Bruce has been a professional game designer and developer since 1980. He began working with paper and board games and switched to computer games in 1987. He has helped start or worked for five game companies. Prior to the start of Ensemble Studios in 1995, Bruce is best known for assisting Sid Meier on the design of the original editions of Railroad Tycoon and Civilization when they were colleagues at Microprose. He is a senior designer at Ensemble Studios, where he helped organize the company and evolve their development methodology. He contributed to the design of both Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.