Chris Sawyer

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Chris Sawyer is a British computer game developer who is best-known for designing and programming RollerCoaster Tycoon, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, and Transport Tycoon. He also had a hand in Elite Plus for the IBM PC.

Before transferring to the PC, Chris Sawyer had written games on the Memotech and Amstrad CPC. Some of these were published by Ariolasoft, Sepulcri Scelerati (1987) and Ziggurat (1988). The former of these two was one of the rare instances of a near finished game being presented to a publisher being published.

Sawyer had been a big fan of anything moving, as evidenced by his Tycoon games. His first, Transport Tycoon, was a moderate hit, and he immediately sought to create a sequel. However, only getting as far as writing the basic game engine, Sawyer became fascinated by roller coasters, so he changed the project into RollerCoaster Tycoon. While Roller coaster Tycoon was a very ambitious project, it couldn't have been finished without Sawyer's tireless efforts in research: riding the roller coasters. It is said that Sawyer rode a roller coaster so many times during the research phase of that project, that he ended up in bed for the better part of four days.

Sawyer served as a consultant in the development of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.

Sawyer's latest effort, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion, which he called "the spiritual successor to Transport Tycoon," was not a great success. Despite this, he is currently involved in developing a new mobile game, Train Tycoon, in conjunction with Czech company Redboss Games.

Sawyer recently sued Atari, claiming that they had failed to pay him certain royalties. [link]

He has created best-selling games almost entirely by himself, using only the freelance services of one artist and one musician. This is unusual in today's game industry. As a result, his games are not very graphically or technically advanced, though fans of his games argue this is offset by great gameplay.

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