I got an email from a fellow editor a while ago telling me the news, but I thought it was a bad joke until I logged back on just now and saw the story confirmed on IGN. Industry veteran Mark Haigh-Hutchinson died yesterday afternoon after a fight against pancreatic cancer. He was 43.
Haigh-Hutchinson was part of the videogames industry for over a decade, and played a large role in many gamers’ favorite games. He was a programmer on Paperboy, Rebel Assault, Dark Forces, Sam & Max, and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, then went on to act as project leader and programmer for N64 games such as Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire and Rogue Squadron.
Mark joined Retro Studios shortly after its creation, and was a senior engineer on the Metroid Prime trilogy, primarily working on the cameras and player controls.
In a field where most people behind the scenes are faceless and just names in a press release, Mark was actually someone I spoke with quite a bit, both at conventions and online. Even when I would tell him how I absolutely disliked the Metroid Prime series (I know, I’m weird) he’d just say "That’s your opinion" and move on. People who have been to a convention and talked to him about camera systems in games, programming, or videogames in general can attest that he was a good speaker, one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and brought a lot of new things to a conversation.
His book was supposed to be released sometime this month, and there’s no word yet on if he finished it. If you’re at all interested in cameras in games (or even want to see how the mind behind some of your favorite games worked) I urge you to keep an eye on the Amazon page in hopes that it becomes for sale.
In the meantime, below is a list of the games he’s credited as a developer on (thanks to MobyGames), and here’s an interview conducted with him a while back that gives some insight into what he did, and how he did it. Keep in mind Mark’s also worked on several other games without being credited — as mentioned in the interview — so the list below isn’t 100% complete. With such a great body of work, it’s saddening that the first time most people will have heard of Mark is now.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007), Nintendo of America Inc.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004), Nintendo of America Inc.
Metroid Prime (2002), Nintendo of America Inc.
Star Wars: Episode I – Racer (1999), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D (1998), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (1996), Nintendo of America Inc.
Big Sky Trooper (1995), JVC Musical Industries, Inc.
Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Magic Boy (1993), Empire Software
Star Wars: Rebel Assault (1993), LucasArts
Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993), Konami Corporation
World Class Soccer (1990), U.S. Gold Ltd.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game (1989), LucasArts, U.S. Gold Ltd.
Overlander (1988), Elite Systems, Ltd.
Paperboy (1987), Elite Systems, Ltd.
Alien Highway: Encounter 2 (1986), Vortex Software
