In a survey commissioned by the Develop Conference (which runs from July 14th to the 16th in UK development hub, Brighton), and polling results from 9000 game developers, it’s been revealed that, unsurprisingly, Nintendo’s star game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has been voted as the respondent’s ultimate game development hero.

What was heartening to see, however, was who placed in at No. 2 on the top ten list of favourite game developers – non other than legendary graphics guru (and game designer), and id Software technical director, John Carmack.

Managing director of Tandem Events, organiser of the Develop Conference in Brighton, Andy Lane commented on the results: “It’s no surprise that Miyamoto-san is the development hero of developers – over the last thirty years he has created games that have not only driven the evolution of the games industry but also changed people’s lives.

“He has mastered the art of developing titles that are innovative but never at the cost of gameplay: games that are ground breaking, yet still mass market.”

Lane also mentioned that three of the developers voted into the top ten favourites, Dave Jones, David Braben and Masaya Matsuura, will be addressing delegates at this year’s Develop Conference.

The full top ten list of favourite developers, as voted on by developers in the game industry, follows below:

• Shigeru Miyamoto - often referred to as ‘the father of modern video games’ for his role in creating legendary games franchises Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Pikmin and F-Zero and titles such as Nintendogs and Wii Music

• John Cormack – cofounder of id Software and lead programmer on Doom and Quake

• Will Wright - co-founder of Maxis and brains behind SimCity and The Sims franchise and, more recently, Spore. He now runs entertainment think tank Stupid Fun Club

• Dave Jones - founder of Realtime Worlds (Crackdown, All Points Bulletin) and co-founder of Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), Jones created major game series Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto

• Sid Meier – founder of MicroProse and developer of Civilization. Second person to be inducted in the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame behind Shigeru Miyamoto

• Peter Molyneux - creator of God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous and Black & White, as well as Theme Park, Fable and Fable 2

• David Braben - Brit programmer and founder of Frontier, Braben is best known for co-writing the hugely popular Elite. The studio’s work on The Outsider promises to deliver yet another ground-breaking title and a number of gameplay firsts

• Masaya Matsuura – famed for pushing the frontiers of computer music, Masaya took the games industry by storm with the release of PaRappa The Rapper, winning notable awards and changing the landscape of gaming forever

• Michael Morhaime – president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, the legendary creator of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo series and the world’s biggest MMORPG World of Warcraft

• Jonathan Blow – developer of award-winning title Braid