I think as I gamedev, I'm probably most similar to Chris Sawyer. Granted, I don't make the type of games he's known for, but I compare his stubborn insistence on writing his games almost entirely in Assembly, even when that practice was obsolete to my insistence on writing my games in C++ and SDL when even the triple AAA studios are using pre-built engines like Unity and Unreal. Also, he specialized in isometric games which I have a soft-spot for.
It's such a shame that he stopped making games after Locomotion (the mobile ports of RTC don't count). Though him being a private person kept him out of drama and controversy unlike most other gamedevs. Seriously, he is probably the least polarizing gamedev because of his privacy.
A few years ago, I would've said John Carmack, but he was focused on making his games as cutting-edge as possible while I'm perfectly content with just making simple engines. Plus, I'm not a fan of his post-game endeavors. His work on Oculus obviously helped the creation of the Metaverse, and I don't think his AI startup is going to go anywhere and might even end up worse than his failed space start-up.
