Benjamin Ellinger broke into the game industry more than 20 years ago at Steve Jackson Games, where he worked on board games such as Car Wars and role-playing games such as GURPS. Later, he worked as a programmer and designer on real-time strategy games, including This Means War! and Dawn of War, and massively multiplayer online games such as Ultima Online, Ashen Empires, and The Matrix Online, as well as Bicycle® Texas Hold ’em, the Fable II Pub Games, and the secret Microsoft Natal prototype project.
Ellinger has worked for small start-up companies, as a freelance contractor, and full-time at Microsoft as both a developer and a program manager. He has taught at DigiPen since 2003.
Ellinger was born and raised in Austin, Texas. He began programming computers over 30 years ago, starting out on a Commodore PET in the late 1970s. Oddly enough, he has a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology with a specialty in weight training from the University of Texas, but while he has taken only a handful of computer science classes, he knows a great deal about practical coding from professional experience, especially in the areas of game logic, artificial intelligence, physics, and networking. He plays and designs card games, board games, and tabletop role-playing games in addition to computer games.
“Teaching at DigiPen is not a job — it is a calling,“ Ellinger says. “The students have a dedication and commitment to learning that matches any school in the world. As an instructor here, I have the great responsibility of taking enthusiastic and hopeful students and forging them into elite professional game developers. The standards are high, and not a single day can be wasted. But for anyone who loves to teach, there is no better place to be.”
Selected Game Credits
- Fable II Pub Games, created by Carbonated Games, published by Microsoft, 2008
- Bicycle® Texas Hold ’em, created by Carbonated Games, published by Microsoft, 2006
- The Matrix Online, created by Monolith Productions, published by Warner Bros., 2005
- Dransik/Ashen Empires, created and published by Asylumsoft/Iron Will Games, 2003
- Ultima Online, created by Origin Systems, published by Electronic Arts, 1997
- This Means War!, created by Starjammer Studios, published by Microprose, 1996
- GURPS Space, published by Steve Jackson Games, 1988
- Aegis Wing, published by Microsoft
Selected Publications
- “Artificial Personality: A Personal Approach to AI,” in AI Game Programming Wisdom 4 (Charles River Media, 2008)
- Assistant editor for Autoduel Quarterly, published by Steve Jackson Games, 1988