Alan Emrich: A Biographical Overview

Born in the 1950's during the Eisenhower administration, Alan Emrich arrived with the rest of the baby boomers, unsure of what his generation would be called upon to do to ensure their place in history. Unlike the popular ballad of his infancy, Alan was not born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, but rather at a Catholic hospital in Long Beach, California, where he was raised and has lived nearby for most of his life.

Alan was always an avid gamer, spending too much time playing board and card games in his youth. Two of his early gaming endeavors were devising rules for pari-mutuel Monopoly and playing poker with the kids at school for their lunch money.

It was during the summer of his 13th year that Alan's life changed. A piece of junk mail arrived in his name and, being a typical bored teenager, he read it. The copy began, "Strategy & Tactics magazine: the military history magazine with. . ."

"Oh, brother," he though. "Military history? How boring." Still, he had nothing better to do than open the brochure. The sales pitch concluded by adding ". . .a game in it!"

That was it! New games that could be subscribed to! Wow!!

So he began his adventure into the higher level war and strategy games that has lasted ever since. He wrote his first articles for wargame magazines at the tender age of 15 (getting published while, ironically, failing his English classes primarily due to time spent gaming) and has published scores of articles since. Alan was the first War and Strategy Game Editor for Computer Gaming World magazine and still writes occasional articles and columns to this day when the muse is upon him. In addition, Alan has written and co-written several computer game strategy guides for Prima Publishing, including Sid Meier's Civilization or Rome on 640K a Day, and the official strategy guides for Master of Orion, Master of Magic, Empire Deluxe, Global Conquest, and Panzer General. He even wrote How to Run a Game Convention for the Game Manufacturer's Association.

In 1984, when Alan's company, Diverse Talents Incorporated, bought their first Apple ][e computer, another revolution occurred. Although self-taught in the ways of spreadsheets, databases, and word processing, it would be the expanding collection of evolving and maturing computer games that would once again transpose Alan's life. Eventually, he would connect with local gamer Russell Sipe at the Orange County gaming club and, there, form a relationship that would bring Alan to Computer Gaming World magazine in the late 1980s.

And, yes, the old guy has a family, too. Alan's been blessed with a wonderful wife, Petra, whom he met quite by accident when he was the Online Editor for Computer Gaming World and she was just a new by-line writing game reviews on the old Prodigy network. Alan has two sons: his oldest boy, James, and his youngest, Archer. Also, daddy's little girl, Avalon, continues to add sunshine to his life. Everyone of this clan, not surprisingly, is an avid gamer. Alan and the kids also enjoy sharing their love of animation and cartoons. Where would we be without the likes of Batman, The Powerpuff Girls, Scooby-do, Kim Possible, and Samuri Jack? The world will always need heroes.

Gaming has taken Alan to many jobs, including working as a producer, designer, developer, and writer for various board and computer game companies including Interplay Productions, Media Station, and Quicksilver Software. Alan also co-founded the three major Los Angeles area game conventions (Orccon, Gateway, and Gamex) while still in High School and went on to college where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History (yes, those wargames even influenced his curriculum) and a California Teaching Credential. He became a game auctioneer in his 17th year and has been selling games while entertaining his fellow hobbyists at game convention auctions ever since.

Speaking of conventions, Alan was also the Convention Manager for L.A. Origins '86, the national gaming convention. This show was so successful for the hobby that the convention returned to Alan's outfit in Los Angeles again in 1989.

It is Alan's love for war and strategy games (particularly at the higher, strategic levels of play where armies sweep across vast reaches and economics and diplomacy enter play) that has kept him working for his hobby day and night ever since. Always ready to support gaming institutions (Alan is a past Vice President of GAMA, the Game Manufacturer's Association, and currently sits on Charles S. Roberts Awards committee), Alan is a big believer in the gaming hobby community. To that end, he spends a great deal of time attending game conventions and keeping in touch with fellow gamers online.

His fellow gamers, too, seem to appreciate him as well. In 2001 Alan was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication to the hobby and the people in it. If you want more information about Alan and this hobby, be sure to click on that link.

But what games has he been involved in making? Well, with differing degrees of involvement, his  credits include: A House Divided; Modern Naval Battles I, II, and III and its current incarnation Cold War Naval Battles; World in Flames (2nd and 3rd editions); Days of Decision (1st edition); Third Reich (4th edition); Advanced Third Reich; WestFront; EuroFront; The Big One; Among Nations; Castles II; Master of Orion; Star Trek: Starfleet Command; Master of Orion III (from which the Metatheory cartoon comes from); and Decision Game's Krieg!, Totaler Krieg!, and Dai Senso. Alan has also long served the game Cosmic Encounter as both an evangelist and guru for its many board and online incarnations (the online game's currency, "m-rics," are even named after him).

Alan has been enjoying life recently as a casino poker dealer while working on his next goal, which is to teach others about game design and the game business. People who dream about becoming a professional game designer need to know what life for them will really be like. In pursuit of that goal, Alan has taught his course in The Principles of Game Design at the University of California at Irvine, Stanford University, and is currently teaching at The Art Institute of California at Orange County.