Sam Lantinga

{{short description|American computer programmer}}

{{Infobox person

| image =

| caption = Sam Lantinga

| name = Sam Oscar Lantinga

| other_names = Slouken

| footnotes =

| employer = Loki Entertainment (1999–2001)
Blizzard Entertainment (2001–2011)
Galaxy Gameworks (2011)
38 Studios (2011–2012)
Valve (2012–present)

}}

Sam Oscar Lantinga is a computer programmer. He used to be the lead software engineer at Blizzard Entertainment, where he was known to the community as Slouken. He is best known as the creator of the Simple DirectMedia Layer, a very popular open source multimedia programming library, and also developed the compatibility database for Executor, a proprietary Mac OS emulator.[http://www.ardi.com/website.php ARDI site credits] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609200206/http://www.ardi.com/website.php |date=2007-06-09 }}

He was the lead programmer and a co-founder of the now-defunct Loki Software, which ported several game titles to Linux.[http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3521 Interview: Scott Draeker and Sam Latinga, Loki Entertainment] Linux Journal, August 1, 1999 A Linux client of World of Warcraft was developed, and negotiations with Linux Game Publishing were under way until Blizzard cancelled the project.[https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTA0NQ Blizzard Still Has a World of Warcraft Linux Client] Phoronix, January 25, 2011 (Article by Michael Larabel)[https://web.archive.org/web/20050712080821/http://www.linuxgazette.com/node/10249 "Linux Game Publishing: An Interview With Michael Simms" Linux Gazette (2005-06-03)] It is unknown if Lantinga was involved with this port.

He also founded Galaxy Gameworks in 2008 to help commercially support the Simple DirectMedia Layer.[http://www.galaxygameworks.com/about.html About Galaxy Gameworks] He left Blizzard Entertainment to "relax, spend time with family, and explore some ideas to expand the Galaxy Gameworks business."[http://forums.libsdl.org/viewtopic.php?t=6804 Simple DirectMedia Layer Forums], retrieved on 2011-01-06 Soon after he launched a new website for Gameworks including an extensive list of developer testimonials.[http://www.linuxgames.com/archives/16631 Galaxy Gameworks] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310160438/http://www.linuxgames.com/archives/16631 |date=2011-03-10 }} LinuxGames, March 6, 2011 (Article by "Crusader") Lantinga went on to work for 38 Studios,[http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sam-lantinga/10/71b/27 Sam Lantinga at LinkedIn] which shut down in May 2012. Lantinga is currently employed at Valve.[https://web.archive.org/web/20210210080659/http://lists.libsdl.org/pipermail/sdl-libsdl.org/2012-July/085112.html Sam Lantinga at Valve] (archived 2021)