Intro

Hi there,

My name is Cameron, and I'm a game geek.

Sounds like an introduction at a 12 step program, doesn't it? Not that I've ever been in a 12 step program - I don't need a rock to solve my problems for me. That's an obscure Penn & Teller reference, in case you're wondering (and you ought to be - it's a pretty damn obscure reference).

A bit about me is probably in order to start, I suppose, since this is my very first blog post . . .

I studied computer science and studio art in school, got my first real job in the early 90s working for the last remnants of the original Atari, and helped build two successful games there (Primal Rage, San Francisco Rush). Then I helped to co-found Cryptic Studios as founding CEO and Producer for City of Heroes, which was a whole drama unto itself, but in the end I consider that another success. After that I worked briefly at EA as an associate producer on expansion packs for The Sims and pretty much hated that (also a story unto itself - good people, caustic culture), and between the cracks I've done a number of 3D art and game design freelance gigs. Lately, I've been working a lot on my scripting skills and building a zombie dominion RTS game called Undead Overlord.

When I'm feeling egotistical, I think of myself as having a strong track record of building original IPs from scratch and successfully launching those IPs into crowded marketplaces across multiple genres and hardware platforms. Of course, all of those accomplishments were based on the efforts of large teams of people - but I played a key role in each one. I've plowed through dinosaurs, race cars, and superheroes so far - and now I'm hard at work trying to bring some much needed rotting putrescence to the zombie apocalypse. That, of course, is another story - and will be the subject of my very next blog entry . . .

I'm sure that more about my game development adventures will seep out, too - as I write more of these blog entries. At least, that's part of the idea for this thing - after 20+ years in the games industry, I have a lot of good stories to tell! Another reason is to use this venue as a soapbox from which to yammer about my experiences over the last several years - as the games industry has gone through yet another turbulent time. And lastly, we ought to be able to draw some interesting conclusions by comparing the past to the present and extrapolating towards the future. I mean, I know past proceeds are no guarantee of future results, and all - but making an educated guess is key, right?

I use the royal "we" here, because I figure that some of the people who read this stuff will no doubt be smarter than I am, and will leave comments correcting me where I'm wrong - and illuminating ideas that haven't occurred to me. At least, one can only hope! ;-)

Cheers,

       ->Cameron