Andy Gavin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Andy Gavin
Gavin in 2009
Born	Andrew Scott Gavin (1970-06-11) June 11, 1970 (age 55) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education	Haverford College (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)
Occupation	Entrepreneur game designer novelist programmer
Years active	1984–present
Employer	Naughty Dog (1984–2004)

Andrew Scott Gavin (born June 11, 1970) is an American video game programmer, a business person, and a novelist. Gavin helped start the video game company Naughty Dog in 1986 with his childhood friend Jason Rubin. This company created popular games like Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter. Before Naughty Dog, Gavin worked with a computer language called LISP at MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Andrew Gavin's Education

Gavin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Neurobiological Science from Haverford College. He then studied for a Ph.D. (a very advanced university degree) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While at MIT, he worked on the Mars Rover Vision Project for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This project helped robots see and move on Mars.

As a student, Gavin learned the LISP computer programming language. He also created several of his own programming languages. These special languages were later used to make the graphics, controls, sounds, and artificial intelligence (AI) in Naughty Dog video games.

Andrew Gavin's Career

Gavin at the Naughty Dog Wrap Party in Santa Monica, CA, 2009

Gavin and Rubin sold their very first video game, Math Jam, in 1985. In 1989, they sold another game called Keef the Thief to Electronic Arts. In the early 1990s, their fighting game, Way of the Warrior, led to a big deal. They signed a contract to make many games with Universal Interactive Studios.

Under this Universal deal, they created the famous Crash Bandicoot game series from 1994 to 1999. After that, they made the Jak and Daxter series. In 2000, Rubin and Gavin sold Naughty Dog to Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). By then, Naughty Dog had released 14 games. These games together sold over 35 million copies and earned more than $1 billion.

While at Naughty Dog, Gavin developed two special versions of the LISP language. These were called Game Oriented Object Lisp (GOOL) and its newer version, Game Oriented Assembly Lisp (GOAL). These languages were very new and helped make the games work better.

After Naughty Dog

Soon after leaving Naughty Dog in 2004, Gavin and Rubin started a new internet company called Flektor. They started it with Jason R. Kay, who used to work at HBO. In May 2007, Fox Interactive Media bought Flektor. Fox described Flektor as a website that helped users turn their photos and videos into cool slideshows and mixes. In October 2007, Flektor worked with MySpace and MTV. They helped get instant feedback from people during live online discussions with Senator Barack Obama.

Gavin left Fox Interactive Media in 2008. In 2009, he and Rubin announced a new social game company called Monkey Gods. This company worked on a new version of Snood and a word game called MonkWerks.

Gavin has also written books. He released a fantasy novel called The Darkening Dream in December 2011. His second novel, Untimed, which is about time travel, came out on December 19, 2012.

Games Andrew Gavin Worked On

See also

In Spanish: Andy Gavin para niños