John Tobiasis an Americancomic book artist,graphic designer,video game designerand writer. Tobias is best known for creating theMortal Kombatseries along withEd Boon,to whom he pitched the game concept.[1]
John Tobias | |
|---|---|
 Tobias in 2017 | |
| Born | August 24, 1969 Chicago, IL |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Known for | Mortal Kombatfranchise |
Tobias became interested in drawing from an early age, inspired bycomic books.[2]During high school he took weekend courses at theArt Institute of Chicago.[2]He was an artist forThe Real Ghostbusterscomic book series before joiningMidway Games.Tobias said his original career plan was to be a comic book artist, but the advances in graphics at the time made the video game industry more appealing to him, as well as his mother frequently stating that artists would never support their families.[2]He worked on the original arcade version ofSmash TV(1990) prior to the success ofMortal Kombatin 1992. Tobias created the earlyMortal Kombatseries' storyline, themes, and settings; including the Outworld and Netherrealm. He was also responsible for the design of the entire character roster from the early games in the series throughMortal Kombat 4(1997). This includes the series' most popular characters includingKano,Kitana,Liu Kang,Raiden,Johnny Cage,Scorpion,Sub-Zero,Sonya Blade,andGoro.Noob Saibotwas named after Tobias's and Boon's reversed surnames. This is also elaborated in their Twitter handles, @therealsaibot and @noobde.[3][4]
Tobias, along with other prominent Midway staff members, including Dave Michicich and Josh Tsui, left Midway in 1999 and formedStudio Gigantein 2000.[5]Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus,published byMicrosoft Game Studiosin 2003, was the first game Studio Gigante created, followed byWWE WrestleMania 21in 2005. Studio Gigante ceased operations in 2005 and Tobias worked as a consultant in the games industry until September 2012, when he joined social games studioZynga.[6]
Despite being one of the original creators of theMortal Kombatseries, Tobias is not mentioned in commentary or descriptions in the "making of" documentaries forDeadly AllianceandDeception,but was referred to as one of "four people who made" the originalMortal Kombat.However, he can be seen in the commentaries forMortal Kombat 3in the collectionMidway Arcade Treasures 2.In 2008, Tobias illustrated a pack-in comic with special editions ofMortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.[7]Tobias was interviewed at length in episode 5 of the 2020Netflixdocumentary miniseriesHigh Score,aboutMortal Kombatand thecontroversies surrounding its release.[8]As part of theHispanic Heritage Month2021 Boon tweeted they both areHispanic.[9]
References
edit- ^Barton, Steve (June 10, 2010)."E3 2010: Mortal Kombat Returns! See the New Trailer!".Dread Central.Archivedfrom the original on August 6, 2022.RetrievedJune 10,2010.
- ^abc"The Game Makers: The Artists".GamePro.No. 88. January 1996. pp. 34–36.
- ^"John Tobias' Twitter".Archivedfrom the original on October 25, 2013.RetrievedJanuary 25,2016.
- ^"Ed Boon's Twitter".Archivedfrom the original on May 15, 2022.RetrievedMarch 30,2021.
- ^Koziarski, Ed M. Koziarski (February 24, 2004)."Game developers Gigante move into expanded space; grow to 35 staffers".Reel Chicago.Archivedfrom the original on November 5, 2021.RetrievedSeptember 18,2012.
- ^Makuch, Eddie."Zynga hiresMortal Kombatco-creator ".GameSpot.Archivedfrom the original on September 19, 2012.RetrievedSeptember 18,2012.
- ^McWhertor, Michael (July 25, 2008)."Green Lantern, Joker Join MK Vs. DC Universe Line Up".Kotaku.Archivedfrom the original on October 6, 2012.RetrievedJune 24,2009.
- ^Petite, Steven (August 14, 2020)."High Score Netflix Review - The Most Impressive Video Game Documentary Yet".GameSpot.Archivedfrom the original on August 23, 2020.RetrievedAugust 14,2020.
- ^Boon, Ed [@noobde](September 23, 2021)."Even better…. Mortal Kombat co-creator @therealsaibot is also Hispanic so we should celebrate for 2 months 👍🏻😀 https://t.co/ViuD9RE7CW"(Tweet).Archivedfrom the original on September 25, 2021.RetrievedOctober 2,2021– viaTwitter.
External links
edit
Interviews
edit- ARGcast
- The Gameological SocietyArchivedSeptember 13, 2019, at theWayback Machine
- Mortal Kombat Online
- Player FM