Brian Reynolds

Developer BIO

An industry veteran, Brian Reynolds is recognized as one of the industry's most talented and productive game designers. Honored by PC Gamer magazine as one of twenty-five "Game Gods," Reynolds has masterminded the design of an unbroken stream of hit strategy games, including the million-plus-selling Civilization II, Alpha Centauri and Rise of Nations.

Highly regarded for his mastery of the art of programming, Reynolds' dual specialty gives him the substantial advantage of being able to bring his own visions to life - and he has built a reputation for finely tuned strategy games. At Big Huge Games, Brian also continues an extremely successful ten-year collaboration with master designer Douglas Kaufman - a creative undertaking most fully realized in Rise of Nations, on which the two designers worked for almost three years.

Reynolds' game career began in 1991 when he joined Microprose as the lead programmer for their graphic adventure series. Early games included Rex Nebular (1992), Return of the Phantom (1993), and Dragonsphere (1993). But Reynolds' greatest passion has always been for strategy games. As the graphic adventure series wound down, Brian began work on a prototype which eventually became a collaboration with Sid Meier, the eponymous Sid Meier's Colonization (1994). Acclaim for Colonization led to Reynolds' first stint as lead designer: Reynolds and Kaufman successfully sequelized Meier's Civilization (1991) to create the million-selling Civilization II (1996).

The runaway success of Civilization II gave Reynolds the beginnings of “name recognition” in the industry and he became a founding partner in Firaxis Games, his first entrepreneurial venture. At Firaxis, he contributed to the design of Sid Meier's Gettysburg (1997), and then led the design and creation of Alpha Centauri (1998), his second million-selling game. In 2000, Brian sold his stake in Firaxis to pursue his new dream, Big Huge Games.

As President of Big Huge Games, Brian concentrates on the creative side of the company, devoting most of his time to hands-on development of new game concepts and prototypes. Working with the large and extraordinarily talented Big Huge team, as well as the considerable resources and expertise of Microsoft, Reynolds is extremely happy with the company's first release, Rise of Nations (2003), in which his “big huge plans” to revolutionize real time strategy gaming have borne their first fruit. Brian and team are now hard at work on their next project.

Reynolds briefly pursued graduate studies in Philosophy at U.C. Berkeley.

Websites

• Interview July 2007 (part 2) -- continuation of HeavenGames interview
• Interview July 2007 (part 1) -- HeavenGames, a site dedicated to the game Age Of Empires, interviewed Brian Reynolds following the upcoming release of Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties

Games Credited

• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (2012), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• The Ville (2012), Zynga Game Network Inc.
• Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties (2007), Microsoft Game Studios
• Catan (2007), Big Huge Games, Inc.
• Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends (2006), Microsoft Game Studios
• Rise of Nations: Gold Edition (2004), Microsoft Game Studios
• Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots (2004), Microsoft Game Studios
• Rise of Nations (2003), Microsoft Game Studios
• Civilization II (Multiplayer Gold Edition) (1999), MacSoft
• Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire (1999), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Sid Meier's Gettysburg! (1997), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Sid Meier's Civilization II (1996), MicroProse Software, Inc.
• Once Upon a Forest (1995), Sanctuary Woods, Inc.
• Sid Meier's CivNet (1995), MicroProse Software, Inc.
• Dragonsphere (1994), MicroProse Software, Inc.
• Sid Meier's Colonization (1994), MicroProse Software, Inc.
• Return of the Phantom (1993), MicroProse Software, Inc.
• F-15 Strike Eagle III (1992), MicroProse Software, Inc.
• Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender (1992), MicroProse Software, Inc.