Andrew Greenberg has passed away at 67 years old. Greenberg is the co-creator of Wizardry, an extremely early and extraordinarily influential CRPG. Alongside Robert Woodhead, he designed the early entries of the series; Greenberg stayed on board through 1988’s Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom. He co-created the Star Saga games, and played a role in the development of Q*Bert.
“It is with great sadness that I mark the passing of my dear friend, the Evil Wizard Werdna,” wrote Woodhead on Facebook (Werdna—Andrew backwards—was the villain of the first Wizardry game and a name Greenberg fondly carried throughout his life, for example, applying it to his YouTube channel’s name).
Though written more than twenty years ago, Greenberg’s open letter to fans is a fine record of what he accomplished after departing game design.
Regrettably, irreconcilable differences made it impossible to continue working with Sir-Tech Software, Inc., and the schism resulted in a lawsuit that continues to this day [1999]…. After seeing too many of my friends fall into situations such as I found myself with Sir-Tech, and generally lamenting the state of technology law, I resolved to do something about it and became an intellectual property and computer lawyer. Since that time, I have been hacking the law with glee, aiding former colleagues in distress, drafting electronic signature, internet and other technology-related legislation, and trying to bring a sense of justice and right to computer law.
I married one of my former collaborators, Sheila McDonald, who has given me two perfect children, Shoshanna and William. Robert, Natsumi and their two beautiful children stay in touch and are counted among our dearest friends. In large part because of fan support such as yours, we all have been many times blessed by being able to play for a living. We remain forever grateful.
The first game, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, was one of the first major RPGs available for home computers; prior to that point, they were constricted to games college students devised for the campus computers (at least, when they weren’t caught by their professors or school staff). They translated the experience from tabletop and these college games for early Apple machines.
For all of its influence in the west (Might and Magic, The Bard’s Tale, and through to the games inspired by them), Wizardry proved enduringly popular and all the more influential in Japan: Yuji Horii cited Wizardry as essential in the creation of Dragon Quest, and without Dragon Quest any eastern JRPGs would look very different. Dungeon Meshi, Goblin Slayer, and Sword Art Online owe varying degrees of debt to Wizardry, by the authors’ admission.
Wizardry’s first installment was recently remastered with full art (and picture-in-picture display of the original game) by Digital Eclipse. This was made with input from Greenberg and Woodhead.
Source: Robert Woodhead, David Mullich
Featured Image: David Mullich
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