1. Official Title?
I guess you'd call me a Senior Content Developer, although Lieutenant has been used as well.
2. What is it you do on a daily basis?
I manage a small, but very talented, group of people currently putting the last bit of polish on the Empire vs. Chaos pairing in the game. I keep track of scheduling and our day-to-day goals as well as guide the team in the revision and polish of various pieces of game content, all to make it as awesome as possible. I also work on the chapter hubs for the pairing so quest NPC's, guards, and ambient hub events in EvC have all been touched by me.
3. What is your background? College? Degree? Has it helped with the job? 1st job out of school? 1st game industry job? How long have you been with Mythic? What other jobs have you held in the industry?
I attended the Massachusetts College of Art where I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Filmmaking. While it's not the usual path into game development, I think my experience with film has definitely helped me as there is very much the same "team" mentality you'll find in film. My first real job out of school was also my first game industry job and that was at Turbine Entertainment. Prior to Mythic I worked with Crytek, back when they were just a small start-up company communicating with developers over the internet. I've been with Mythic for almost two years now.
4. What other titles have you worked on in the past? In what capacity?
At Crytek I was the Lead Designer on a project that never ended up seeing the light of day and at Turbine I was Content Designer for a brief time on Asheron's Call 2. I've also made several Neverwinter Nights mods that have been met with some acclaim, including one that is in NWVault's Hall of Fame.
5. What was your "welcome to the game industry" moment when it hit you that you were really making games for a living?
I don't know that there was ever one single moment, but rather a series of moments. When you get out of bed in the morning and you're not annoyed that you have to go to work, that's a milestone. Seeing a product you've helped produce on the retail shelves is also cool. It also hits me how great this all is when I play the Warhammer beta and see people enjoying something that I've put in the game. I suppose that is what's cool about making MMO's, you can see other people enjoying it in real time.
6. What excites you about the Warhammer property? What makes it perfect for an MMO? What cool things in the Warhammer universe do you hope to bring to life?
Warhammer is the heavy metal of the fantasy genre, I mean... what's not to like? Warhammer works great as an MMO setting simply because there's so much to draw from in the IP. The tone of the setting lends itself to the kind of brutal, exciting experiences that are a blast to play. These are also the kinds of things my team and I look forward to bringing to life in the game.
7. Do you collect Warhammer figures? What army do you play?
Last summer I finally committed to buying myself an army since there was a bit of an organized tournament starting up in the office. I didn't get them assembled before the fervor kind of died down though, so I haven't had the chance to play them yet. However, I am slowly painting my way through a 2000 point mortal Tzeentch army.
8. What are your hopes/goals for the game?
My goal is always to live up to my own expectations. We're often our own worst critics so if at the end of the day, I can ask myself "Is this awesome?" and the answer is "yes", then we've probably done something that a lot of people are going to enjoy. That's what it's all about.
9. What are your key influences when making the game? Anything besides Warhammer?
I've been playing MMO's since the first days of Ultima Online and text-based MUD's so I've really seen the genre evolve. I think I draw on a lot of my experiences with other MMO's to determine what works and what is fun. I also think it's important to look beyond MMO's and RPG's and even games in general to see what's exciting about other mediums of entertainment and how one might translate those things to this type of game.
10. What is the biggest problem with current MMO's you hope to fix with WAR?
MMO's are a strange beast as there's always going to be a certain amount of grinding and repetition involved. I think the key is in making the world and the experiences the player is having more vivid, exciting, and interactive. Making the world more alive and interactive is one of the things that I hope we accomplish with WAR.
11. What are your favorite video/computer games of all time? What games are you playing right now? What game should the reader be playing if he's not?
Top 5 All Time Favorites: The Legend of Zelda, Deus Ex, Baldur's Gate (series), Half-Life, Metroid. Right now I'm playing GTA 4, but who isn't? Before that I had gotten back into TF2 and there's a decent Portal map pack that just came out recently. I also finally got around to finishing Bioshock about a month ago. The game you should be playing right now if you currently aren't is Condemned 2... because it's a good game and a couple buddies of mine from college helped make it :)
12. What music are you listening to right now?
According to my Last.fm page: Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Coheed and Cambria, Jawbox, and Hot Snakes. I've also been listening to this British band called Hundred Reasons, that my buddy Markwood turned me onto recently.
13. Is there a recent movie you've seen or book/comic you read that you'd recommend to others?
If for some crazy reason you haven't seen Iron Man yet... what are you waiting for? And if you can stomach French Romantic Comedies... see Priceless with Audrey Tatou. As far as books and comics go, anything by Warren Ellis is always made of win. There's also a great comic called "Wasteland" by Anthony Johnston and Christopher Mitten that's really a great bit of sci-fi, and if you're in your 20's and have been playing games most of your life... pick up Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim" comics, it's just the right blend of nostalgia, hip, and quirky fun.
