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Kenneth Melville, the developer behind several well-received 80s and 90s full motion video games including It Came from the Desert and Sewer Shark passed away on Saturday, Feb. 1 at the age of 65.
Melville's death was announced by Cinemaware, where he developed It Came from the Desert in 1989.
He went on to write and design Sewer Shark for Sony Electronic Publishing in 1992 as well as work on a dozen other FMV games for various companies, including Make My Video: INXS with Sega and Make My Video: Kris Kross with Sony in 1992, Corpse Killer in 1994 with Digital Pictures and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms with Cavedog in 1999.
Melville also co-founded FMV developer Digital Pictures, which made Ground Zero: Texas and Night Trap, and worked on a Mad Max game with Hasbro that was never published.
Melville's latest position was overseeing the company he created, Indie Film Composers. Melville was also working with Cinemaware on the Kickstarter-funded remake of World War I game Wings.
"It is with great sadness that we announce to the Cinemaware community and gaming press the passing away of Ken Melville," Cinemaware wrote in a press statement. "Ken was one of the most creative (and funny) guys we have ever collaborated with, and he was giving us great input during the Wings RE development process. Ken was one of the writers and composer of the original as well as the writer on It Came from the Desert. We will miss him and honor his memory during the development of Wing RE. He truly was one of gaming's heroes."
