Greg Costikyan

Greg Costikyan, also known as Designer X, is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including hex-based wargames, role-playing games, board games|boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile games. Several of his games have won Origins Awards. Costikyan was the game designer for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, and is credited under "original design" for its subsequent editions.

Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game
Greg Costikyan is credited on the following West End Games books:
 * Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, First edition (credited with "design")
 * Star Wars Sourcebook (credited with "additional development")
 * Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition (credited with "original design")
 * Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (credited with "original design")

His work on Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game was recognized with an Origins Award for Best Role-playing Rules of 1987 )

Other notable works
Costikyan's other games include:


 * Toon
 * Pax Britannica (Charles S. Roberts Award Winner for Best Pre-20th Century Game of 1985 )
 * Paranoia (Origins Award Winner for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984 )
 * The Creature That Ate Sheboygan (Charles S. Roberts Award Winner for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Game of 1979 )
 * MadMaze
 * Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed

In addition, Costikyan is a widely-published author on the subject of game design and the role of games in culture. His essay, "I Have No Words and I Must Design" is widely read as a conceptual approach to framing game design.

Lately, his studies have tended towards mobile phone game design, and Costikyan has been writing and consulting for Nokia. On September 23rd, 2005, he resigned from his position at Nokia to found the startup indie game publisher Manifesto Games.

Costikyan has written four novels. The first two were parodies of genre fantasy: Another Day, Another Dungeon (1990, ISBN 0-8125-0140-3) and its sequel One Quest, Hold the Dragons (1995, ISBN 0-8125-2269-9). By the Sword (1993, ISBN 0-312-85489-7) is another irreverent fantasy about a young barbarian who is forced by circumstances to make his way in the larger world; it was originally serialized on the Prodigy online service. His latest novel, First Contract (2000, ISBN 0-312-87396-4), depicts (with much dry humor) the vast sociological and economic changes that happen after aliens arrive on Earth, and one entrepreneur's efforts to survive and make a new start.

Costikyan lives in New York City with his two daughters and is a 1982 graduate of Brown University. He is a frequent speaker at game industry events including the Game Developers Conference and E³.

Awards and recognition
On March 7, 2007, Greg Costikyan received the Game Developers Choice Awards Maverick Award. The award was given for his tireless efforts to create a viable channel for indie games. He is also been inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame.