Douglas E. Smith

{{Short description|American video game programmer (1960 - 2014)}}

{{Infobox person

|name = Douglas Edwin Smith

|image = Douglas E. Smith.jpg

|image_size =

|caption = Smith circa 1985

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1960|10|28}}

|birth_place =

|death_date = {{Birth date|2014|09|07}}{{cite web |last1=Gagne |first1=Ken |last2=Linke |first2=Rebecca |title=Tech luminaries we lost in 2014 |date=December 30, 2014 |work=Computerworld |access-date=2024-09-19 |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/1615801/tech-luminaries-we-lost-in-2014-2.html}}

|death_place =

|occupation = Video game designer
Video game programmer
Video game producer

|spouse =

|known_for =

|notable_works= Lode Runner

|website=

}}

Douglas Edwin Smith (October 28, 1960 – September 7, 2014), usually credited as Doug Smith, was an American video game designer and programmer best known as the author of the 8-bit game Lode Runner (1983), considered a seminal work of the 1980s.{{cite news|title=In Memoriam, Douglas E. Smith, 1960 - 2014|url=http://www.tozaigames.com/news/91|publisher=Tozai Games|date=9 September 2014|access-date=1 December 2014|archive-date=23 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123081646/http://www.tozaigames.com/news/91|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=Douglas Smith, creator of 1980s PC-gaming milestone Lode Runner, dies|url=http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/13/6144291/douglas-smith-creator-of-1980s-pc-gaming-milestone-lode-runner-dies|publisher=Polygon|first=Owen S.|last=Good|date=13 September 2014|access-date=15 September 2014}}

Smith, of Renton, Washington, wrote his most famous game while studying architecture at the University of Washington.{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Douglas E. | date =1999-02-17| periodical = IGN | title = Lock'n'Lode: Interview | url = http://ign64.ign.com/articles/066/066952p1.html}} Over a summer break, he wrote the game in Fortran with some Pascal and assembly, using the school's mainframe VAX-11/780. It was played on monochrome terminals by other students who provided feedback and levels, and became a cult hit on campus where it could be played anywhere there was a terminal connected to the mainframe. After his nephew asked to play it on a Apple II Plus personal computer, he ported it over a 3-day weekend to 6502 assembly language. He borrowed money to purchase a color monitor and joystick and continued to improve the game. Around Christmas of 1982, he submitted the game to four publishers and quickly received offers. He took the deal with Broderbund and the game was published for personal computers in 1983. It was one of the first games to include a level editor.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pq6-X1fTm2oC&dq=Douglas+Smith+lode+runner&pg=PA148|title=The Golden Age of Video Games: The Birth of a Multibillion Dollar Industry|publisher=CRC Press |first=Roberto|last=Dillon|year=2011|page=148|access-date=15 September 2014|isbn=9781439873236}} While the game sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the United States, in Japan it sold millions, becoming the first Western video game to attain major success in Japan.{{cite web |url=https://www.usgamer.net/articles/tokyo-diaries-with-lode-runner-creator-doug-smiths-passing-the-world-has-lost-a-gaming-pioneer |title=TGS: With Lode Runner Creator Doug Smith's Passing, The World has Lost a Gaming Pioneer |work=USgamer.net |last1=Parish |first1=Jeremy |date=September 17, 2014 |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140916144043/https://www.usgamer.net/articles/tokyo-diaries-with-lode-runner-creator-doug-smiths-passing-the-world-has-lost-a-gaming-pioneer |archive-date=2014-09-16 }}

His credits include titles like Lemmings, Final Fantasy VII, and Secret of Mana. He contributed to the localization of Chrono Trigger and was the executive producer of Secret of Evermore.

Smith died on September 7, 2014, at 53 years old. According to one of his five children, his death was by suicide.{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Nina |title=About the Artist |work=Northwest Nina |access-date=2024-09-20 |url=https://www.northwestnina.com/about |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019234934/https://www.northwestnina.com/about |archive-date=2020-10-19 |url-status=live |quote=Nina’s dad created the popular video game Lode Runner, two years before she was born. He died by suicide in 2014. }}