Industry veteran Mark Haigh-Hutchinson dies at age 43
Category: Industry, Posted: 01/17/2008 at 01:31AM CST by Brendon Lindsey, Editor-in-Chief
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
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- Multiwinia 11/03/2008
- Dead Space 11/03/2008
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I spent like an hour trying to figure out what to write. I didn't want to do a disservice to Mark, but at the same time I didn't want to spend two pages talking about how much he's done, how nice he is, etc. I'll just add this: he's certainly Hall of Fame status.
Also, keep his wife and daughters in mind. I only talked to him every few weeks online or once a year at a convention and his death is making me this sad. Imagine what they must be going through.
I am sorry to see him pass, he did bring alot of enjoyment to me and I'm sure others with his role in Sam & Max and Paperboy.
I have been contemplating this prospect for a while, not... the death of game creators/developers/programmers but the retirement. John Carmack has said Rage is his last game/engine, I'm sure Miyamoto is almost ready for retirement too, Sid Meier, Will Wright and in a few years we'll see Bill Roper, Ken Levine, Chris Taylor and so forth will no doubt contemplate their retirements from their jobs. Not to mention Kojima and Sakaguchi.
The second generation gaming faces are coming up like CliffyB, Jade Raymond, I surely hope some of these people have proteges in training we'll learn more about in coming years.
I am grateful that our passion, our hobby, our popculture niche is new, we've yet to see major retirements, we've yet to see many pass on, unlike say the movie niche or the music niche, or politics, automobile niche or sporting niches. But we will see this type of thing more often, it will be interesting to see how the enthusiast gaming world deals with these retirements and passing ons.
Personally I am going to load up Paperboy tonight and enjoy that early 80s classic.
Mark will certainly be missed.
It was an honor and privilege to be able to work with my friend and colleague Mark Haigh-Hutchinson. I have posted some thoughts at http://www.ai-blog.net/