George Gomez is an industrial designer, video game designer, and pinball designer who has worked for Bally, Williams, and Stern Pinball, among other companies. He has designed or contributed to several notable games, including Tron (1982), NBA Fastbreak (1997), and Monster Bash (1998).
George Gomez | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Havana, Cuba |
| Nationality | Cuban American |
| Other names | Jorge Alfredo Gomez Marth |
| Occupation | Designer |
| Known for | Pinball, video games, toys |
Biography
editGomez received a degree in industrial design in the late 1970s, influenced by his interest in drawing an making things as a child.[1]
Gomez began his career in game design at Bally Midway in 1978.[2] He worked on the team that created the Tron video game, and headed the team that created Spy Hunter. In 1984, after the 1983 video game crash, he left Midway to invent toys at the consulting firm Marvin Glass & Associates.
Gomez is the inventor of numerous toys, including Tonka's "Splash Darts" and Galoob's "Crash-N-Bash".
After Glass, Gomez worked on projects through the contract manufacturer Grand products, including the Battletech Centers and several Sega, Jaleco and Taito coin op video games of the late '80s. In 1993 he became a designer at Williams Electronics and designed several notable pinball machines including Monster Bash and was one of the lead developers of the Pinball 2000 system.[3]
After Williams closed their pinball division, Gomez re-joined Midway Games heading Xbox and PlayStation game development teams.[4] Gomez was one of key designers of the street basketball video game series NBA Ballers. While at Midway he became a consultant designer to Stern Pinball; during this time he designed several games, including The Lord of the Rings, Batman the Dark Knight, Playboy and The Sopranos. In July, 2011 he joined Stern Pinball as Vice President of Game Development, responsible for all of the company's product development efforts.[5]
Arcade video games
edit(incomplete list)
- Designed the joystick for Gorf (1981), which was used on numerous other Bally arcade games[6]
- Satan's Hollow (1982)
- Tron (1982)
- Discs of Tron (1983) (including design of the "environmental cabinet")
- Spy Hunter (1983)
Console video games
edit- NBA Ballers: Chosen One (2008), Midway Games, Inc.
- NBA Ballers: Phenom (2006), Midway Games, Inc.
- NBA Ballers (2004), Midway Games, Inc.[7]
Pinball
edit- Corvette (1994)[5]
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
- NBA Fastbreak (1997)[5]
- Monster Bash (1998)[2]
- Revenge From Mars (1999)[2]
- Playboy (2002)[5]
- The Lord of the Rings (2003)[8]
- The Sopranos (2005)[9]
- Batman- The Dark Knight (2007)[5]
- Transformers (2011)[2]
- The Avengers (2012)[2]
- Batman 66 (2016)
- Spider-Man The Pin (2017) (consumer game)
- Supreme (2017) (Private Label)
- The Beatles (2018)
- Deadpool (2018)
- Star Wars Pin (2019) (consumer game)[1]
- James Bond 007 (2022)[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Langsworthy, Billy (2022-10-10). "George Gomez – Chief Creative Officer at Stern Pinball – takes us inside the design of the firm's new James Bond machines". Mojo Nation. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ^ a b c d e Joosten, Jonathan (2014-12-03). "George Gomez special". Pinball Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ^ Greg Maletic (director) (2006). Tilt: The Battle To Save Pinball.
- ^ Takahashi, Dean (2022-02-05). "How Stern Pinball is connecting pinball machines for the future". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ^ a b c d e Pinball, Stern (2011-08-10). "STERN PINBALL, INC. APPOINTS WORLD RENOWNED GAME DESIGNER GEORGE GOMEZ VICE PRESIDENT OF GAME DEVELOPMENT - Stern Pinball". Stern Pinball -. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ^ "TOPCast Interview with George Gomez".
- ^ "George Gomez". MobyGames. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ^ "Internet Pinball Machine Database: Stern 'The Lord of the Rings'". www.ipdb.org. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ^ "Internet Pinball Machine Database: Stern 'The Sopranos®'". www.ipdb.org. Retrieved 2022-02-12.