Andrew Gower

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Andrew Christopher Gower
Nationality British
Occupation Lead developer and co-founder of Jagex Ltd.
Net worth £113 million (US$217 million) shared with brother Paul.
Known for Co-founder of Jagex and creator of RuneScape
Website
http://www.jagex.com, http://www.runescape.com

Andrew Christopher Gower[1] is the co-founder of Jagex Ltd, a Java-based game distributor and creator. He is also the lead developer of RuneScape, a popular MMORPG created during his time at the University of Cambridge.[2] The 2007 Sunday Times Rich List claims that Andrew and Paul Gower are the 654th richest men in the UK, worth £113 million (US $217 million).[3][4]

Biography

He attended the Becket School in Nottingham, England from 1991 to 1997.

Creations and programs

Between 1995 and 1996 Andrew created Parallax Painter, Battle Zone and Destruction Imminent (published by Goodmans) on the Atari ST under the name Cunning & Devious Games. This group consisted of Andrew, Paul and Ian Gower as well as Peter Oliver . He then began trading as Jagex and created a series of Java games from 1996 to 1999, most of which appeared on the website Games Domain. This included several single player games and a 3D castle with a variety of classic multiplayer games, now located on Jagex's website.[5][6][7][8]

With the help of his brother, he founded Jagex to develop and operate the game. A graphical and engine rewrite was completed in 2004, which was named RuneScape 2 or RS2 in development and is now simply called RuneScape or RS.[9] The original version of RuneScape is now known as RuneScape Classic or RSC, and is still running but can only be accessed by some of its original players.

References

  1. ^ Cambridge University Reporter (12 July 2000). Congregations of the Regent House on 29 June, 30 June, and 1 July 2000. Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
  2. ^ "Rune to move", The Guardian, Guardian Unlimited, December 11, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-03-25. 
  3. ^ 2007 Sunday Times Rich List: Andrew and Paul Gower. The Sunday Times (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-27.
  4. ^ Top 20 websites run by people under 30. RetireAt21. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
  5. ^ Single Player Web Games. Games Domain (2002). Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  6. ^ Jagex Software :: Minigames. Jagex.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
  7. ^ DeviousMUD. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  8. ^ The Unofficial Andrew Gower Archive (English). The Unofficial Andrew Gower Archive (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
  9. ^ RS2 Launched!. RuneScape.com (March 29, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-04-06.
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Jagex series of articles
RuneScape · FunOrb · Andrew Gower
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