Is there anyone with that title who didn't either code his/her way there or happen to have a parent who was a personal friend of Hiroshi Yamauchi?
I was under the impression that Miyamoto was already working for nintendo as an artist when they droped the radar scope electronics into his lap and said "Make a game that uses this." He had no programming background.
I would argue that having a programming background might even serve to cloud your ability to clearly see your vision. You forget that nothing is impossible and will side-step 'minor' improvements that would take forever to code.
Granted. There is a difference between a big team of 300 and 2 guys. A great designer should understand that.
Last night I decided to step up and prove myself with a design. It is a puzzle game, very very loosely based on a rubik's cube, tetris, and a matching-game.
Sound confused by that description?
I won't go into it more just yet. But when It is done, I'll gladly let Grey have the design, he can just slap my name on it somewhere as something relating to design or concept.
Notice how I'm not even considering the fact that he might not wanna do it. This game is utter genius. If you are too too curious, I can detail it to you in an e-mail grey.