John Gibson, a long-serving programmer in the UK games industry, has died.

Time Extension collected various Twitter tributes to Gibson from colleagues and friends, who celebrated the UK veteran’s career.

Gibson began working in the games industry at Liverpool-based studio Imagine Software, working on 1983’s Molar Maul. He became one of Imagine’s key team members, programming titles such as Zzoom and Stonkers.

After Imagine shut down in 1984, he co-founded Denton Designs before setting up his own company, John Gibson Software Designer.

In 1990, he joined Psygnosis, where he spent eight years as a senior programmer before joining Warthog Games for just under five years.

In 2003, he joined Evolution Studios, where he worked on the MotorStorm series and later Driveclub.

Posting on Twitter, analyst and former games journalist Julian ‘Jaz’ Rignall wrote: “Sad to hear that British programming pioneer John Gibson has passed on. He had an incredible career… An amazing contribution to gaming.”

Former colleague Paul ‘Paulie’ Hughes described Gibson as “a proper legend of game development.”