John Pickford

Developer BIO

John Pickford was born in Stockport, near Manchester, UK, in 1967, and became interested in home computers aged 13, teaching himself to program in BASIC on a Sinclair ZX81. John sold his first commercial game, Ghost Town, to Virgin Games while still at High School, then left to join the newly formed proto-developer Binary Design as their ZX Spectrum programmer in 1986, designing and programming home computer games like Glider Rider, Zub, Feud and Amaurote.

Forming Zippo Games with his brother Ste Pickford in the late 1980s, John helped create NES classics such as Solar Jetman and Ironsword for Rare and Nintendo, before selling up and turning the studio into Rare Manchester.

John joined Software Creations in the early 1990s, becoming senior Producer and designing SNES classics such as Equinox, Plok and Maximum Carnage, before leaving to form the studio Zed Two once again with his brother in 1996, where he co-created Wetrix, Aqua Aqua and Future Tactics.

In October 2006, he founded The Pickford Brothers along with his brother Ste. The company is more like a laboratory than a studio, and they create original game concepts and new video game IP. Their first self-funded indie video game is Naked War. They also work with established developers on new game concepts based on existing IP. At the same time, the two founded the licensing and publishing venture, Zee-3, a virtual company to exclusively publish and distribute all new Pickford Brothers games over the internet, as well as license their IP for other video game platforms and other media.

Websites

There are no related websites on file for this developer. If you know of any related websites for the person, please consider contributing them.

Games Credited

Nobody Shooter (2008),
Future Tactics: The Uprising (2004), Crave Entertainment, Inc.
Taz Express (2000), Infogrames Europe SA
Wetrix (1998), Ocean Software Ltd.
Cutthroat Island (1996), Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
Foreman for Real (1995), Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
The Simpsons: Bart & the Beanstalk (1994), Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage (1994), Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
The Tick (1994), Fox Interactive, Inc.
Blaster Master 2 (1993), Sunsoft of America
Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Quest (1993), SunSoft
Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Roar of the Beast (1993), Sunsoft of America
Equinox (1993), Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Inc.
Plok (1993), Tradewest, Inc.
Gazza II (1990), Empire Software
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship (1990), Tradewest, Inc.
Amaurote (1987), Mastertronic Group Ltd.
Bubble Bobble (1987), Firebird Software Ltd.
Feud (1987), Mastertronic Ltd.
Rasterscan (1987), Mastertronic Group Ltd.
Glider Rider (1986), Quicksilva Ltd.