Harvey Smith (game designer)
{{Short description|American video game designer and writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Harvey Smith, Seoul 2006.jpg
| caption = Smith in Seoul, 2006
| name = Harvey Smith
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1966}}
| years_active = 1993-present
| occupation = Video game designer, writer
| employer = Arkane Studios
| other_names = Witchboy
| known_for = {{ubl|Deus Ex|Dishonored}}
}}
Harvey Smith (born 1966) is an American video game designer and writer, working at Arkane Studios.
Smith has lectured in various places around the world on topics such as level design, emergent gameplay, leadership, game unit differentiation,{{Cite web |title=Harvey Smith's GDC presentation on Orthogonal Unit Differentiation |url=https://slidetodoc.com/orthogonal-unit-differentiation-harvey-smith-witchboyionstorm-com-intro/}} future trends and interactive narrative.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} At the Game Developers Conference in 2006, Smith won the Game Designer's Challenge: Nobel Peace Prize, for his design featuring a mobile video game that facilitates political social action.{{cite web|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2633/gdc_the_game_design_challenge_.php|title=GDC: The Game Design Challenge: The Nobel Peace Prize|publisher=Gamasutra}}
Early life
Smith was born and raised on the Texas Gulf Coast.{{Cite web|title=Harvey Smith|url=https://www.amazon.com/Harvey-Smith/e/B00C90UEXM?ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share|access-date=2021-05-11|website=www.amazon.com|language=en-us}} He grew up playing games like Pong{{Cite web|title=Gamasutra - The Subversion Game: An Interview With Harvey Smith|url=https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129975/the_subversion_game_an_interview_.php?print=1|access-date=2021-05-11|website=www.gamasutra.com| date=October 5, 2007 }} as well as Dungeons & Dragons.{{Cite web|date=2016-12-21|title=Building a World with Dishonored 2's Harvey Smith|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/dishonored-2/building-a-world-with-dishonored-2s-harvey-smith/|access-date=2021-05-11|website=pastemagazine.com|language=en}} He read books by Ursula K. Le Guin, William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov and Roger Zelazny, among others.{{cite magazine |author= |title=Dishonored 2 |magazine=Game Informer |location=Minneapolis |publisher=GameStop |date=2016-06-01}} He served six years in the U.S. Air Force, including tours in Germany and Saudi Arabia. Smith moved to Austin at the behest of a friend to try his hand at video game design.{{cite web |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/17/unmasked-dishonoreds-harvey-smith/ |title = Interview: Unmasking Dishonored's Harvey Smith {{!}} Rock Paper Shotgun| website=Rock, Paper, Shotgun | date=October 17, 2012 | first=Nathan |last=Grayson}}
Career
Early in his career, Smith worked in quality assurance (QA) at the Austin-based Origin Systems, where he became the QA lead for games including Super Wing Commander and System Shock. In 1995, Smith became an associate producer for Ultima VIII, working with co-founder of Origin, Richard Garriott. Smith then pitched his own game, Technosaur, a real time strategy game inspired by Dune that would have featured "cybernetically augmented velociraptors". The project was canceled by publisher Electronic Arts after 18 months of work.{{Cite book |last=McKeand |first=Kirk |title=The History of the Stealth Game |publisher=White Owl |year=2022 |isbn=9781399096911 |location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire |pages=74}}
After leaving Origin in 1996, Harvey Smith went to work at Multitude where they released FireTeam.{{cite web|url=http://www.polygon.com/2012/9/28/3425300/the-mirror-men-of-arkane|title=The mirror men of Arkane|date=September 28, 2012 |publisher=Polygon}}
After Multitude, Smith's game development career continued in Austin, Texas working with Warren Spector at Ion Storm as lead designer on Deus Ex as well as its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War. After this he unsuccessfully pitched a further game in the Thief series, to be called Thief: Modern, in which central character Garrett lived in modern-day New York.{{Cite magazine |last=Peel |first=Jeremy |date=March 2023 |title=Collected Works: Harvey Smith |magazine=Edge |publisher=Future Publishing |issue=38 |pages=70–79}}
Smith then left Ion Storm to work at Midway Games, originally to work on a title called Criminal with "immersive sim values" inspired by Michael Mann's 1995 crime film Heat, but shifting ultimately to work as lead designer on BlackSite: Area 51.{{Cite web |last=Lane |first=Rick |date=2022-09-21 |title=Harvey Smith is in uncharted territory |url=https://www.nme.com/features/gaming-features/boss-level-2022-harvey-smith-arkane-studios-3312368 |access-date=2023-01-13 |website=NME |language=en-GB}} On November 29, 2007, Smith came out publicly to announce how unrealistic the BlackSite: Area 51
In 2008, Smith became partner and co-creative director of Arkane Studios in Austin alongside the company's president, Raphaël Colantonio. They went on to release the stealth-action game Dishonored in 2012, which won many Game of the Year and Best Action/Adventure accolades including the 2013 BAFTA award for Best Game{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/2013/games|title=BAFTA Awards Gaming 2013|publisher=BAFTA}} and 2012 SPIKE VGA for Best Action/Adventure Game.{{cite web|url=http://www.bethblog.com/2012/12/07/around-the-web-award-season/|title=Around the Web: Award Season|publisher=The Bethesda Blog}} Smith also co-directed the sequel Dishonored 2 and its standalone expansion Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.{{Cite web |last=McKeand |first=Kirk |date=5 September 2017 |title=Why Dishonored: Death of the Outsider needed new writers, according to Harvey Smith |url=https://www.pcgamesn.com/dishonored-2/harvey-smith-dishonored-death-of-the-outsider-new-writers |access-date=2023-03-18 |website=PCGamesN |language=en}} Smith is co-director on Arkane Austin's Redfall, an open-world first person shooter, which released on May 2, 2023.{{Cite web |last=Makuch |first=Eddie |date=25 January 2023 |title=Redfall Release Date Confirmed For May 2, As Lots Of New Gameplay Footage Debuts |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/redfall-release-date-confirmed-for-may-2-as-lots-of-new-gameplay-footage-debuts/1100-6510848/ |access-date=2023-03-18 |website=GameSpot |language=en-US}}
Smith's semi-autobiographical novel, Big Jack is Dead, was released on April 2, 2013, by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.{{Cite magazine |last=Futter |first=Mike |date=29 May 2013 |title=Get Big Jack Is Dead By Dishonored's Harvey Smith For Free |url=https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/29/get-big-jack-is-dead-by-dishonoreds-harvey-smith-for-free.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608032224/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/29/get-big-jack-is-dead-by-dishonoreds-harvey-smith-for-free.aspx |url-status=live |archive-date=June 8, 2013 |access-date=2023-03-18 |magazine=Game Informer |language=en}} That same year it was on Kirkus Review's list of "Best Indie General Fiction".{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/lists/best-indie-general-fiction-2013/big-jack-is-dead/|title=Best in Indie Books 2013|publisher=Kirkus Review|access-date=April 22, 2015|archive-date=March 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327204421/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/lists/best-indie-general-fiction-2013/big-jack-is-dead/|url-status=dead}}
Works
=Video games=
=Book=
| class="wikitable unsortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Category ! Publisher ! ISBN |
|---|
| 2013
| "Big Jack is Dead" | Fiction | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform | {{ISBN|1482563657}} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.witchboy.net witchboy.net], Smith's personal website
- [https://twitter.com/Harvey1966 Harvey Smith] at Twitter
- {{moby developer |id=4961|name=Harvey Smith's profile}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090415072609/http://www.dperry.com/archives/interviews/harvey_smith_ga/ Harvey Smith interview] at DPerry.com
{{Arkane Studios}}
{{Ion Storm}}
{{Origin Systems}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Harvey}}
Category:American video game designers
Category:American video game directors
Category:Artists from Austin, Texas
Category:Origin Systems people
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:United States Air Force airmen