Simon N Goodwin

Biography

Simon N Goodwin has been encouraging the creative use of technology for more than 30 years, initially as a columnist in hobbyist magazines such as Crash (Tech Tips), Personal Computer World (Computer Answers), Sinclair QL World (DIY Toolkit) and Amiga Format (Under the Hood, Workbench, Banging the Metal) and a dozen other mass-market titles.

Simon's first hit game, Gold Mine, spent two weeks in the All Formats top 20 in November 1983. He wrote that in six weeks, split fairly evenly between the gameplay, graphics and sound, the cassette copy-protection system, and shoehorning the original 48K title into 16K RAM for the most basic ZX Spectrum home computer.

Simon has professionally published over two million words of lucid technical writing, most recently including the book 'Beep to Boom - The Development of Advanced Runtime Sound Systems for Games and Extended Reality' for Focal Press and the Audio Engineering Society. That one took 18 months to write and over 30 years to research.

In the 21st century Simon has made his name as an Interactive Technology Consultant with companies like Amiga Inc, Codemasters and DTS. He has designed and implemented advanced Ambisonic 3D audio technology in several multi-million-selling games, including six number 1 hits in the UK and major EU territories and two BAFTA award winners, RaceDriver Grid and F1 2010.

Simon has been writing articles, making games and inventing technology since the heyday of discrete transistors and one-bit sound. He is expert in console, mobile and PC audio and streaming system development, variously working as a sound designer, game audio programmer and audio systems engineer. He was Principal Programmer of the team which developed the 3D audio tech in the VR hit Elite: Dangerous.

Simon has been granted five UK and US patents, advises on AHRC and EPSRC research programmes and gives talks at AES, BBC, GDC, Retro Computing and University conferences.

Education

Computing Science, Aston University, 1985

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Audio, design, psychoacoustics, video games, computer programming, DSP, creative computing, 3D sound, project management, product development, computing science, programming languages, sound design, interactive technology, Ambisonics, streaming systems, tech evangelism

Personal Interests

Coracling, Jamming, Repair Cafe, Cafe Scientifique, Skeptics in the Pub, live music and comedy

Books

News