Mark Cerny is credited as the lead system architect behind the PS4, PS Vita, and most recently the PS5. This is no small role. In fact, his work and ♐design philosophy on the PS🌱4 is seen as the main reason for its phenomenal success.
How does one end up as the system architect for a console, though? The ten facts below about Mark Cerny and his career paint a c𝔍lear picture of his accomplishments and influence on the gaming industry. You'll see that he hit the ground running at an early age and never stopped.
10 ✃He Started Working At Atari When 👍He Was 17
Mark Cerny's interest in gaming was sparked at an early age. His passion 🅺got him . He actuall💃y dropped out of school in order to work at the company.
This was the early 80s, so 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Atari was on top of the world. Getting any job at 17 years old is impressive enoug🧸h; having it be at one of the most successful gaming companies of the time is simply unbeꩵlievable.
9 Marble Madness Was His First Big Game ♊ 🐠
While not Mark Cerny's first work as a designer and programme🐼r - that honor belongs to Major Havoc - Marble Madness was his first massive success.
In just ten m❀onths, Cerny made the🐼 game along with Programmer Bob Flanagan and several other artists. Influences on the game included mini-golf and the minimalist aesthetic was influenced by artist MC Escher.
8 He's Fluent In Japanese & Lived In Japan
The game designer's first interaction with Japan came from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an extended stint at Sega after leaving Atari. He moved to Japan and lived there for many yearꦓs, learning the language and also meeting his wife.
from 2013 he describes the difficulty of learning the language and how few foreigners were in Tokyo in the 1980s an💃d early 1990s. Before learning Japanese he even worked with a programmer who did not speak English.
7 He Worked On So𒊎nic The Hedgehog 2
Knowing the architect of several major Sony consoles also helped make 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is amusing. He established a studio in California following Sega's desire to develop more games in the west which is 𝕴where the second Sonic game was developed.
The team, the Sega Technical Institute worked on several notable t🌺itles and worked on the canc🅘eled Sonic X-treme before closing down.
6 🐬 He Joined Universal Interactive Studios I🅠n 1994
After leaving Sega, Mark Cerny joined Universal as they attempted to join the gaming space. He was the VP of product development and during this time he brought both 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Naughty Dog and Insomniac onboard.
The two studios developed games exclusively for the PS1, making 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, Respectively. After leaving the company, he went on to form Cerny games, a consulting company. Naughty Dog and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Insomn🐼iac are both under the Sony umbrella no🐈w.
5 ꦑ He Has An Influential Game Design Method
Mark Cerny has a unique approach to game design that has influ൲enced numerous other studios throughout the years. Dubꦡbed the Method, it establishes a distinct separation between pre-production and production.
Pre-production should be where ideas flourish and heavy ﷽experimentation is encouraged. Once a playable slice is made and approved, the produc🐷tion process is radically different and more focused.
4 ❀He Consulted On Almost Every Naughty Dog & Insomniac Game 𓆉
Mark Cerny's relationship with 🦋Naughty Dog and Insomniac did n♏ot end at just signing the deal with Universal Interactive Studios. He also consulted on all the early games.
He had a particularly involved hand with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash Baඣndicoot 2: The Wrath of Cortex. His work with Naughty Dog continued all th൩e way until 2007's Uncharted. Insomniac still collaborates with Mark Cerny as
3 ༒ Knack Was The First Game He Directed
Despite all his work in the industry, Mark Cerny does not have a lot of director credits in his name. In fact, 2013's Knack, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a PS4 exclusive, is the
He explains that in earlier years the director role did not really exist in game development. He also only intended to produce the game but fell into the director role as he became more involved. Knack was🌸 heavily marketed but ultimately did not become a Sony mainstay.
2 He Work𝔍ed O𒈔n The PS2, As Well
Before becoming the architect for the later Sony consoles, Mark Cerny worked on a graphics engine for the PS2. As a result, he was the first American to have the console.168澳洲幸运5开奖网: His work on the PS2 started from an꧃ invitation extended b💎y Shuhei Yoshida.
This also led to him working once again with Naughty Dog and Insomniac as the two studios were prepping Jak and Daxter and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ratchet and Clank.
1 🦄 He Probably Worked On Your Favorite PlayStation Exclusives
Mark Cerny has also worked on a plethora of titles from the modern era. Not all of them are from first-party companies, but most of them are still PlayStation exclusives. On the PS3 he served as a design consultant for168澳洲幸运5开奖网: God of War 3 and Killzone 3.
On the next generation, he was the executive producer on The Last Guardian and a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:technical producer on Death Stranding. On The La🔯st Guardian he helped the team bring the game over from PS3 to PS4 where🐼 it finally ran smoothly.
