Andrew C. Greenberg

For the Vampire: The Masquerade and Fading Suns game designer, see Andrew Greenberg.
Andrew Clifford Greenberg
Born
Andrew Clifford Greenberg

1957 (1957)
Died (aged 67)
Occupations
  • video game developer
  • patent attorney
Known forWizardry

Andrew Clifford Greenberg (1957 – August 28, 2024) was an American video game developer and patent attorney. He co-created Wizardry with Robert Woodhead, one of the first role-playing video games for a personal computer.[1][2] He was also involved with the production of the game Q*bert and several of the later Wizardry games in the 1980s. He was a graduate of Cornell University, where he did his first work on role-playing video games. He also was a proficient tuba player.

With Rick Dutton, Walter Freitag, and Michael Massimilla he created Star Saga One: Beyond the Boundary & Star Saga: Two - The Clathran Menace, in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Both were released by Masterplay Publishing.[1]

The name of the evil wizard in the first Wizardry game is Werdna, Andrew spelled backwards.

After working as a patent attorney with Carlton Fields, a law firm in Tampa, Florida, Andrew moved to San Francisco, California where he served as an executive and general counsel for a renewable energy company. Greenberg was a past Chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee for the IEEE, and has received the Institute's National Citation of Honor.

Greenberg had married Sheila McDonald, a play-tester of the Wizardry series, and had two children.[1] Robert Woodhead and David Mullich reported that Greenberg died on August 30, 2024, at the age of 67.[3][4]

  1. ^ a b c Litchfield, Ted (August 31, 2024). "Andrew C. Greenberg, co-creator of the influential Wizardry series of RPGs, has died". PC Gamer. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  2. ^ Bateman, Chris (November 16, 2011). Imaginary Games. O Books. p. 288. ISBN 9781846949418. Retrieved June 3, 2012.
  3. ^ Woodhead, Robert (August 30, 2024). "It is with great sadness that I mark the passing of my dear friend, the Evil Wizard Werdna". Facebook. Archived from the original on August 31, 2024. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  4. ^ @David_Mullich (August 30, 2024). "I am saddened to learn of the passing of game designer Andrew Greenberg. I never had the pleasure of meeting Andrew in person, but his landmark role-playing game series Wizardry was a joyful and influential part of my life in the 1980s. Rest in peace, Werdna!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.