Product Code Database
Alan Emrich (October 1, 1959 – January 7, 2025) was an American writer and designer of and . He contributed to the design of Master of Orion and Master of Orion 3, wrote for video games, and acknowledged as the originator of the term 4X to describe the genre of strategic turn-based games associated with games like Master of Orion. Before the rise of video games, Emrich wrote about and designed and organized conventions about them. He ran a small game publishing company called Victory Point Games (until he sold the company to a new owner) and lectured in game design and project management. In 2001, Emrich received the Blomgren/Hamilton Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement from ConsimWorld.com.
Although Emrich did not specifically call it a “4X” game, he did say that it was based on 4 essential X’s, highlighting it as “Quadruple-X”. Emrich wrote, “Quadruple-X - I give MOO a XXXX rating because it features the essential four X’s of any good strategic conquest game: EXplore, EXpand, Exploit and Exterminate. In other words, players must rise from humble beginnings, finding their way around the map while building up the largest, most efficient empire possible. Naturally, the other players will be trying to do the same, therefore their extermination becomes a paramount concern. A classic situation, indeed, and when the various parts are properly designed, other X’s seem to follow. Words like EXcite, Experiment and Excuses (to one’s significant others) must be added to a gamer’s X-Rating list.” The actual first use of the term “4X” remains unknown.
Until April 2002, Emrich was a lead designer of Master of Orion 3, which attempted to add a 5th X, e Xperience, to the genre. Then he left the developer, Quicksilver Software, for reasons neither party explained.
He criticized later strategy guides for:
The faults, he said, are mainly caused by "the game publishers' and guide publishers' haste to get their products on to the market".
He was a five-time undefeated champion on the game show Whew! in July and August 1979, winning $5840 but never winning the $25,000 bonus round.
During the 1990s, Emrich worked for the Computer Gaming World magazine as its first Strategy Game Editor and later its first Online Editor. In this period, he also wrote or co-wrote strategy guides. Until April 2002, he was a lead designer of Master of Orion 3.
In 2001, Emrich received the Blomgren/Hamilton Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement from ConsimWorld.com.
He was also a professor at the Art Institute of California at Orange County, where he taught Game Design, Prototyping, and Project Management to students — he regarded this as an "official instance of his lifelong passion for teaching". He also co-founded and owned Victory Point Games, a board and card game publishing company that was launched to produce small, budget-priced games based around submissions from students and professional game designers alike — he said founded the company in order to give his students "experience of the business side of game publishing".
|
|
