Brian Reynolds

Brian Reynolds

Chief Designer

Zynga

An eighteen-year industry veteran, Brian Reynolds is recognized as one of the industry's most talented and productive game designers. Honored by PC Gamer magazine as one of twenty-five "Game Gods," Reynolds played a key role founding two successful videogame studios: Firaxis and Big Huge Games. Reynolds’ videogames have sold over 6 million copies worldwide, and he has masterminded the design of several smash hits including Civilization II®, Alpha Centauri®, and Rise of Nations®, as well as Catan® for Xbox360 Live Arcade.

Highly regarded as well for his mastery of the art of programming, Reynolds' dual specialty gives him the substantial advantage of being able to bring his own visions to life - and he has built a reputation for finely tuned gameplay. As Chief Designer for Zynga, Brian now applies these talents to the rapidly growing world of social network games, and with his cohorts at “Zynga East” is hard at work on new social strategy games!

In June 2006, Brian was also elected Chair of the International Game Developers Association the non-profit professional society dedicated to advancing the careers of game developers worldwide, and he continues to serve the organization in an advisory role. Brian is particularly interested in finding ways to get developers a better deal on intellectual property rights, credit and recognition, awards programs, and general quality of life - leading him to focus his volunteer work in those areas. Brian’s other volunteer work has included judging the International Game Festival, the Game Developers Choice Awards, and the AIAS Interactive Awards.