Doug Church

{{short description|American video game designer and producer (born 1968)}}

{{Infobox person

|image=Doug church.jpg

|image_size=200px

|caption=Church tests an Indie Game Jam 2005 project.

|name=Doug Church

|birth_date={{birth date and age|1968|11|16}}

|birth_place=Evanston, Illinois, United States

|death_date=

|death_place=

|occupation=Game designer, producer

|employer = Valve

}}

Doug Church (born November 16, 1968, in Evanston, Illinois),{{cite web | author=Paul M Harrison| date=October 15, 2012 | title=Doug Church, A Brief Introduction | url= http://paul1216944.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/doug-church/}} is an American video game designer and producer. He attended MIT in the late 1980s, but left and went to work with Looking Glass Studios, when they were making primarily MS-DOS-based immersive sim games, including Ultima Underworld, Ultima Underworld II, System Shock and Thief. His colleague Warren Spector claims, in fact, that Church was the one who originally coined the term "immersive simulation".{{cite web|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/the-designers-of-dishonored-bioshock-2-and-deus-ex-swap-stories-about-making-pcs-most-complex-games/|title=The designers of Dishonored, Bioshock 2 and Deus Ex swap stories about making PC's most complex games|last=Fenlon|first=Wes|date=May 8, 2017|work=PC Gamer|access-date=29 November 2017|quote=Warren [Spector]: I think Doug Church was the one who came up with [the term 'immersive simulation'], isn't he? He's the first person I ever heard use it.}}

Later, Church joined Eidos Interactive as technical director, lending programming and design expertise on a number of games from Ion Storm and Crystal Dynamics, including extensive design work on Tomb Raider: Legend. In 2005, he left Eidos to join Electronic Arts.

In 2003, Church was given the International Game Developers Association's Community Contribution award, in part for his work as co-chair of the IGDA's educational committee developing relationships between the game industry and academia. He has also participated in many of the Indie Game Jams, including developing "Angry God Bowling," the prototypical game for the first IGJ.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.{{cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/top/game-creators/34.html |title=IGN - 34. Doug Church |website=IGN |language=en |access-date=2023-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420081343/http://www.ign.com/top/game-creators/34.html |archive-date=2014-04-20}}

From July 2005 to 2009, Church worked at Electronic Arts' Los Angeles office, as team leader on a project supervised by filmmaker Steven Spielberg.{{Cite web |last=Thorsen |first=Tor |date=2005-10-14 |title=Steven Spielberg, EA ink three-game next-gen deal |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/steven-spielberg-ea-ink-three-game-next-gen-deal/1100-6135746/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930120841/http://www.gamespot.com/news/6135746.html?sid=6135746 |archive-date=2007-09-30 |access-date= |website=GameSpot |language=en-US}}

On March 16, 2011, Valve announced that Church had been hired for an undisclosed position and project.{{cite news |last=Ordland |first=Kyle |date=March 16, 2011 |title=Valve Confirms Hiring Of Thief Designer Doug Church |work=Gamasutra |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/valve-confirms-hiring-of-i-thief-i-designer-doug-church |access-date=February 17, 2015}}

In August 2016, OtherSide Entertainment announced that Church had been hired as a creative consultant for the development of System Shock 3.{{cite web|last1=Donnelly|first1=Joe|title=System Shock 3 reveals 'dream' development team|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/system-shock-3-reveals-dream-development-team/|website=PC Gamer|access-date=13 March 2018|date=2016-08-30}}