hunt Valley, Maryland with his wife, Susan, and son, Ryan. He met his wife at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cockeysville, where they both sing in the choir.
Sid Meier – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia