Who is Chris Sawyer?
Chris Sawyer is the head of Chris Sawyer Software Development and was the creator, designer, and programmer of RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. He was also the Executive producer of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, along with David Braben.
Chris Sawyer entered the games industry in 1983, writing games in Z80 machine code on the Memotech MTX home computer, and later the Amstrad CPC series home computer. Between 1988 and 1993, Sawyer worked on PC conversions of Amiga games and was involved in many well-known projects, including Virus (1989), Campaign (1992), Birds of Prey (1992), Dino Dini's Goal (1993), and Frontier Elite 2 (1993).
From 1993, Sawyer developed his own games on the PC, the first of which was Transport Tycoon, released through Microprose in 1994. A World Editor version of the game followed in mid-1995, followed by Transport Tycoon Deluxe at the end of that year. The game was very well recieved by both the players and the critics.
Sawyer's second big project was RollerCoaster Tycoon. Originally intended to be only a rollercoaster simulator with White Knuckle as the working name, it became a funpark sim somewhere in the development stage. It was released through Hasbro Interactive in April 1999 and became a hit in a short time period. Two add-on packs, Added Attractions / Corkscrew Follies (late 1999) and Loopy Landscapes (September 2000) followed.
Sawyer considered creating a sequel to his best-selling game, and in 2002, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 was released through Infogrames Interactive. However, critics and players were now in dispute. The critics didn't like the fact that the gameplay and graphics remained more or less the same as three years earlier, and yet the game is to this day the best-selling part in the franchise. Two expansion packs followed in 2003, Wacky Worlds and Time Twister, but Sawyer didn't have part in their development.
In 2004, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion was released through Atari. Sawyer intended to make a sequel to Transport Tycoon since the late 90s, but the RollerCoaster Tycoon series got in the way. Locomotion got poor reviews, but, like all Chris Sawyer games, it has its own community that continues to create mods, vehicles etc.
Meanwhile, Atari saw a potential in the RollerCoaster Tycoon series and attempted to create something new to attract new players. In 2004, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 was released, and Sawyer was again involved in the development, but as an Executive Producer at Frontier. He reprised his role in both expansion packs, Soaked! and Wild! that followed in 2005.
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