Redmond A. Simonsen, 1942-2005

[kzucker]

Subject: The world dims...RAS is gone

I regret to inform you that Redmond A. Simonsen passed away on Tuesday.

As you probably know, Redmond had been battling severe heart problems for the past couple of years. Apparently he suffered a series of attacks over the
past couple of weeks that were in-and-of-themselves too mild to set off alarm bells -- he had just switched to a new medication and was attributing worsened symptoms to that -- until on Monday when he suffered a major attack. He was hospitalized but by that point his heart was severly swollen and the doctors estimate only 4% of the tissue was healthy.

His nephew via his sister, Jim Nash, was with Redmond when he died,
peacefully, on Tuesday, and he called me yesterday to let me know. Jim is a gamer and he and Redmond were close.

I expect humanity will likely muddle through without Redmond, although I
believe our odds of survival have ticked downwards ever so slightly...should a
problem arise that he could have solved. But it surely won't be as much fun
observing our progress and lamenting our foibles without him.

And as for me, I have lost a true and loyal friend.

Brad Hessel

[kzucker]

His legacy in the graphic design of game maps is still very much alive. His influence on OSG maps and graphics can be easily seen. Redmond advocated clarity and functionality over beauty.

Aside from this practical, almost engineering outlook, he was a fine poet (he probably shared that with very few people). He cared about people, and felt that the more menial your job, the more you should be paid. Redmond would keep a box of dice handy during a game, and throw uncooperative dice across the room. He was also stubborn. Overall, though he believed in reason, and if you had the better argument he would acknowledge that with grace.

"In fact, the better the graphic design, the more likely it will not be noticed. Since, in game design, the overriding mission of the graphic designer is to communicate the substance of the game to the user, heavy-handed or flashy images that call attention to themselves (rather than their message) are actually detrimental."

- Redmond Simonsen, writing in "Wargame Design," p.46.

[Jeffrey Arnold]

It is very sad to learn that Redmond Simonsen is gone.

Looking at my game collection, I see that it is impossible to overestimate Redmond Simonsen's contribution to wargaming. During the 1970's, he was probably the most influential graphic designer working in the hobby. His influence is with us to this day.

[kzucker]

Grognards: Please post any other biographical information you know of here...

Redmond Simonsen was born in New York City in 1942. He attended the Cooper Union as a graphic artist and served in the US Air Force for two tours.

from Costikyan http://www.costik.com/spisins.html

In 1967, Simonsen agreed to do the design and layout for Strategy & Tactics magazine, and its appearance rapidly improved.

By late 1969, S&T was in financial trouble. Chris Wagner cast about for someone to take over the magazine, and eventually made an agreement with Jim Dunnigan, who founded Poultron Press, later renamed Simulations Publications, Inc., or SPI, to publish it. Simonsen continued on as S&T's (and SPI's) art director.

Under Dunnigan, S&T made a rapid and complete change in direction...

From Dunnigan's History of Wargaming
http://www.hyw.com/Books/WargamesHandbook/5-1-hey.htm

During these first three years at SPI (1969-1972), Redmond Simonsen further refined the standards for editing and designing game components. Simonsen also had a flair for editing and this, combined with his artistic skills, created a system for presenting games that has never been surpassed and is still widely imitated. While I was self taught in the wargame business, Simonsen had graduated from Cooper Union with a degree in design. Cooper Union is one of those uniquely New York institutions. It has a huge endowment, so charges no tuition. However, entry is competitive. Other graduates have told me that getting in was worse than any job interview they subsequently had to go through.

Costikyan ... http://www.costik.com/vidiot.html

Redmond A. Simonsen, co-founder of SPI, its art director throughout its history; he was the first to put designers' names on the cover of games, and set the standard for graphic design in the field. He also coined the term "game designer" (previously, 'game author' or 'game inventor' were commonly used).

Design Credits: AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, BATTLEFLEET MARS, THE CREATURE THAT ATE NEW YORK, DIXIE, DRAGONSLAYER, SORCERER, STARFORCE, STRATEGY I, STRIKE FORCE 1, and WORLDKILLER. Created the StarForce Trilogy.

From "Campaign" Magazine article by Jack Greene, 1976

Redmond Simonsen is best known as the graphics person at SPI so many of my questions centered on this aspect of his work. Redmond tries to have the graphics fit the game. "I don't think there is really much to be gained by many colors in a two sided game"' as it is confusing.

Redmond went on to point out that he was a "functional graphics" man first and foremost. He tries to create a "physical system, not a graphic system." Some of his favorite games are WWI, Battle for Germany, and Panzer Armee Afrika, Anzio and Crete that he did.

On reviews, "Impact is very subjective." On the Hobby, "I'd like to see another young and vigorous company to appear on the scene." Redmond hoped that "guys like at GDW who wanted to put their shoulder to the wheel and make a commercial and going concern (like SPI)" is what he would like to see. Redmond also feels that it will be hard to have a quantum jump in game design as was Panzerblitz when it appeared. Redmond did feel that a spicy competition would help the Hobby.

The "limited number of women in wargaming is because of the nature of society." "Where aggression is rewarded some women short-circuit." While closet Nazis are visible, "Crypto-Nazi's might be a better name." "The most visual person in the Hobby is the vocal extreme."

I asked Redmond about the changes the art department does to games when he gets them. "it falls to me to sometimes so I take the rough edges out" of a game. "I try to standardize the approach to rules." One thing I learned from talking with Redmond is that he does not try to produce "pretty games" but rather to make them functional.

After leaving Wargaming, Redmond Simonsen relocated and worked for Paravision, Inc. of Richardson TX through 1998. He died of a heart attack on Tuesday, March 8, 2005. Even though Redmond had quit the wargame business for good, he was never forgotten.

He is survived by his sisters and nephew, Jim Nash, also of Richardson TX.

[Kevin Z.]

Hi! The attached word doc is an appreciation of Redmond written by designer and author John Prados.

[Kevin Z.]

Provided by Jim Nash, Redmond's nephew.

Here is more information on Redmond before and a little after you all worked with him.


Born 6-18-42 in New York, New York (in the Inwood neighborhood)

Second son of Astri Nordlie Simonsen and August Emil Simonsen

Predeceased by his parents and his brother Dr. August Simonsen

He is survived by his sister Lois K. Nash, his nephews James A Nash, and Maj. Erik L. Simonsen, his nieces Karen Bezanson, Jennifer Galanek, Heidi Simonsen, and Kristi Bunovich, and sister in law Mary L. Simonsen.

His education consisted of a high school education in New York's competitive magnate school Stuyvesant High School, 1956-1960. He had a B.F.A conferred upon him from the Cooper Union College, another competitive school in 1964.

He was in the active duty U.S.A.F. for two brief periods most notably during the Pueblo crisis.

Prior to his co-founding of SPI he was a graphic artist. Most notably he did work on some 20 pulp fiction novels, several record covers for London Records, Kool Cigarette advertisements and many others.

After and even during his time at SPI he was an accomplished photographer. He had pictures purchased by journals like, Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and many others. He was a professional journalist for the computer industry. In 1984 he moved to Richardson, Texas where he started working with Jerry Robinson to create a company called Microbotics, which manufactured ancillary parts and boards for the Amiga computer platform.

In and around 1992 Microbotics closed and Redmond retired from active work and became a gaming network moderator for BIX and other places.

In and around 1998 Redmond retired completely and spent his time drawing, writing computer programs, and wrote science fiction short stories.

In 2004 Redmond suffered his first heart attack, I visited him about 6 times when I was in Dallas on business and he seemed to be recovering from the damage he suffered.

In the last two weeks he must have suffered 2 or more additional heart attacks and went into the hospital on Monday of this past week.

Redmond died with myself, my mother, my cousin Erik, and my aunt Mary at his side on Wednesday.

[ericleesmith]

ODE TO REDMOND

By Eric Lee Smith

Redmond - or RAS as his friends called him (pronounced 'Rass,' not Razz, he hated that!) - is, without a doubt, the most important mentor I have ever had in my life. He affected my short game design career greatly, but he has affected my long product development career profoundly. I hardly know where to begin to describe RAS and what his life has meant to me.

Redmond Simonsen was one of a kind: one of the most intelligent, creative, opinionated, productive, and generous people I have ever known. As the co-founder of Simulations Publications (SPI), he was the creative director and ran the art and editorial departments. But he was so much more than that! He had an engineer's passion for efficiency and logic, combined with an artist's eye for beauty and design. He almost single handedly created the graphic design standards used in an entire industry, the board game industry. But even that is understated. He created such basic concepts as "game designer" as a title and profession, the numbering system used to number the spaces in board wargames, the rules structure still used by most wargames to this day, and literally dozens of "graphic systems" for game boards. He was also an accomplished and highly innovative game designer in his own right, especially in the area of science fiction games. But there is more!

I met Redmond when I was 21 years old, and I am now 48. I went to SPI on Friday nights to attend the playtesting sessions open to the public. I was a fan before I got there, one of literally dozens of young men who would show up at SPI to play games and hang out with the game designers. A startling number of us volunteers got a chance to design games for SPI, due in large measure to Redmond's eye for talent. I "earned" the opportunity to design my first game for SPI within a year of showing up at the door. In reality, Redmond and his partner Jim Dunnigan, thought an inexperienced kid from Dallas, Texas, without a game credit to his name, had potential and gave me a shot. It worked too, and not just for me, but for literally dozens of us.

SPI was such an amazing place, it was like a frat house for game geeks, with dozens of games in various stages of completion going on at any time, magazines in constant production, arguments in the halls, playtesters in nooks working on the latest game, new people being trained, game designers pounding out manuscripts on crude typewriters, the smell of coffee constantly brewing, the Xerox machine coping and breaking down daily, the odor of a rubber cement and Berol markers coming from the art department, the typesetting crew cranking away all day and virtually all night, a constant hubbub of activity. But it was not chaotic; it was systematic. And Redmond was always there, in his office, his "lair," which he seldom left and which was as chaotic as Redmond was systematic.

It is hard to describe the massive productivity of Redmond and Jim's creative unit at SPI, but this should give some evidence. In the days before computers and desktop publishing, Redmond created "systems" and insisted that we game designers and editors learn them and use them, the result being that a group of fifteen people, all young and many under 20, could turn out eighteen magazine issues, including twelve board games in those issues, plus over a dozen other board games, two role playing games, and two newsletters, all in one year. To this day, after working with over 20 development shops, I have still never encountered a firm that could compare to the sheer productivity of Redmond's SPI. In the course of a little over ten years, RAS and his team published over three hundred games, hundreds more magazines, and remade and reinvented a whole industry. I learned so many things there that I continue to use everyday in my professional life, that I simply don't know where I'd be if I had not had my SPI training and experience.

Redmond's intellect was a powerful, nuanced, complex, and overwhelming force. To be on the opposite side of an argument with Redmond was a nearly impossible place to survive. He loved a good argument and thrived on discussing a whole universe of topics: science, photography, art, game design, publishing, type (yes, type), politics, history, science fiction, computers, mathematics, graphic design, New York, music, technology, ballet, cooking, cognac, college, psychology, medicine, and more, a literally endless list. How do I know this, because I discussed all these topics and more with him. Redmond is without a doubt the most autodidactic person I have ever known. He explained to me once that he was born quite premature, weighing less than two pounds, and spent his early months of life in an incubator with little prospect of living. Yet, he pulled through. He said he attributed his will and intellect to that struggle for life. I believe it.

RAS could be intimidating. He had a temper, used it frequently, and didn't suffer fools gladly. His mind worked so fast that he had a hard time waiting for other people to catch up, get to the point, or just say it. There were legends of RAS throwing phone books at game designers who broke his patience. However, he also had a deep, deep appreciation for other people and their ideas, regardless of who the person was. I will never forget a scene I witnessed once; Justin Leites, a young playtester, was in Redmond's office reporting on the playtest of a science fiction game. Justin was a great tester, but he was giving feedback such as, "It stinks," and RAS was trying to get him to explain, give details. Justin would say, "I dunno, it just stinks," and RAS would try again. Finally RAS was on the verge of losing his temper and said, "Justin you don't understand! You are a kid, I am a 45 year old adult. I am treating you as a professional. Do you understand that? Professionals do not treat thirteen year olds as peers. You will be lucky to be listened to as seriously as I am listening to you today when you are 25." I will never forget it. Justin listened, got the message, and gave RAS the detailed feedback that was needed.

Redmond went to Cooper Union, and I was perhaps luckier than other young game designers, and got more of Redmond's attention, because I went to art school also. The fact that I was studying photography also interested RAS, because he was a serious photographer. After I graduated, and while working at SPI, my younger brother Clayton moved to New York to go to NYU. He lived with me in my hovel... er, loft... in downtown Brooklyn. I had the dream job of my youth, working for SPI, but I was paid little. It was enough, but there were few luxuries in my life, such as meals out. But once a week, and for over two years, Clayton and I went out every Friday night with Redmond for dinner. At the end of Friday night playtesting, usually around midnight, RAS, Clayton, and I would walk the five blocks from SPI to a restaurant on 21st and Third Avenue, and Redmond would treat us to a great steak dinner. Redmond loved steak, medium rare, with a little salt, a good salad, and a cognac to finish. Dinner and conversation lasted until nearly two in the morning, sometimes three, with our talks ranging over the whole world of topics. This weekly ritual is my fondest memory of Redmond and nearly brings me to tears as I think about it.

Redmond was like that. He was remarkably generous with his time, with nary a thing expected in return. RAS was a private man and lived a quiet life outside his work. After SPI, Redmond moved to the suburbs of Dallas, Texas to join a technology startup. He never learned to drive, but lived near a large strip mall, creating a kind of "virtual Upper West Side" for himself. RAS was self-employed almost his whole life, an entrepreneur to his core, or, as he once put it, "I am too peculiar by now to be employed by anyone but myself." In Dallas, I saw him once or twice a year when I would visit my family. He came to Thanksgiving with my family several times and showed great kindness to my mother. My father was an art director and he and Redmond got along great. In 1991, RAS attended a really wild costume party my parents threw and video taped the whole affaire. He then edited the tape, with all the attention to detail RAS was capable of, and gave finished copies to my parents, my two brothers, and myself. It is one of our family's most prized possessions.

I will close with a favorite RAS story that few people know. When SPI closed in 1982 there was a spontaneous party, an "Irish Wake" we called it, at Flanagan's on 23rd and Madison. Over fifty SPI alumni attended, people from every era of the company's life, men and women, game designers and staff, and many traveled long distances. We drank beer. We told stories. We danced. Here's the RAS story. Are you ready? Redmond dances EXACTLY like Elvis Presley. No kidding! Next time you catch "Jailhouse Rock" on late night cable, check out the title number's dance sequence. That could be RAS sliding down that pole and dancing with those cons. I asked him about it later, and he admitted he had a black leather jacket in high school and was a big Elvis fan at the time. It showed!

I am going to miss you RAS, you and your brother both left us too soon. But there is one mystery at least that might be cleared up. Perhaps now we can all find out what your middle name is, what the "A" in RAS means. You would never tell anyone, claimed it was "deeply ethnic" and "not something to be shared." At least you will not know that I know, once I know, if and when I know. In my imagination, I can hear a discussion with you about this topic starting right now - gotta go.

Eric

[Jim_Nash]

I want to thank you all for your very kind words about my uncle; they have overwhelmed our family in ways that you can't imagine. I have always lived in the larger than life shadow Redmond as he was something of a legend in our own family too. He was the genius uncle, the fun loving guy who would play games with the kids before he would hang out with the adults, the man who would make money for completely fun things materialize, the man who pushed me to go to graduate school because it was good for me, and many other things. But above all of those things, he was my friend, who I miss very much.

For the last two years, Redmond and I spoke on an almost daily basis. I used up a great many cell minutes talking to him from my car or in other cities as I would travel. I have over 400 emails in my inbox from him, and I refuse to delete them. We talked about almost everything, which for those of you who knew Redmond; know that "everything" could cover lots of ground. We covered everything from gaming, politics, health care, computers, movies, books, cooking, history, stick ball, cognac, and even things like which vegetables were worthy of consumption.

Redmond loved the gaming world that you all created together, he and I talked many hours about the theory of gaming, the nuances of design, and he always had very fond memories of the heady days at SPI. You SPI'ers out there really were a family to Redmond, he missed the creative times spent together with you until the wee hours of the morning, he missed the playtesting sessions that were open to all, and he told me that most of all he missed and cherished the relationships he developed there.

Redmond was an intellectual that in my opinion was without many equals. Redmond and I would play dueling IQ's if you will, and he usually won. I was a somewhat accomplished debater in High School and College and Redmond usually cleaned my clock, but was always kind in the process. He appreciated opposing viewpoints, but would always point out if something was essentially fertilizer.

He has only been gone a few days now, but I have missed out on about 4-5 hours of time talking to him, and I would do most anything to hear his voice on the other end of the line. He is and will forever be my friend and to the many of you who were special to him I say thank you.




Jim Nash

[kzucker]

How did he do it?

The following quotes are from Section III "Image and System" of the SPI book "Wargame Design" (paperback edition, Hippocrene Books, 1983)

"Virtually every gamer has had the experience of struggling through what might be an otherwise good game, hampered by the fact that the organization and design of the components prevents him from easily understanidng what he is about - and thereby losing concentration and interest in the game." (p. 47)

"The term ["physical system design"] is really my personal jargon for the graphic engineering of game elements. The more graphic engineering the artist can build into the game equipment and rules, the easier and more enjoyable becomes the play of the game. Examples of this are: the Production Spiral used in SPI's War in Europe game system; Turn-Record Tracks with build in information on special events; Phase Records that are themsevles diagrams of a complex sequence of play (such as in SPI's Fast Carriers); game maps with the set-up printed directly on them; integrated comba results tables (with terrain effects built in). A good physical system is characterized by its organization of game information to such an extent that the presentation actually accomplishes some of the "work" of using the raw information." (p. 47)

To extrapolate a bit, I'd suggest that the ideal of Physical Systems Design would link together the design of all the game components, from the box through the rules, counters, maps and displays, that would lead you through the entire experience of the game. The counters would be designed to harmonize with the colors and symbols and typography of the map, without blending in. Every component would have an invisible "Tab B" which seamlessly flows into "Slot A."

On Maps

Redmond writes: "Is there a natural hierarchy that can be expressed graphically?" (p 51)

This means the map should lead your eye to the important places. Roads and rivers should stand out from across the room. You should learn about the strategy of the campaign or battle by a quick glance at the map. Having a heirarchy of terrain means that the important points shine out. There is no overall tone of sameness.

"The graphic designer must make the proper choice of colors and symbology to create a map which will have high utility for the player and yet be pleasing to the eye." (p. 52)

"The graphic designer has available to him a range of choices as to how to convey a given type of terrain or map element. These divide into categories which I'll now list in order of their recognition value (i.e., the ease with which the average person senses the presence and meaning of the graphic element).

1. Color and tone
2. Shape and pattern
3. Symbol
4. Typography and outline
5. Position

"What this means is that those elements most essential to the interpretation of the map should be represented by change of field color - since humans with normal eyesight most easily recognize differences in color." (p. 53)

There are limits to the application of color. "The more colorful a map is the harder it is to read in an overall sense: the patchwork quilt of a multi-colored map can be confusing to the eye and tiresome to look at for long periods of time." There is an important principle of Redmond's design style, that cannot be overstated!

"I've chosen to print almost all SPI maps on a paper-color called Sandstone - this color automatically harmonizes the ink colors printed on it and also reduces the glare problem. Incidentally, it's a basic principle of mine that no map should ever have a white field. The most common mistake in the use of color on wargame maps is to make the colors too harsh and bright and to surround them with large expanses of white paper." (p. 53)

"As logic would indicate, the best type of terrain to represent as a field of distinct color or tone is that type of terrain which is itself areal in nature and can be associated mentally with one of the colors available to the artist." (p. 53)

"One solution (which I often use) is to fill the hex with the feature so that even when its occupied, the terrain is still visible around the edges of the playing pieces." (p. 54)

"To be effective, symbols must be simple and well designed. A complex, cluttered symbol does not contribute to player information retrieval. Most symbols are best treated in silhouette form. The symbol should be evocative of the basic concept of the thing for which it stands. The test of a good symbol is how well it is understood without recourse to a key or legend." (p. 55)

"Changing the size of the type, for instance, can be used to express relative importance of cities. Change of style can be used to indicate differing categories of terrain. Changing color can associate the type with a given player or with a particular type of terrain." (p. 55)

"The graphic designer ... must, early on, make a basic decision as to how naturalistic his map treatment will be. That is to say, how much like an aerial photograph will his map look as contrasted to the opposite extreme of being very abstract and "game-like." (p. 56)

[kzucker]

(Cross-posted from www.Consimworld.com)
March 16, 2005

Redmond A. Simonsen, 62, Maker of Strategic Board Games, Dies
By MARGALIT FOX

Redmond A. Simonsen, an early maker of strategic board games that scaled some of history's great battles down to table size and helped propel the amateur war games craze of the 1970's, died last Wednesday in Garland, Tex. He was 62 and lived in Richardson, Tex.

The cause was heart failure, his nephew Jim Nash said.

With a partner, James F. Dunnigan, Mr. Simonsen founded Simulations Publications Inc., known as S.P.I., in New York in 1969. Among the company's best-known games were Great Medieval Battles; Great Battles of the American Civil War; Red Star/White Star, about a hypothetical Soviet offensive in Europe; and The East Is Red, which imagined a war between the Soviet Union and China.

Played on oversize boards depicting terrain maps, the games let players simulate battlefield tactics. Until the advent of the personal computer, they were hugely popular with a certain type of consumer: young, male and pocket-protected.

As S.P.I.'s vice president and art director, Mr. Simonsen standardized the look of the games, fitting historically accurate, visually comprehensible information into small spaces. The company's earliest game boards were black and white, with playing pieces (there might be several hundred) that had to be glued onto shirt cardboard and cut out by hand. The games were soon produced in full color, with die-cut pieces ready to punch out.

Redmond Aksel Simonsen was born in Manhattan on June 18, 1942, to Norwegian-American parents. He earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Cooper Union in 1964 and afterward worked as a graphic designer of book jackets, album covers and advertisements.

S.P.I. began in the summer of 1969, when Mr. Simonsen and Mr. Dunnigan took over Strategy and Tactics, a gaming magazine. Mr. Simonsen redesigned the magazine, including in each issue a complete game, plus a historical article about the battle it simulated. The company released more than 400 games in a little more than a decade, and by the mid-1970's, Mr. Dunnigan said, it manufactured more than half of all the war games sold worldwide. It also produced science fiction and fantasy games, several of which Mr. Simonsen designed.

By the early 1980's, war games played with paper and cardboard were on the wane; the pocket protector set was going digital. In 1982, S.P.I. was taken over by TSR Inc., makers of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. In later years, Mr. Simonsen worked in computer-game design and as a technology writer.

Mr. Simonsen is survived by a sister, Lois K. Simonsen Nash, of Centennial, Colo.; four nieces and two nephews.

[kzucker]

The attached is an 18-page collection of remembrances by friends and co-workers:

Greg Costikyan
David Isby
Jim Dunnigan
Jack Greene
Mark S Hinkle
Jon Gautier
Rodger MacGowan
Craig Grando
Kevin Melahn
John Butterfield
Brad Hessel
Gerry Prokopowicz
John Prados
Eric Lee Smith
Jim Nash
Kevin Zucker
(The limitations of vbulletin made it necessary to post this in two parts.)

[clayvsmith]

The following obituary for Redmond ran in the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday, March 23rd.

Redmond A. Simonsen: Creator of war-strategy board games
08:51 PM CST on Monday, March 21, 2005


By JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News


Redmond A. Simonsen was a graphic artist who followed up his pioneering work in historical strategy board games by helping lead that segment of gaming into the computer age.

Mr. Simonsen, 62, died March 9 of heart disease at Baylor Medical Center at Garland. No services are planned.

The look and style of the games Mr. Simonsen designed hold up today, nearly 40 years after he co-founded Simulations Publications Inc., said Clayton Smith, a longtime friend and game hobbyist.

"They hold up when you go and look at his games, they look modern and professional," Mr. Smith said.

"His real contribution for gaming was his sense of graphic design," Mr. Smith said. "He made the hobby mature in terms of the look and style of the game."

Mr. Simonsen was born and raised in New York. He received a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art in New York in 1964.

He served in the Air Force and began his career designing album covers, including for London Records, and book covers, including for Is Paris Burning? and assorted advertisers.

In 1969, he co-founded Simulations Publications Inc., when he and James Dunnigan acquired a gaming magazine. The men created games for the magazine but soon began designing games to be sold separately. Their war-strategy games allowed players to test battlefield tactics across history. The company's 400-plus catalog includes Great Medieval Battles and Terrible Swift Sword, based on the Civil War battle for Gettysburg.

Mr. Simonsen was vice president and art director for Simulations Publications Inc., best known as SPI. He left the company in 1982, when it was taken over by TSR Inc., the maker of Dungeons and Dragons.

Mr. Simonsen became an early proponent of adapting board games to personal computers.

In 1984, Mr. Simonsen moved to Richardson, where he helped found Microbotics, which manufactured ancillary parts and boards for Amiga personal computers. But the Amiga format did not survive the personal computer shakeout, and Microbotics closed in 1992.

Mr. Simonsen retired but remained active in computer gaming circles as a network moderator for online games.

Since 1998, Mr. Simonsen had spent his time drawing and writing computer programs and science-fiction short stories.

He was a lifelong photographer and had sold photos to Time, Newsweek and The New York Times.

He is survived by a sister, Lois K. Simonsen Nash of Centennial, Colo.

Mr. Simonsen was an avid reader who had a $500 credit at the Book Tree used-book store in Richardson. He asked that memorials be made to the Book Tree, 702 University Village Shopping Center, Richardson, Texas 75081. The money will provide books for English as a second language students and children who can't afford books, his family said.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/obituaries/stories/032205dnmetsimonsenob.2a55a.html