Who do you think is the most prolific game designer in the industry?

[Wolf Kanno]

What it says on the tin folks.

[Bolivar]

Well if you mean prolific as in releasing the most content I imagine it would be someone like Miyamoto or Mark Cerny, who's been in the industry a long time and have had their hands in a ton of projects over the years.

[Ayen]

I don't know enough game designers to say. When I googled the question out of curiosity I got Brian Colin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Colin).

[Pete for President]

I'd want to say Miyazaki but I realise that even though Demon's/Dark Souls are phenomenally well done they are sort of the same trick and I guess that's not really prolific.

It's hard to name a game designer that doesn't get stuck in whatever works for them.

Maybe the 2 guys from Studio Vlambeer (Ridiculous Fishing, Luftrausers) are a good nominee. Rami does a lot of speeches all across the world for indie game conventions and such, they release games quite often and even had a slight role in the creation of Hotline Miami.

[Pike]

I think I'm gonna go with Hideo Kojima because good lord there are like 80000 Metal Gear Solid games.

[Loony BoB]

Someone give me a long list of notable candidates to look through. I don't take too much notice of individuals.

EDIT: Also, are we talking "number of games" or "number of quality games" because that's a pretty notable difference.

[Wolf Kanno]

Someone give me a long list of notable candidates to look through. I don't take too much notice of individuals.

EDIT: Also, are we talking "number of games" or "number of quality games" because that's a pretty notable difference.

Whichever you feel is most important.

[escobert]

Thats a hard one for me.

There aren't a lot of console RPGs that I really got into and, I don't know anything about the people who worked on them or who they ever are.

Honestly the only game designer I follow is Dean "Rocket" Hall who developed and designed the DayZ mod for Arma II: Operation Arrowhead and is now the lead designer for DayZ Stand Alone at Bohemia Interactive studios.

[Perducci]

I'd say Miyamoto would probably edge out the competition.

Kojima and Sakaguchi are probably high up the list too, I guess.

[chionos]

Isn't "most prolific" a bit objective and quantifiable? It's not really a matter of opinion is it?

[Skyblade]

Isn't "most prolific" a bit objective and quantifiable? It's not really a matter of opinion is it?

Not necessarily. I mean, the game designer for the Madden franchise designs a game every year, technically. True, there are no new actual design elements, but that skews the objectivity. In terms of design, what does a designer make that is new that would actually count as his own? There is plenty of subjectivity in how the question is interpreted, so it changes the answers.

[*Devore*]

Tetsuya Nomura and Shinji Hashimoto have made a lot of games. A lot of which I really like although there is a few which I don't like, looking at you FFXIII.

[chionos]

Prolific means plentiful. Perhaps with the caveat: only "good" games count, or by your standards, the caveat: games in series do not count. Or perhaps if it were phrased, "Who is your favorite prolific game designer" or something like that, then it would be answerable. "Most prolific game designer" = "Game designer who has designed the most games" and that is not subjective, is entirely quantifiable, and not really much of a discussion.

If all the Madden games were designed by the same person, then that person would certainly be up there with the most prolific of all designers even if they're all basically the same game. I mean we give Richard Garriot the credit for multiple Ultima games even though they (at least in my mind) are all so very similar? It's moot in any case, because Madden hasn't had the same designer over and over. It hasn't even had the same overall team designing it over the years.

Keeping a series relevant year in year out is part of good game design and certainly shouldn't be something that ever takes away from whether a designer is contributing to the industry or not (i.e. is being prolific).

In any case, no matter how it's phrased, I don't know how the answer could be anything other than Shigeru Miyamoto, at least concerning the question of being prolific. Miyamoto doesn't design games, he designs franchises. Franchises that will seemingly last forever. I mean, let's ignore everything he's done from, say, 1987 onward. Before half of EoFF was even alive, Miyamoto had designed three games (and more importantly, perhaps, three characters) that are as important now, if not more so, than they were then, three characters that have in turns, carried on their backs entire platforms. Mario, Link (Zelda), Donkey Kong. You start adding in everything he did after 1986, and it's pretty clear. Not only did he design some of the best-loved games and characters of all time, he was a behind-the-scenes mentor to many of the designers who came after him, helping them become the designers that they are now, or have been.

[Fonzie]

This mothersmurfer right here. http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/281/files/2013/07/philfish.jpg

[chionos]

:roll2 For what? His handful of games (or less)? I only know of one: Fez. Does he design games under a pseudonym I don't know about?

[Bolivar]

He ain't in the industry no more!