Editing David Crane (programmer) (section)

{{short description|American video game designer and programmer}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = David Crane
| image              = David Crane (10453626776) (cropped).jpg
| caption            = Crane in 2013
| birth_date         = {{birth year and age|1954}}
| birth_place        = [[Nappanee, Indiana|Nappanee]], [[Indiana]], [[United States]]
| nationality        = American
| alma_mater         = [[DeVry University]]
| occupation         = Game designer<br>Game programmer
| employer           = [[Atari, Inc.]]<br>[[Activision]]
| known_for          = Co-founder of Skyworks Interactive and Audacity Games
| notable_works      = ''[[Pitfall!]]''<br>''[[Ghostbusters (1984 video game)|Ghostbusters]]''<br>''[[Little Computer People]]''<br>''[[A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia|A Boy and His Blob]]''
| spouse             = 
| children           = 
| signature          = 
| parents            = 
}}
'''David Crane''' (born 1954) is an American [[Game design|video game designer]] and [[video game programmer|programmer]]. Crane grew up fascinated by technology and went to [[DeVry University|DeVry Institute of Technology]]. Following college, he went to [[Silicon Valley]] and got his first job at [[National Semiconductor]]. Through his friend [[Alan Miller (game designer)|Alan Miller]] he learned about potential video game design work at [[Atari, Inc.]] and began work there in 1977.

After Crane and other programmers felt they were not being paid fairly at Atari, he left the company in 1979. Crane and Miller formed [[Activision]], the first company to independently publish games for the [[Atari 2600]]. The company grew to be massively successful, with Crane's game ''[[Pitfall!]]'' (1982) being one the biggest sellers for the company.{{sfn|Fleming|2007}} Crane continued to work for Activision making several games for the Atari 2600 and later the [[Commodore 64]]. After Activision hired [[Bruce Davis (video game industry)|Bruce Davis]] as the new CEO, Crane left Activison and later joined [[Garry Kitchen]] at [[Absolute Entertainment]]. At Absolute, Crane began working on several games for the Atari 2600, [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] and [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]].

After Absolute closed in 1995, Crane formed Skyworks Technologies, who made browser games in the mid-1990s and was among the first developers of a type of game later known as [[advergames]]. While at Skyworks, Crane designed two of the companies biggest App store sellers with ''Arcade Bowling'' and ''[[Arcade Hoops Basketball]]''. In the 2010s, Crane developed games for AppStar for iPhone and iPad and by the end of the decade created Audacity Games, a company that developed games for older consoles such as the Atari 2600.