Marin Science Seminar Presentation: "Videogame Development and the Early Days of LucasArts” on November 7th, 2018

David Fox and his wife Annie co-founded the world's first public-access microcomputer center in 1977. The Marin Computer Center was a prototype for bringing new technology to the public. David co-authored the books Computer Animation Primer, Armchair BASIC, and Pascal Primer, and in 1982 became one of the founding members of the Games Division at Lucasfilm Ltd. (later LucasArts). After leaving LucasArts, David was a Senior Game Designer at Rocket Science Games, then worked as a freelance consultant on several games. In 2001, David returned to immersive gaming at Xulu Entertainment, producing their motion simulator project. Then he produced and designed a prototype of an educational game for Learning Friends under a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Since 2010, David and Annie have been developing apps and books for kids and adults through their company, Electric Eggplant.

David studied engineering at UCLA and Humanistic Psychology at California State University at Sonoma where he received his bachelor's degree.

Previous Marin Science Seminar Presentation: The Making of an App—The First Official Rube Goldberg Invention Game Get the flyer here. (September 25, 2013)

Rube Goldberg - A comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation — Webster's New World Dictionary

Rube Goldberg was also a prolific American cartoonist from the last century (1883-1970). His crazy chain reaction invention cartoons have inspired YouTube videos seen by tens of millions, as well as many computer games and apps. But until now, there hasn't been an official Rube Goldberg game. David Fox will talk about how he obtained the rights to build the game from Rube's granddaughter, the design process focused on incorporating Rube's original cartoons, and the production of the game, which was first released in 2013.