David Perry

David Perry
Place of birth: Lisburn, Ireland, United Kingdom
Date of birth: 1967-04-04 (age 57)
Company(ies): Mikro-Gen, Probe Software, Virgin Games, Shiny Entertainment, Gaikai
Role(s): Programmer, Designer, Executive

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David Perry is an Irish video game programmer and designer, and founder of American developer Shiny Entertainment. Known for his numerous contributions to the game software industry, and for his particular style of direction-driven camera control in his various Sega Mega Drive games, Perry has become one of the Western game world's more recognizable celebrity developers, and has remained working in the game industry (most notably co-founding game streaming service Gaikai in 2008.)

History

Born in April 1967 in Lisburn, Ireland, Perry has always had a fascination with video games. Beginning coding as a bedroom programmer at a very young age, he was already authoring his own computer software instruction books by 1982 (when he was only 15 years of age), and coded a number of small ZX Spectrum titles. His very first game, a driving title featuring indistinct black blobs avoiding one another, was sent to a home computer magazine which proceeded to actually publish it. After sending them a few more games, the magazine awarded him with a check for £450 - while delighted, Perry was only a teenager at the time, and initially had no bank account with which to cash it.

Perry continued to code his own games until offered a paid programming position: a £3,500 a year role as an apprentice game developer, working under veteran programmer Andy Lawrie. Lawrie would end up as one of Perry's biggest influences, teaching the young programmer to solidify his passions into something he could eventually build a business upon, and instilling a sense that successful businesses are both run personally and aren't afraid to branch out into multiple projects at once.

“	Well, when I started out in the industry I worked for a guy called Andy Lawrie. He was really good, which meant you couldn't bullsh*t him at all. You couldn't hide behind anything, because he understood it all. So, when you work for somebody who is very technical, and understands and has creative solutions to your problems, it spurs you along and stops you making excuses for things. And I found that very useful.	„
— David Perry

Probe Software

Perry moved to London, England at the age of 17 to accept a job at developer GameTek, where he was thrust headfirst into the video game industry. Cutting his teeth at the small developer, he later moved onto a larger and more notable company, Probe Software. Perry quickly became good friends with Probe head Fergus McGovern, and gained a considerable amount of experience working for the British development company.

Virgin Games USA

After moving to California in 1991 to work for Virgin Games USA, Perry quickly settled into his new position and was able to really begin leaving a mark on the gaming landscape, developing a number of award-winning and high-profile third-party 16-bit games, including the critically-acclaimed Disney's Aladdin. Perry's work had a profound impact on both the studio's success and reputation, and found himself as one of few Western video game developers whose name was recognized by the gaming public.

While David Perry departed Virgin Games USA in 1993, the company continued to release games based on his code, like RoboCop Versus The Terminator and The Jungle Book, as well as the critically-acclaimed flagship Mega-CD game The Terminator.

Camera control

It was here that Perry developed his particular style of camera control - meant to address the issue of player characters being too close to the edge of the screen during gameplay (and therefore having less reaction time to avoid upcoming hazards), Perry sought to solve the issue by keeping the camera focused on the space directly in front of the player character, and by not keeping the character directly in the center of the screen. When the player faces the character a certain direction, the camera will snap to the direction faced and keep the area in front of the character visible. While designed with the best of intentions, the camera system is also known for its jerky movement during precise platforming, as making quick adjustments to the character's direction (while jumping, for example) will rapidly whip the camera back and forth in the pressed directions and cause a slightly nauseating effect.

Cameos

David Perry's cameo in the debug menu of Disney's Aladdin.

David Perry makes a number of cameo appearances in the games he developed, with his name often appearing in their respective debug screens, and most notably as a digitized photograph of his head in the debug menus of the Sega Mega Drive games Cool Spot and Disney's Aladdin.

List of game appearances

Mega Drive

• The Terminator (1992)
• Cool Spot (1993)
• Disney's Aladdin (1993)
• Earthworm Jim (1994)
• Earthworm Jim 2 (1995)

Production history

Games

• The Terminator (Mega Drive; 1992) — Programmed by
• The Terminator (Mega-CD; 1993) — Original Concept (as Dave Perry)
• The Terminator (Mega-CD; 1993) — Programming Assistance
• Disney's Aladdin (Mega Drive; 1993) — Programming & Project Management
• Disney's Aladdin (Mega Drive; 1993) — Animation Engine by
• Disney's Aladdin (Mega Drive; 1993) — Original Design by
• Cool Spot (Mega Drive; 1993) — Programmed by
• The Jungle Book (Mega Drive; 1994) — Game Design
• Spot Goes to Hollywood (Mega Drive; 1995) — Special Thanks to (as Dave Perry)

Music

• Video Games Live: Level 2 (CD; 2010) — Special thanks to

Interviews

• Interview: David Perry (1993-05) by Mega Force (Spain)
• Interview: David Perry (1999-10-20) by Eurogamer
• Interview: David Perry (2005-06-10) by Sega-16

External links

• Official website
• David Perry - From An Earthworm To Gaikai, Sony And A $380m Sale article by Daniel Nye Griffiths at Forbes