{{Short description|American video game designer, professor, ethicist (born 1963)}}<!-- Occupation(s) as given in the lead (see MOS:ROLEBIO) --> {{multiple issues| {{BLP sources|date=July 2012}} {{Lead too short|date=August 2021}} }} {{Infobox person | name = Michael Cranford | image = Michael Cranford.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|6|5}} | birth_place = Orange, California, U.S. | alma_mater = University of Southern California | employer = {{Ubl | Human Engineered Software | Atari, Inc. | Interplay | Broderbund | Cyberdreams }} | occupation = {{Hlist | Video game designer | Professor | Ethicist}}<!-- Occupation(s) as given in the lead (see MOS:ROLEBIO) --> | known_for = {{Ubl | ''The Bard's Tale'' | ''The Bard's Tale II'' | ''Dark Seed'' }} | children = 3 }}
'''Michael Cranford''' (born June 5, 1963) is a video game designer and programmer. As a designer and programmer his works include ''The Bard's Tale, The Bard's Tale II, and Dark Seed.'' Cranford left the video game industry in 1992 to pursue an academic career as an ethicist.
== Game designer == Cranford was the designer and programmer of 1985's ''The Bard's Tale''<ref name="Tresca2010">{{cite book|last=Tresca|first=Michael J.|title=The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8H8bzqj6S4sC&pg=PA139|accessdate=10 July 2012|date=2010-11-16|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786458950|pages=139–}}</ref> and 1986's ''The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight'' role-playing video games published by Interplay Productions. He also programmed the Apple II version of ''Donkey Kong'', the Commodore 64 version of ''Super Zaxxon'', as well as ''Maze Master'' (a spiritual predecessor of ''The Bard's Tale''). His last video game was ''Dark Seed'' for Cyberdreams in 1992. He left the video game industry to pursue graduate studies, and thus was not involved in the creation of 1988's ''The Bard's Tale III''. Almost thirty years later, however, he was approached by inXile Entertainment to assist with the development of ''The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep'' and had agreed to provide feedback and advice for the new game.<ref name="Bards_Tale_IV">{{cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/the-bards-tale-iv/posts/1901203|title=Update 37: Bringing an Iconic Series into the 21st Century|author=inXile Entertainment|author-link=inXile Entertainment|first=16 June 2017|work=Kickstarter|accessdate=17 June 2017}}</ref>
===Games=== {| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" |- ! scope="col" | Name ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Credited with ! scope="col" | Publisher |- | ''Story Machine'' (VIC-20 port) || 1983 || programmer || Human Engineered Software |- | ''Maze Master'' || 1983 || designer, programmer || Human Engineered Software |- | ''Super Zaxxon'' (C64 port) || 1984 || programmer || Human Engineered Software |- | ''Donkey Kong'' (Apple II port) || 1984 || programmer || Atarisoft |- | ''The Bard's Tale'' || 1985 || designer, programmer || Electronic Arts |- | ''Borrowed Time'' || 1985 || writer || Activision |- | ''The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight'' || 1986 || designer, programmer || Electronic Arts |- | ''Centauri Alliance'' || 1990 || designer, programmer || Broderbund |- | ''Dark Seed'' || 1992 || designer || Cyberdreams |}
== Academic career == He was a professor for eight years at Biola University in La Mirada, California, gaining his Master of Divinity degree from Biola and a master's degree in Social Ethics from the University of Southern California. He is currently an adjunct professor of philosophy at Concordia University in Irvine, California. He studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley and he holds a degree in philosophy from the University of California, and has completed a Ph.D. in Religion and Social Ethics from the University of Southern California, with a focus on ethics and technology.<ref name="academics">{{cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcranford/|title=LinkedIn|author=Cranford, Michael|author-link=Michael Cranford|work=LinkedIn Profile|accessdate=24 November 2021}}</ref>
== Publications == * {{cite journal|last=Cranford|first=Michael|title=Election and Ethnicity: Paul's View of Israel in Romans 9.1-13|journal=Journal for the Study of the New Testament|issue=50|publisher=University of Sheffield|location=England|year=1993|volume=15 |pages=27–41|doi=10.1177/0142064X9301505003 |s2cid=146177953 }} * {{cite journal|last=Cranford|first=Michael|title=The Possibility of Perfect Obedience: Paul and an Implied Premise in Galatians 3:10 and 5:3|journal=Novum Testamentum|issue=3|publisher=E.J. Brill Publishers|location=Netherlands|year=1994|volume=36 |pages=242–258|doi=10.1163/156853694X00111 }} * {{cite journal|last=Cranford|first=Michael|title=Abraham in Romans 4: The Father of All Who Believe|journal=New Testament Studies|issue=41|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|volume=41 |pages=71–88|doi=10.1017/S0028688500022955 |s2cid=171050684 }} * {{cite journal|last=Cranford|first=Michael|title=The Social Trajectory of Virtual Reality: Substantive Ethics in a World Without Constraints|journal=Technology in Society|issue=18|year=1996|volume=18 |pages=79–92|doi=10.1016/0160-791X(95)00023-K }} * {{cite journal|last=Cranford|first=Michael|title=Drug Testing and the Right to Privacy: Arguing the Ethics of Workplace Drug Testing|journal=Journal of Business Ethics|issue=16|date=December 1998|volume=17 |pages=1805–1815|doi=10.1023/A:1005742923601 |s2cid=142747864 }} Reprinted in {{cite book|editor=Beauchamp & Bowie|title=Ethical Theory and Business|edition=6th & 7th|year=2001|publisher=Prentice Hall|location=New Jersey|pages=294–302}} * {{cite journal|last=Cranford|first=Michael|title=Drug Testing and the Obligation to Prevent Harm|journal=Business Ethics: Decision-Making for Personal Integrity and Social Responsibility|publisher=McGraw Hill|location=Boston|year=2007|editor=Laura P. Hartman |editor2=Joe DesJardines|pages=301–307}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{moby developer|id=11314|name=Michael Cranford's profile}} * [http://bardstale.poverellomedia.com/about.html The Bard's Tale Compendium] - more information about Michael Cranford's popular game series
{{Bard's Tale series}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cranford, Michael}} Category:1963 births Category:American ethicists Category:American video game designers Category:American video game programmers Category:Biola University alumni Category:Biola University faculty Category:Interplay Entertainment people Category:Living people Category:People from Orange, California Category:People from San Clemente, California Category:UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design alumni Category:Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences alumni