Mike Singleton, 1951-2012
We haven’t covered gaming much, if at all, here on GeekChocolate. In fact, of the core staff I think I’m the only card-carrying gamer geek.
Fortunately for me I’m also the site founder, so I can get away with going off-topic every now and again.
Video games have been a huge part of my journey into geekdom.
For me a love of fantasy literature and fantasy gaming were borne of each other. Indeed, it was the free copy of Dragons of Autumn Twilight that came bundled with the Dragonlance cassette for the Spectrum that started me down that road. After that I read The Hobbit, after that Lord of the Rings, and after that followed countless others.
So it was with some sadness this morning that I learned of the death of Mike Singleton, who passed away earlier this month.You may not recognise Mike by name, but if you’re a gamer of old you’ll recognise his work: Midwinter, War in Middle Earth, and of course the seminal Lords of Midnight trilogy.
Those are just a few, but shaped the face of gaming for so many.
Real Time Strategy fans, whether they realise it or not, owe Mike a debt of gratitude. If not for the ambition and scale of Lords of Midnight, and the early battle mechanics of War in Middle Earth, today’s RTS would be a different, perhaps less evolved, beast. Command and Conquer, Warcraft, Starcraft, even Halo Wars on the XBox 360 share some DNA with Mike’s early strategy work.
Gaming has lost a legend.
R.I.P. Mike.
