We've got some sad news to report today – Jon Miller, who created the widely-used G.E.M.S. sound driver for the Genesis / Mega Drive, has passed away.
Miller started his career at Sega back in 1991, working on the Mega Drive title Spider-Man as a programmer. He would also perform the same role on Chakan: The Forever Man, Taz-Mania, Taz in Escape from Mars and Pink Goes to Hollywood during his time with the company.
His other credits include Champions World Class Soccer (1993, Genesis), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995, Genesis), Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (1996, PlayStation), Gex: Enter the Gecko (1998), Akuji: The Heartless (1998, PlayStation) and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999).
Outside of programming and producing, Miller created the aforementioned G.E.M.S. (Genesis Editor for Music and Sound effects) sound driver alongside Burt Sloane, Chris Grigg and Mark Miller.
G.E.M.S. was used in countless Mega Drive / Genesis games. Chances are, if you've played more than one game on Sega's 16-bit console, there's a good chance you've heard the impact of his work.
Tommy Tallarico, who made his name creating some notable soundtracks during the '90s and has since been in the headlines for other reasons, had this to say about G.E.M.S.:
G.E.M.S. was definitely the best sound driver/editor that was made available to the general public during the first half of the 90's. I absolutely loved it... Before G.E.M.S., we as composers/sound designers had almost nothing.
Our thoughts are with Millar's family and friends at this difficult time.