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User:Zachary CMB/sandbox

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Zachary Coombs
Coombs in 2036
Born
Zachary Bryant Coombs

(2009-06-30)June 30, 2009
Lehi, Utah, U.S.
Alma materBrigham Young University
Occupation(s)Video game designer, director, producer, Writer
EmployerNintendo (2032–present)
Known for
  • Barren
  • Bone Control
  • Killers from strange places
  • Blood-Splat
  • The Life game
  • B.C.P Transport simulator
  • Aftermath rising
TitleCharacter Artist at Nintendo Software Technology (2032–2033)
Lead game director, producer, and writer at Nintendo Software Technology (2034-Present)
SpouseCarol Coombs
Children3

Zachary Bryant Coombs (born 2009) is an American video game designer, director, and producer. He serves as director and executive producer at Nintendo and Nintendo Software Technology, where he has created and led the: Barren, Bone Control, Killers from strange places, Blood-Splat, The Life game, B.C.P Transport Simulator, and Aftermath rising. And also directing multiple fighting game series that include: The Crisis of gods Marvel Fighting game series, and lastly the Final Punch fighting game crossover series.

Early life and education

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Zachary Bryant Coombs was born in 2009 in Lehi, Utah to James and Amy Coombs. His elder brother, Tyler James Coombs, later became the CEO and Lead director of Workshop X game studios, where he created series like Planetary Strike and more. He developed an interest in computers, particularly video games, at a very young age.[1] Coombs said the two biggest games that got him into gaming and later on game development was Minecraft and Nintendo games, and where he later on worked at.

Coombs attended Skyridge high school in Lehi, Utah, where he graduated in 2027.[2] He then attended the Brigham Young University where he majored in Computer Science. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 2031, with a Bachelor of Computer Science: Animation and Games degree.[3][2][4]

During college, Coombs started his own game studio named Blue Top Game Studio, where he created 3 notable game series such as Grim-Sneaker a stealth game series where you play as the grim reaper trying to steal souls of humans without being caught. And along side Coombs also made Muddy Mod Creator, a software that is designed to be able to plug into any game and act as a more simplified way to create mods for video games. Coombs later on closed Blue Top Game Studio and sold Muddy Mod Creator after he graduated college.

Career

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Nintendo of America eventually recruited Coombs in 2032 as a Character Artist.[2][1] at Nintendo Software Technology, his first game he had received created at Nintendo for working on was as a character artist of Mario Vs Donkey Kong: Countries Collide (2032), followed by work as a character artists on the Super Mario Bros: Krumpets revenge Bowser strikes back DLC, released in 1996.e was project leader for the first time on The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, released in 1998.[5]

In 2000, Howard was appointed project leader and designer for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and the expansions that followed.[5] The game was released in 2002 and was a critical and commercial success, winning several Game of the Year awards. He then led the creation of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) as its executive producer.[6] After this, he served as game director and executive producer of Fallout 3, released in 2008.[7][8]

Howard returned to The Elder Scrolls series to lead the development as the creative director of its fifth installment, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which was released in November 2011.[9] He subsequently directed Fallout 4, released in November 2015,[10] and produced Fallout 76, a multiplayer installment in the series that attracted criticism upon its release in November 2018.[11] Howard will also serve as the executive producer of the upcoming game based on the Indiana Jones series of films, currently in development by MachineGames and Lucasfilm Games.[12]

Opinions and recognition

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Howard in June 2018

Howard admitted in 2011 that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion had sacrificed what made The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind "particular", saying: "With Oblivion, we're dealing with the capital province, and we wanted to get back to the more classic Arena and Daggerfall feel of a fantasy world that felt more refined and welcoming. But in that, we sacrificed some of what made Morrowind special: the wonder of discovery."[13] He said Bethesda's philosophy for The Elder Scrolls games was to allow people to "live another life, in another world".[14]

In 2012, Howard also said he was favorable to modding in video games, claiming he did not understand why many developers do not allow it.[15] In 2016, after the release of Fallout 4, Howard admitted that he was well aware of the criticisms received by the game, especially with regards to the dialogue system, saying: "The way we did some dialogue stuff [in Fallout 4], that didn't work as well. But I know the reasons we tried that – to make a nice interactive conversation – but [it was] less successful than some other things in the game."[16]

Howard (second from left) with Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten and Jonathan Nolan at South by Southwest 2024

Howard has spoken at industry events and conferences. In 2009, he spoke to developers at the D.I.C.E. Summit, sharing his rules of game development.[17] He returned as a keynote speaker at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit.[18] He said developers should ignore demographics and installed base, and follow their passions, saying that "if install base really mattered, we'd all make board games, because there are a lot of tables".[19]

Howard's work has often received attention by the generalist media and press; his games have been featured in Newsweek,[20] CNN,[21] USA Today,[22] and The Today Show.[23] The high popularity of the games Howard has directed and produced has turned him, and some of his quotes, into Internet memes.

Howard was the 16th recipient of a Game Developers Conference Lifetime Achievement Award.[24] The magazine GamePro named him among the "Top 20 Most Influential People in Gaming over the Last 20 Years".[24] Howard also received the D.I.C.E. Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction" in 2012 and 2016.[24] In 2014, he was awarded the Lara of Honor, a lifetime achievement award from Germany.[24] In 2013, IGN listed Howard 70th in a ranking of "The Top 100 Game Creators of All Time".[25] He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in 2017.[24] In 2020, Howard received the 2020 Develop Star award for "outstanding achievements and contribution to the industry".[26]

During an appearance on Lex Fridman's podcast, Howard stated that he considers Tetris to be the greatest game ever created. He also stated that Ultima VII: The Black Gate is one of his personal favorites, and it had a large influence on the games he has developed.[27]

Personal life

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Howard married Kimberly Yaissle on July 8, 1995, at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania.[28] He has two sons.[29]

Works

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Year Title Role(s)
2032 Mario Vs Donkey Kong: Countries Collide! Character artist, Concept artist
2033 Super Mario Bros: Krumpets revenge (Bowser Strikes Back DLC) Character artist, Concept artist
Barren Director, producer, and lead writer
2034 Bone Control Director, producer, and lead writer
2035 Killers From Strange Places Director, producer, and lead writer
Barren 2: Dimensional Ellipse
2036 B.C.P Transport simulator Director, producer
2037 Bone Control 2: Blood and Rage Director, producer, and lead writer
2038 Barren: Blood Space Director, producer, and lead writer
2039 Killers from strange places 2: Birthday of Cain Director, producer, and lead writer
2040 Barren: Inglorious Sun Director, producer, and lead writer
2041 The Life Game Director, producer,
2042 Barren: No Time To Die Director, producer, and lead writer
2043 Blood-Splat Director, producer, and lead writer
Super Smash Brothers: Havoc Director, producer, and lead writer
2044 B.C.P Transport Simulator: Engine Enaged Director, producer,
2045 Bone Control 3: Ballad of a thousand gods Director, producer, and lead writer
2046 Crisis of Gods: The Marvel Fighting game Director, producer, and lead writer
2047 Aftermath Rising Director, producer, and lead writer
TBA Final Punch: Worlds Collide Director, producer, and lead writer
TBA Killers From Strange Places 3[30] Director, producer, and lead writer

References

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  1. ^ a b Hanson, Ben (January 13, 2011). "Road To Skyrim: The Todd Howard Interview". Game Informer. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Callahan, Marion (October 28, 2008). "THE BROTHERS HOWARD **Valley natives have action-packed careers with fairy tale endings". The Morning Call. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  3. ^ Berthold, Jessica (January 1, 2006). "Life's animated for ex-Valley brothers". The Morning Call. p. E7. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Leach, Julie (October 18, 2022). "Four alumni elected as new trustees of the William & Mary Foundation". College of William and Mary. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Kane, Alex (March 27, 2019). "Morrowind: An oral history". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 27, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  6. ^ "Oblivion to Feature Soundtrack by Jeremy Soule". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. October 21, 2005. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013.
  7. ^ Remo, Chris (October 13, 2008). "Falling Into Fallout 3: Director Todd Howard Talks Scope And Evolution". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on May 8, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  8. ^ "Fallout 3 Q&A – E3 Thoughts and More". GameSpot. August 2, 2007. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  9. ^ Senior, Tom (March 11, 2011). "Bethesda's Todd Howard: "Oblivion sacrificed what made Morrowind special"". PCGamer. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  10. ^ Hussain, Tamoor (June 3, 2015). "Fallout 4 Officially Confirmed for PC, Xbox One, PS4". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 17, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  11. ^ Avard, Alex (June 3, 2019). "Todd Howard admits criticism of Fallout 76 was 'well deserved'". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  12. ^ Skebelts, Joe (January 12, 2021). "Indiana Jones Game Coming from Bethesda and Lucasfilm Games". IGN. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  13. ^ "Bethesda: Oblivion "sacrificed what made Morrowind special"". Official Xbox Magazine. March 10, 2011. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  14. ^ Howard, Todd. "The RPG for the Next Generation". The Elder Scrolls Codex. Archived from the original on January 24, 2010.
  15. ^ "Todd Howard: Mods "make your game better", more companies should allow them". VG247. March 1, 2012. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  16. ^ "Todd Howard acknowledges criticism of dialogue in Fallout 4". Gamereactor. June 16, 2019. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  17. ^ Totilo, Stephen (February 20, 2009). "DICE 2009: The Following Colorful Wisdom Is From Todd Howard". MTV. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  18. ^ Mihoerck, Dan (February 8, 2012). "Todd Howard D.I.C.E. 2012 Opening Keynote Address". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  19. ^ Remo, Chris (February 20, 2009). "DICE 09: Bethesda's Howard On Supreme Playability". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  20. ^ Whalen, Andrew (June 13, 2019). "Todd Howard Says 'Starfield' Is a Realistic Extrapolation of Today's Cutting-Edge Space Exploration Technology". Newsweek. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  21. ^ Frum, Larry (November 10, 2011). "Review: 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim' brings fantasy world to life". CNN. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  22. ^ Molina, Brett (June 15, 2015). "'Fallout 4' launching Nov. 10". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  23. ^ Benedetti, Winda (November 11, 2011). "Five tips for getting the most out of 'Skyrim'". Today. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  24. ^ a b c d e "Todd Howard to Be Inducted Into the Aias Hall of Fame at the 20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Ceremony". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. December 14, 2016. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  25. ^ "Top 100 Game Creators – Todd Howard". IGN. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  26. ^ "Bethesda's Todd Howard to receive the 2020 Develop Star award for his 'outstanding achievements and contribution to the industry' | Business News". MCV/DEVELOP. March 10, 2020. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  27. ^ "Todd Howard: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout, and Starfield | Lex Fridman Podcast #342". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  28. ^ "Marriage of Yaissle / Howard". The Morning Call. July 9, 1995. p. E4. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Bethesda's Todd Howard Accepts The Develop Star Award 2020, archived from the original on January 30, 2023, retrieved February 2, 2023
  30. ^ "Todd Howard Confirms Fallout 5 Is Coming After Elder Scrolls 6". IGN. June 14, 2022. Archived from the original on June 20, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
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