Steve Jackson (British game designer)

{{short description|British game designer}}

{{Distinguish|Steve Jackson (American game designer)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Steve Jackson

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1951|05|20}}

| birth_place = Altrincham, England

| education = Keele University (1968–1972)

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Fantasy author, entrepreneur, game designer, writer, game reviewer

| nationality =

| known_for = {{ubl|Co-creator, Fighting Fantasy gamebooks|Co-founder, Games Workshop|Co-founder, Lionhead Studios}}

}}

Steve Jackson (born 20 May 1951) is a British game designer, writer, game reviewer and co-founder of UK game publisher Games Workshop.

History

Steve Jackson began his career in games in 1974 as a freelance journalist with Games & Puzzles magazine.{{Cite book | contribution=The Warlord | title=Hobby Games: The 100 Best | last=Jackson | first=Steve | editor-last=Lowder | editor-first=James | editor-link=James Lowder | publisher=Green Ronin Publishing | year=2007 | pages=365–368 | isbn=978-1-932442-96-0}} In early 1975, Jackson co-founded the company Games Workshop with school friends John Peake and Ian Livingstone.{{cite journal | last = Livingstone | first = Ian | author-link = Ian Livingstone | title = Editorial | journal =Owl and Weasel | issue = 3 | page = 2 | publisher = Games Workshop | date = April 1975 }}{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons|publisher=Mongoose Publishing|year=2011| isbn= 978-1-907702-58-7}}{{rp|43}} They started publishing with the monthly newsletter, Owl and Weasel, on which Jackson did most of the writing. They sent copies of the first issue to subscribers of the Albion fanzine; Brian Blume, co-partner of American publisher TSR, received one of these copies and in return sent back a copy of TSR's new game Dungeons & Dragons. Jackson and Livingstone felt that this game was more imaginative than any other contemporary games being produced in the UK, and so worked out an arrangement with Blume for an exclusive deal to sell D&D in Europe.{{rp|43}} In late 1975, Jackson and Livingstone organized their first convention, the initial Games Day.{{rp|43}} While selling game products directly from their flat, their landlord evicted them in summer 1976 after people kept going there looking for a physical store.{{rp|43}} By 1978 the first Games Workshop store had opened, in London.{{Cite web|url=https://londonist.com/london/features/the-gaming-dynasty-that-began-in-a-west-london-flat|title=The Gaming Dynasty That Began In A West London Flat|date=4 January 2018|website=Londonist|access-date=18 May 2020}}

At a Games Day convention in 1980 Jackson and Livingstone met Geraldine Cooke, an editor at Penguin Books. They persuaded her to consider publication of a book about the role-playing hobby. This was originally intended to be an introductory guide, but the idea of an interactive gamebook seemed more appealing.{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-08-16-you-are-the-hero-a-history-of-fighting-fantasy|title=You are the hero: A history of Fighting Fantasy|last=McFerran|first=Damien|work=Eurogamer|date=16 August 2013|access-date=25 August 2014}} After several months Cooke decided that this was viable and commissioned Jackson and Livingstone to develop it.{{Cite web|last=Davison|first=Pete|date=16 August 2013|title=You Are The Hero: A History of Fighting Fantasy|url=https://www.usgamer.net/articles/you-are-the-hero-a-history-of-fighting-fantasy|access-date=18 January 2022|website=USgamer|language=en}} In 1980, Jackson and Livingstone began to develop the concept of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series, the first volume of which (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) was published in 1982 by Puffin Books (a subsidiary imprint of Penguin).{{rp|46}} Jackson and Livingstone would go on to individually write many volumes each, with further authors adding even more. Steve Jackson notably wrote Sorcery!, a four-part series utilizing the same system as Fighting Fantasy but where Fighting Fantasy mainly targeted children, Steve Jackson's Sorcery! was marketed to an older audience.{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/06/feature_interview_steve_jackson/|title=Interview: Steve Jackson, role-playing game titan|last=Plant|first=Mike|work=The Register|date=6 June 2013|access-date=25 August 2014}} Jackson and Livingstone attributed the gamebooks' popularity to their difficulty.{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/print/steve-jackson-ian-livingstone-283-v16n12|title=Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone|last=Capper|first=Andy|work=Vice|access-date=25 August 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114256/http://www.vice.com/print/steve-jackson-ian-livingstone-283-v16n12|archive-date=26 August 2014}}

After the success of the Fighting Fantasy series, Jackson designed the first interactive telephone role-playing game, FIST, which was based loosely on the concepts of the gamebooks.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/23/steve-jackson-fist-telephone-game|title=Steve Jackson talks F.I.S.T. – the first interactive telephone role playing game|last=Dredge|first=Stuart|work=The Guardian|date=23 January 2014|access-date=25 August 2014}} Jackson and Livingstone sold their Games Workshop stake in 1991.{{rp|50}} In the mid-1990s Jackson spent 2.5 years as a games journalist with the London Daily Telegraph. He then set up computer games developer Lionhead Studios with Peter Molyneux. Jackson left Lionhead in 2006 when Microsoft bought the company. He is an honorary professor at Brunel University in London, where he teaches the Digital Games Theory and Design MA.

He is often mistaken for the American game designer with the same name.{{cite web |url=http://www.sjgames.com/general/faq.html#6 |title=Frequently Asked Questions |access-date=14 September 2007 |date=29 March 2007 |publisher=Steve Jackson Games}} The American Jackson wrote three books in the Fighting Fantasy series,{{cite web |url=http://sj.sjgames.com/sjbio.html |title=Steve Jackson – Biography and Public Warning |access-date=6 November 2011 |date=14 December 2010 |work=Steve Jackson Games}} which adds to the confusion, especially as these books were simply credited to "Steve Jackson" without any acknowledgement that it was a different person.other than one subtle difference: a book written by either of the two co-founders is credited as "by Steve Jackson" or "by Ian Livingstone". A book written by any other author is introduced as "Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone presents" with the author's name simply listed in the preliminaries.

Works

=Books=

=Video games=

=Other=

  • BattleCards – a card game first published in 1993 that features a unique scratch-and-slay system{{clarify|date=December 2017}}{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}
  • Fantasy Interactive Scenarios by Telephone (F.I.S.T.) – a telephone-based single-player roleplaying game similar to Fighting Fantasy

References

{{Reflist|25em}}