Sam Lewis (person)

This article is about the real person. For other several similarly named characters, see Sam Lewis.
Sam Lewis.jpg
Sam Lewis
(ca. 1995)
Born 1955[1]
Occupation Writer
Editor
Line Developer
In-universe persona Sam Lewis

Sam Lewis worked at FASA from February 1987 to 1995 as game developer on all product lines (including BattleTech); he can arguably be regarded as the first BattleTech Line Developer as he was the person to approve all BattleTech products.[2]

After FASA published Shadowrun in 1989 they started hiring developers for individual game lines, while Sam Lewis became Vice President and later President of FASA (with the original founders, Jordan Weisman and Ross Babcock III, migrating to Virtual Worlds Entertainment literally next door to the FASA offices). In mid-June 1995 he left FASA to work for Kesmai Corporation.[3]

BattleTech[edit]

Sam Lewis contributed to BattleTech heavily during its early stages. His first project at FASA was the development of Technical Readout: 3026 (and according to himself it was he who designed the Savannah Master hovercraft[3][2]); the last BattleTech product in which he was directly involved was the Tactical Handbook.[3] He also came up with the idea of introducing "reporting names" for Clan 'Mechs, resulting in different names being applied to the same 'Mech by the Clans and Inner Sphere forces.[2]

He is credited for contributions to many BattleTech products, including the following:

He was also involved in the BattleTech Animated Series creation.

Notes[edit]

According to himself in a 2022 interview, there are at least three characters named Sam Lewis in BattleTech canon. He clarified that the Samuel Lewis character is actually associated with his father; the only character that Sam Lewis actually considered his in-universe alter ego is Professor General Sam Lewis and he agreed with Mike Stackpole to kill that character off as an in-joke.[2]

References[edit]

  1. based on describing himself as 67 in a 2022 interview
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Sam Lewis Talks BattleTech" interview with Renegade HPG (YouTube video uploaded 02 February 2022)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 MechForce Quarterly Volume 1 Issue 2, p. 5