Sam Lantinga

Sam Oscar Lantinga
Other namesSlouken
Employer(s)Loki Entertainment (1999–2001)
Blizzard Entertainment (2001–2011)
Galaxy Gameworks (2011)
38 Studios (2011–2012)
Valve (2012–present)

Sam Oscar Lantinga is a computer programmer. He used to be the lead software engineer at Blizzard Entertainment, where he was known to the community as Slouken. He is best known as the creator of the Simple DirectMedia Layer, a very popular open source multimedia programming library, and also developed the compatibility database for Executor, a proprietary Mac OS emulator.[1]

He was the lead programmer and a co-founder of the now-defunct Loki Software, which ported several game titles to Linux.[2] A Linux client of World of Warcraft was developed, and negotiations with Linux Game Publishing were under way until Blizzard cancelled the project.[3][4] It is unknown if Lantinga was involved with this port.

He also founded Galaxy Gameworks in 2008 to help commercially support the Simple DirectMedia Layer.[5] He left Blizzard Entertainment to "relax, spend time with family, and explore some ideas to expand the Galaxy Gameworks business."[6] Soon after he launched a new website for Gameworks including an extensive list of developer testimonials.[7] Lantinga went on to work for 38 Studios,[8] which shut down in May 2012. Lantinga is currently employed at Valve.[9]

  1. ^ ARDI site credits Archived 2007-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Interview: Scott Draeker and Sam Latinga, Loki Entertainment Linux Journal, August 1, 1999
  3. ^ Blizzard Still Has a World of Warcraft Linux Client Phoronix, January 25, 2011 (Article by Michael Larabel)
  4. ^ "Linux Game Publishing: An Interview With Michael Simms" Linux Gazette (2005-06-03)
  5. ^ About Galaxy Gameworks
  6. ^ Simple DirectMedia Layer Forums, retrieved on 2011-01-06
  7. ^ Galaxy Gameworks Archived 2011-03-10 at the Wayback Machine LinuxGames, March 6, 2011 (Article by "Crusader")
  8. ^ Sam Lantinga at LinkedIn
  9. ^ Sam Lantinga at Valve (archived 2021)