1. Do you have an Unofficial Title?
I've been called a lot of things since I started working here. "Gare-Bear" is one example; "The Mountain of Meat" is another. Please don't ask why.
2. What is it you do on a daily basis?
I was originally brought on in an editorial role to review all the content in the game while providing occasional writing support. That responsibility has shifted with the times, and now I'm the sole writer on the Elf Team. I spend a lot of my time reviewing and re-writing content and polishing it for WAR's inevitable release.
3. What is your background?
Prior to landing this position, I was a buyer for an orthodontic supply company. I was also a freelance writer and game designer with a focus on tabletop role-playing games, and that is what ultimately drew me to this position. I continue to do some freelance writing in my spare time (which, admittedly, is much more limited than it used to be).
4. How long have you been with Mythic?
My job at Mythic is my first full-time job in the game industry, and I've been here for just over a year now.
5. What other titles have you worked on in the past?
Though WAR is the first computer game title I've worked on, I've got plenty of experience working on tabletop RPG books and products. I co-authored Children of the Horned Rat, a supplement for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which won Silver ENnie awards for Product of the Year and Best Writing at Gen Con 2007. Needless to say, I'm really proud of that book.
6. What was your “welcome to the game industry” moment when it hit you that you were really making games for a living?
There hasn't been just one of those moments. Heck, they happen almost every day. I remember applying for the job last year and thinking, "Man! Wouldn't it be cool if this worked out?" The funny thing was, it did work out. It's like a dream come true, because I get to work with so many gifted folks on an awesome title.
7. 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 has been around for a long, long time. It's an established IP with a ton of history and background already integrated into it. For as long as I've been a gamer (nearly 23 years), people have been playing Warhammer in one incarnation or another. Warhammer is possessed of a grim and gritty darkness, integrated with a twisted sense of humor that a lot of other games lack.
The fact that the world is so detailed really lends itself well to an MMO. There are a lot of themes within the property that translate very easily into the creative process, and are just as applicable today as they were ten, fifteen, or even twenty years ago.
My ultimate hope is that when folks sit down and play the Elf pairing, either as a Dark Elf or as a High Elf, that the island of Ulthuan comes to life for them, and that the cultures of the two opposing factions, locked in a civil war that has lasted thousands of years, are as real as any in our own world.
8. Do you collect Warhammer figures? What army do you play? Does your spouse let you display them when friends come over for dinner?
I don't play Warhammer Fantasy Battles, though I'm an avid player of Bloodbowl. Skaven are my favorite team, and if I were to play Fantasy Battles, I'd definitely be fielding an army of the vile ratmen.
As for my wife, she enjoys Bloodbowl, too. Her favorite teams are Halflings and Dwarfs. Not a big surprise when you consider she's less than five feet tall.
9. What are your hopes/goals for the game?
Above all other aspirations, I want WAR to be a success. A lot of folks have put a great deal of time and effort into ensuring that Warhammer Online is as good as it can possibly be. I only hope that my small contributions over the past year can somehow compare to those made by the rest of the Mythic team.
10. What are your key influences when making the game? Anything besides Warhammer?
War movies. There was a time when I'd bring in war movies and play them in the background while I was writing. There's something about the Elf pairing that is very much World War II, only the roles of the forces involved are reversed.
11. What is the biggest problem with current MMO’s you hope to fix with WAR?
A lot of the more popular MMOs are so homogenous, so bland. When I play through quests in these games, I'm constantly looking at the way things are done, analyzing what makes them good or bad, fun or annoying. There's nothing worse than farming critters for hours in order to collect ten of an item with a ridiculously low drop rate.
12. What are your favorite video/computer games of all time?
I started out on a Commodore 128 with games like Bard's Tale (and its sequels), Wasteland, Roadwar 2000, Centauri Alliance, and the Ultima series. Computer RPGs like those, as well as flight sims, have always been my favorite kinds of games. These days, I still pull out older titles like Diablo II or Neverwinter Nights when I have time to spare.
13. What music are you listening to right now?
Thanks to the wonders of digital music, I listen to a lot of different music all the time. At the moment, I've got the Cowboy Junkies playing. Later, I'll probably throw on some Clutch or Delerium -- depends on my mood.
14. Is there a recent movie you’ve seen or book/comic you read that you’d recommend to others?
The last movie I saw was Iron Man, and before that, No Country for Old Men. I liked both quite a bit, and for vastly different reasons. One thing that having two adorable children has done to me is to restrict my movie-going activities. My wife and I used to see a movie just about every weekend. These days, we're lucky if we see a movie once every three or four months.
As for comics, I recently picked up and read the first two trade paperbacks for Star Wars: Legacy. I also go back and read my collected Transmetropolitan trades on a regular basis.
15. Anything else you want to add?
Life is too short to drink bad coffee.
