In the old days, games were often made by a small group of programmers. Among them stood the "designer". The designer was the one who came up with the idea in the first place and worked on the first draft of the gameplay and the content. In the 80s and the 90s, a lot of game designers became know to the public.
This is a list of the most popular and most important video game designers of the DOS era of video games.
| author | occupation | known for (games designed) |
|---|---|---|
| Al Lowe | musician and game designer | The Leisure Suit Larry series |
| Alexey Pajitnov | video game designer and computer engineer | Tetris |
| Brian Fargo | game designer, programmer, producer | The Bard's Tale 2 and 3, Wastelands, Fallout |
| Chris Roberts | game designer | Wing Commander, Times of Lore |
| Chris Sawyer | game developer | Transport Tycoon, Roller Coaster Tycoon |
| David Braben | game designer, programmer and entrepreneur | Elite, Frontier |
| Jane Jensen | game designer, author | The Gabriel Knight series |
| John Romero | game designer, game programmer | Commander Keen, Doom, Quake |
| Jon Hare | game designer, musician | Wizball, Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder |
| Jon Van Caneghem | game designer | Might and Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic |
| Julian Gollop | game designer | X-COM: UFO Defense, Laser Squad |
| Peter Molyneux | game designer, game programmer | Populous, Magic Carpet, Powermonger |
| Richard Garriott | game designer | The Ultima series |
| Roberta Williams | game designer, writer | The King's Quest series, Sierra On-Line co-founder |
| Ron Gilbert | game designer, programmer, producer | Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, Monkey Island |
| Sid Meier | game programmer, game designer, producer | Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, Pirates! |
| Steve Eric Meretzky | game designer | Planetfall, Spellcasting 101, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |
| Warren Spector | game designer | Ultima Underworld, Deus Ex, System Shock |
| Will Wright | game designer | SimCity, The Sims |
