American · b. 1956 · 1980s – 1990s
Paul Reiche III created Star Control's alien races and their distinctive visual personalities, designing one of the most celebrated science fiction universes in PC gaming through a combination of illustration skill and comedic world-building.
Paul Reiche III began his career in the tabletop game industry, designing for TSR (Dungeons & Dragons publisher) and Starfleet Battles before transitioning to computer games. He co-founded Toys for Bob in 1989 with Fred Ford, and their first major release, Star Control (1990) and its sequel Star Control II (1992), drew directly on his illustration and world-building background. Star Control II's alien races — the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za, the Spathi, the Pkunk, the Orz — were each designed with distinct visual languages, biological logic, and personality traits that made them memorable as characters despite the technical limitations of 256-colour VGA graphics. The Spathi's cowardly bureaucratic personality, expressed through both their hunched visual design and their dialogue, is the most cited example of how Reiche's visual and narrative conception worked as an integrated unit. Star Control II is consistently ranked among the finest PC games ever made, and its alien designs are a primary reason for its enduring reputation. Reiche and Ford later developed the Skylanders franchise for Activision from 2011 onward.