Bio
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About meI've always been pretty creative. While other kids were running lemonade stands during summer vacation, I opened an elaborate Monster Museum and charged admission. During those hot Wyoming summers my friends and I would head down to my cool basement to play Atari 2600 stuff, and board games like "Chess", "Tactics II", "Risk" and "Dungeons & Dragons". Mom would bring us popsicles and we'd sit down there and play for hours. Those are some of my favorite memories of my childhood.
Unlike my compadres, who simply wanted to play games, I enjoyed making them, too. In fact, we never played "Dungeons & Dragons" the way it was designed; I re-invented the game and came up with my own rules, adventures and stories. |
A few years later I bought my first computer and taught myself how to program in BASIC, which allowed me to start writing games for my friends and I to play. Later, I purchased a Commodore 64 and learned Machine Language and that lead to my first job in the industry… as a junior coder.
My first game industry boss was a Rocket Scientist, and I don't mean that metaphorically, he actually used to write code for the space program! But while I was in one office struggling with my 8-bit 6502 code, he was in the next office learning how to write 16-bit assembly for Apple's new Macintosh computer. Dan was very mild mannered, and one of the smartest people I've ever met, so I was pretty disheartened to hear him cursing and screaming at his new computer. On more than one occasion the wall would suddenly shake as a keyboard or mouse slammed into it, and I remember thinking, "If HE is having that much trouble learning how to program on the Mac there's no way I'M going to figure it out." I actually enjoy coding, but it was always just a means to an end for me.
I've been a game designer ever since.
Over the course of my 32 year career I have worked at Big Fish Games, Gas Powered Games, Cinemaware, Dynamix, New World Computing, and several other companies. I've had the pleasure to work with the Muppets, Sting, Johnny Carson, and more. Of the 50 or so games on my resume, five are listed in Computer Gaming World’s “The Top 150 Computer Games of All Time”. (“Betrayal at Krondor”, “Defender of the Crown”, “Rocket Ranger”, “TV Sports: Football”, and “The Three Stooges”.)
My first game industry boss was a Rocket Scientist, and I don't mean that metaphorically, he actually used to write code for the space program! But while I was in one office struggling with my 8-bit 6502 code, he was in the next office learning how to write 16-bit assembly for Apple's new Macintosh computer. Dan was very mild mannered, and one of the smartest people I've ever met, so I was pretty disheartened to hear him cursing and screaming at his new computer. On more than one occasion the wall would suddenly shake as a keyboard or mouse slammed into it, and I remember thinking, "If HE is having that much trouble learning how to program on the Mac there's no way I'M going to figure it out." I actually enjoy coding, but it was always just a means to an end for me.
I've been a game designer ever since.
Over the course of my 32 year career I have worked at Big Fish Games, Gas Powered Games, Cinemaware, Dynamix, New World Computing, and several other companies. I've had the pleasure to work with the Muppets, Sting, Johnny Carson, and more. Of the 50 or so games on my resume, five are listed in Computer Gaming World’s “The Top 150 Computer Games of All Time”. (“Betrayal at Krondor”, “Defender of the Crown”, “Rocket Ranger”, “TV Sports: Football”, and “The Three Stooges”.)