Roger Keating

Roger Keating
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Video game designer
Known for	Wargames

Roger Keating is an Australian computer game designer.[1] Along with Ian Trout, Keating co-founded of the video game company Strategic Studies Group,[2][3] which is known for its strategic war and fantasy games with artificial intelligence.[4] Keating and Trout worked together on the majority of SSG titles.

Early life

Keating was born in New Zealand. He moved to Australia in 1978 and worked as a mathematics and physics teacher.[5]

Career in game design

Keating created his first game, Conflict, in 1979. It was published by American software house Strategic Simulations.[5] Keating left his teaching job to program full-time, and published seven games while working with SSI during 1981 and 1982. Keating later worked as a school teacher in New Zealand.[6]

In 1983 Keating, along with Ian Trout formed Strategic Studies Group. Gregor Whiley joined the company in 1986 for the development of BattleFront.[7] The company created many strategy games over the following 25 years. After his business partner Ian Trout's death, both Keating and Whiley worked part-time at The Northern Sydney Institute for four years between 2011 and 2014 while developing their games part-time.^[citation needed] They both moved to work for the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in 2015, where Keating taught programming.^[citation needed]

List of games

• Computer Conflict (1980)
• Operation Apocalypse (1981)
• Southern Command (1981)[8]
• Germany 1985 (1983)
• RDF 1985 (1983)
• Reach for the Stars (1983)[9][10]
• Baltic 1985: Corridor to Berlin (1984)
• Carriers at War (1984)[11][12]
• Norway 1985 (1985)
• Europe Ablaze (1985)
• Battlefront[13]
• Russia: The Great War in the East 1941-1945 (1987)[14]
• Halls of Montezuma: A Battle History of the U.S. Marine Corps (1987)
• Rommel: Battles for North Africa (1988)
• Decisive Battles of the American Civil War Volume 1: Bull Run to Chancellorsville (1988)
• Decisive Battles of the American Civil War Volume 2: Gaines Mill to Chattanooga (1988)
• Decisive Battles of the American Civil War Volume 3: Wilderness to Nashville (1988)
• Gold of the Americas (1989)
• Panzer Battles (1990)
• MacArthur's War: Battles for Korea (1990)
• Warlords (1990)
• Carriers at War (1992)
• Carriers at War: Construction Kit (1993)
• Carriers at War II (1993)
• Warlords II (1993)
• Warlords II Scenario Builder (1994)
• Warlords II Deluxe (1995)
• Decisive Battles of WWII: The Ardennes Offensive (1997)
• Warlords III: Reign of Heroes (1997)[4]
• Warlords III: Darklords Rising (1998)
• Warlords Battlecry (2000)
• Warlords Battlecry II (2002)[15]
• Decisive Battles of WWII: Korsun Pocket (2003)
• Decisive Battles of WWII: Battles in Normandy (2004)[8][14]
• Decisive Battles of WWII: Battles in Italy (2005)
• Battlefront (2007)
• Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets (2008)[16]

References

1. Chris Crawford (2003). Chris Crawford on Game Design. New Riders. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-13-146099-7.
2. "The best in war game software". Compute's Getting Started With: Entertainment Software by Wallace Poulter
3. "Will Fresno Survive? : Players Save, Destroy World—for Fun". 9 July 1986|PETER BAKER | Los Angeles Times
4. Rick Barba; Ted Chapman (1997). Warlords III: The Official Strategy Guide. Prima Games. ISBN 978-0-7615-1199-1.
5. "Strategies of a Man Down Under". Softline, March 1983.
6. Peter Watkins (1986). High Tech, Low Tech and Education. Deakin University. ISBN 978-0-7300-0402-8.
7. Chatteur, Fiona (2014). "Computer Graphics Through the Screen of Strategic Studies Group". Born Digital and Cultural Heritage Conference: 4.
8. "Game Review: Battles in Normandy". Australian Apple Review, page 40, bybb Gene Stephan.
9. David Myers (1 January 2003). The Nature of Computer Games: Play as Semiosis. P. Lang. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-8204-6700-9.
10. Neal Roger Tringham (10 September 2014). Science Fiction Video Games. CRC Press. pp. 390–. ISBN 978-1-4822-0388-2.
11. Peter P. Perla (January 1990). The Art of Wargaming: A Guide for Professionals and Hobbyists. Naval Institute Press. pp. 184–. ISBN 978-0-87021-050-1.
12. Ben Sawyer; Alex Dunne; Tor Berg (1998). Game Developer's Marketplace. Coriolis Group Books. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-57610-177-3.
13. Software Reviews on File. Facts on File, Incorporated. 1987. p. 29.
14. Ten Years of Technology and Dedication. Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. 1989. pp. 112, 130.
15. "A Louder Battlecry". IGN
16. Australian Centre for the Moving Image – http://www.acmi.net.au/global/docs/games_history_australia.pdf Archived 28 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• SSG Website, last updated in 2010
• Roger Keating at MobyGames