A graduate of The University of the South, Brian Reynolds was hired by Microprose in the early 1990s. He worked on a series of graphic adventures until 1994, when he collaborated with Sid Meier on Sid Meier's Colonization. His work was impressive enough to assign him as the lead designer for the sequel to Microprose's hit game Civilization, Civilization II. The game's incredible success gave him status within the company and became one of the founding partners of Firaxis with Sid Meier. There, he would continue his work on strategy titles where he would design his next hit, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. An innovative 4X title that combined narrative storytelling and an emphasis on philosophy with the typical sandbox 4X gameplay the Civilization series was known for. It became a huge hit commercially and critically.
After Alpha Centauri, Reynolds wanted to try his hand at a real time Civilization, but Sid Meier was not accepting of the idea. In 2000, he left Firaxis to found Big Huge Games. At BHG, he immediately began work on Rise of Nations, a real time strategy game that tried to combine elements of other RTSes such as Age of Empires' Ages system, with elements from 4X titles like research, diplomacy, and advancement from the stone age to the modern era. The game was a major success and prompted the company to create a fantasy spinoff, Rise of Legends.
After Rise of Legends, Big Huge Games began development on an untitled RPG. In 2009, after 38 Studios bought BHG and retooled the RPG into Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Brian left the company and joined Zynga. At Zynga, he designed the Farmville spinoff Frontierville. In early 2013, he left Zynga and is currently not affiliated with any game company.
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