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Christopher Sawyer is a Scottish video game designer and programmer. He is best known for creating Transport Tycoon, which has been considered "one of the most important simulation games ever made", and the best-selling RollerCoaster Tycoon series.

Sawyer began his career in the early 1980s producing small games for Memotech and developing DOS ports of many Amiga games. From 1994 to 2004 he produced a series of Tycoon games, which became hallmarks of the simulation genre. After a period away from the gaming industry in the late 2000s, Sawyer founded the mobile game studio 31X which has handled modern ports of his work. Wired has described Sawyer as "one of gaming's greatest enigmas" given his legendary contributions to the genre while maintaining little presence online, and rarely agreeing to give interviews.

Early life

Sawyer was raised in Scotland. He had an interest in computers and programming from an early age, writing simple scripts in BASIC on a ZX81 at a local store in Doune. Being unable to afford a BBC Micro, Sawyer purchased a Camputers Lynx with which he could write simple programs in machine code. He graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Microprocessor Systems from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

Career

Memotech and MS-DOS games (1983–1993)

Sawyer began to write games in Z80 machine code on his Memotech MTX home computer (which possessed a built-in assembler) and then later on an Amstrad CPC series home computer. He sent tapes containing his games to Memotech, who arranged first publications of his titles. During this period he released a total of 11 Memotech games. One of his games was rejected for publication by Ariolasoft, though the company offered him a job after he graduated. This did not eventuate as Ariolasoft was downsizing by that time. He faced issues with Megastar failing to pay him royalties on continued sales of his games, and the revenue was only enough to buy him a disk drive and printer. From 1988 to 1993, Sawyer worked on MS-DOS conversions of Amiga games and was involved in many projects, including Virus, Conqueror, Campaign, Birds of Prey, Dino Dini's Goal and Frontier: Elite II. In the case of the latter, Sawyer worked to improve on the Amiga version by adding texture mapping to the title.

Tycoon games (1994–2004)

Inspired by Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon, Sawyer began to develop his own title which made use of an isometric gameworld system he had been designing as a personal project. His management simulation game Transport Tycoon was released by MicroProse in 1994 and became a classic of the "tycoon" series of games. A year later, he improved and extended the game, giving it the title Transport Tycoon Deluxe. The title sold well, and Sawyer immediately sought to create a sequel.

While working on the basic game engine for this sequel, Sawyer began development of RollerCoaster Tycoon. Sawyer had been interested in the engineering aspect of roller coasters for some years, but had only ridden a handful of them, including Wild Mouse at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Thunder Loop Express at Loudoun Castle. He developed the game in x86 assembly language by himself, using only the services of freelance graphic designer Simon Foster and composer Allister Brimble. Sawyer later used some of the revenue from Transport Tycoon to travel across Europe and the United States, and developed a lifelong interest in roller coasters. After creating RollerCoaster Tycoon, he again resumed work on the sequel for Transport Tycoon, but again postponed it to create RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, which launched in 2002.

Upon completing that project, he returned to work on the Transport Tycoon successor, which finally released in 2004 as Chris Sawyer's Locomotion. The game was built atop the engine used by RollerCoaster Tycoon, which by that point appeared dated, and the AI and user interface were poorly received. Sawyer also served as a consultant for Atari in the development of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, which was designed by Frontier Developments and released later in 2004. Sawyer had understood that further development of the franchise would require 3D graphics but was not interested and left the work to Frontier.

Departure from industry (2005–2010)

In November 2005, Sawyer sued Atari, claiming that they had failed to pay him certain royalties. Atari counter-sued Sawyer for damages in 2007, and the two settled out of court for an undisclosed amount paid to Sawyer in February 2008. Due to a combination of the legal issues with Atari, and a general detest of the violent nature of video games of the time, Sawyer temporarily stepped away from video games after the release of Locomotion. In an interview, Sawyer also cited a desire to take a break after working on games for 20 years, to spend more time on his personal interests. Asked about the period by Wired he replied that he "made a few trips to ride roller coasters around the world."

31X & Tycoon rereleases (2010–2017)

In 2010, Sawyer founded 31X Ltd. which he initially planned to use as a holding company for the Transport Tycoon intellectual property. However, he saw that there was interest in a mobile version of Transport Tycoon and a space in the market for simulation games like this, and reworked 31X to be a video game developer focused on mobile games. In addition to Sawyer, several others that worked with him on the Tycoon games became part of 31X, including Jacqui Lyons, who worked with Sawyer for more than 20 years, serving as the company's executive producer.

31X's first product was Transport Tycoon for iOS and Android, released in 2013, which was assisted with Origin8. Sawyer continued to work with Origin8 to bring the first two RollerCoaster Tycoon games into RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic released for mobile in December 2016. The game later received ports to Microsoft Windows and macOS in September 2017.

Second departure (2017–present)

After the completion of Classic, Sawyer "...decided to take a back seat again and devote more time to other aspects of life." Asked about future projects in 2016 he said "I'd never rule out creating a new original game but I think it's unlikely. I feel like I'm getting on a bit now age-wise and want to take things a bit easier!" He has also indicated that there is no need for a solo assembly coder such as himself in the modern games industry. Asked about the future in 2020, he replied “I also feel I’ve now created all the games I wanted to create... and working on someone else’s game designs just doesn’t excite me.”

Atari continues to produce titles using the RollerCoaster Tycoon intellectual property under license from Sawyer. He has little involvement with these titles, beyond playing the occasional build. In 2022, Sawyer extended Atari's rights to the franchise for another decade. For the franchise's 25th anniversary in 2024, Atari sold a number of art pieces autographed by Sawyer. On 1 November 2024 it was announced that Sawyer had entered into an agreement with Atari to allow them to acquire the Transport Tycoon intellectual property.

Development style

Asked about his philosophy and style for game design, Sawyer indicated that he had "just kind of worked on ideas which I thought were fun at the time." He has identified a Lego-like approach to his work, in which the player deals with small, individual components that go on to be part of larger, more intricate systems. He has also expressed a dislike of modern 3D graphics, describing this as a reason he let Frontier develop RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. "The world of games moved on and I didn't, and I miss the flawed style and clunky simplicity of games from 20 years ago. I admire the amazing graphics and awesome size and realism of many modern games but for some reason can't summon much enthusiasm to play them."

Personal life

Sawyer values privacy, rarely gives interviews and does not have a social media presence. Asked about his relative lack of a public online presence in 2013 he said that social media "takes time away from what I need to concentrate on"; he added in 2016 that he prefers "to let the games do the talking". He volunteers with the media team at a local primary school. Sawyer travels the world to visit roller coasters as an enthusiast, and gave his "coaster count" at 770 in 2024. He gave his favourites as Taron (Phantasialand, Germany), Zadra (Energylandia, Poland), Balder (Liseberg, Sweden), and Ravine Flyer II (Waldameer, USA).

Works

Notes

1. As a consultant

References

1. ^ "Chris Sawyer (Transport Tycoon/RollerCoaster Tycoon) – Interview". Arcade Attack. 9 August 2018. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023.
2. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (3 March 2016). "A big interview with Chris Sawyer, the creator of RollerCoaster Tycoon". Retrieved 3 April 2016.
3. ^ Faraday, Owen. "Enigmatic developer Chris Sawyer on remaking Transport Tycoon for mobile devices". Wired.
4. Maher, Jimmy (2 October 2020). "Transport Tycoon". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
5. ^ "Chris Sawyer Software Development". chrissawyergames.com. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
6. "Chris Sawyer Software Development". chrissawyergames.com. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
7. Key, Andy. "Examples". www.nyangau.org.
8. "Memotech MTX 512 – Software". www.primrosebank.net.
9. ^ Hrodey, Matt (3 January 2020). "RollerCoaster Tycoon: the best-optimised game of all time?". PCGamesN. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
10. "10 things you (probably) never knew about Chris Sawyer's Tycoon games..." from Chris Sawyer Software Development website
11. Chris Sawyer (2004). Chris Sawyer's Locomotion Manual. Atari.
12. Adams, Dan (5 October 2004). "Chris Sawyer's Locomotion". IGN. Archived from the original on 18 October 2004.
13. Carless, Simon (8 November 2005). "Sawyer Sues Atari Over Roller Coaster Tycoon Royalties". GamaSutra. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
14. "Planet Coaster dev Frontier sues RollerCoaster Tycoon World maker Atari". Eurogamer. 3 January 2017.
15. "Sawyer settles Atari suit" from Develop (magazine) (5 February 2008)
16. ^ Rose, Mike (19 July 2013). "Chris Sawyer on his reentry back into video games". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
17. "31X – About". 31x.net.
18. Souppouris, Aaron (22 December 2016). "Classic 'RollerCoaster Tycoon' comes to iOS and Android". Engadget. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
19. Sarkar, Samit (22 December 2016). "First two RollerCoaster Tycoon games arrive on Android, iOS". Polygon. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
20. ^ "A big interview with Chris Sawyer, the creator of RollerCoaster Tycoon". Eurogamer.net. 3 March 2016.
21. "Atari will hold RollerCoaster Tycoon rights for another decade". Eurogamer.net. 11 October 2022.
22. "RollerCoaster Tycoon Celebrates 25th Anniversary with New Online Store". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). 28 March 2024.
23. "Atari Acquires Chris Sawyers' Transport Tycoon". WorthPlaying. 1 November 2024. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
24. Faraday, Owen (28 September 2013). "Enigmatic developer Chris Sawyer on remaking Transport Tycoon for mobile devices". Wired.
25. CarlyF (21 March 2024). "RollerCoaster Tycoon Creator Chris Sawyer: Community Q&A". atari-club. Retrieved 12 April 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Interview with Sawyer on Locomotion from GameSpot
• Interview with Sawyer from Eurogamer

• Living people
• Alumni of the University of Strathclyde
• British computer programmers
• British video game designers
• British video game programmers
• Scottish people
• People from Stirling