Got my Honorary Doctorate in Computer Science from Queens University in Northern Ireland. (Where I'm from.)
Tony Blair (the ex-Prime Minister of England) and Nelson Mandela also got one.
Thanks Queens, I had a great time!
Got my Honorary Doctorate in Computer Science from Queens University in Northern Ireland. (Where I'm from.)
Tony Blair (the ex-Prime Minister of England) and Nelson Mandela also got one.
Thanks Queens, I had a great time!
July 7, 2008 Los Angeles – Today, Acclaim Games’ CEO, Howard Marks announced that he is seeking to employ new talent from within Acclaim’s player community – specifically from the active players of 2Moons, 9Dragons and the player-designers of the Top Secret Project.
The two positions will involve coordination with developers and technical teams, working to improve Acclaim’s games and respond to the needs of the players.
“We know that we have talented, passionate people in our community. They know our games and they understand what can be done to improve them,” says Howard Marks. “That’s why we always look to our players first, and that’s why we are looking to hire from within the community.”
To find the right people for the two open positions, Marks has devised a test, as follows:
• Each applicant is to write two documents of 3 to 5 pages each. One of these documents is for 2Moons and the other is for Acclaim’s new game Ponystars.
• Each document must explain what the game lacks in content and features that would improve the players’ experiences, based on the targeted audience for that game.
• Each applicant should make specific recommendations for how to improve the games (2Moons and Ponystars) to satisfy, retain and increase the player base.
• The job is located in Los Angeles, California. The winners will be required to locate in that area, no exceptions.
• Acclaim will cover relocation costs (up to $3,000).
The application period will begin at 10pm on Monday, July 7, 2008 and end at midnight on Sunday, July 20, 2008 .
All applications must be submitted to dp@acclaim.com by 12 midnight on Sunday, July 20, 2008. All times are Pacific Daylight Time.
Applications will be judged by David Perry, and the winning applicants will be notified and offered a full-time position at Acclaim in their Los Angeles offices.
“This is a great opportunity for our community members to show their skills,” says David Perry. “I have always believed in the community, which is why I started the Top Secret Project. I have already hired several members of our communities. I see this as a way to continue a practice that has worked out very well.”
Remember, submit applications to dp@acclaim.com by midnight on Sunday, July 20, 2008.
Website: www.videogameteam.com
]]>Project ‘Top Secret’ Announces Winner(s)
Los Angeles (June 27, 2008) – Today Project “Top Secret” officially reaches the most anticipated milestone yet as we announce the winner… No, scratch that – the winners of the Top Secret Design Contest.
This project has claimed three major game industry milestones. It’s the biggest development team in history (60,000+ people) on a single game development project. It’s also the biggest user-generated game design team. And it’s the biggest career hike ever given as a prize (from outside the industry to Game Director).
Before we announce today’s winner, we want to say that we have had winners all along:
• Within two weeks of Project “Top Secret’s” launch, David Perry (the project’s Director) hired Michael Liebwein, who designed a new game for Acclaim that’s now in development.
• Soon after hiring Michael, Perry hired Paul Lipscombe directly from the forums (based on the reputation system the site used). Paul who was #1 at that time, is now directing a new project with David Perry to celebrate Flash Game Development talent - www.thefanawards.org
• Matt Edwards was hired (again from this community) to be the programmer for www.thefanawards.org
• Michelle Montierth, co-director of the Top Secret Advisory Board, has just been hired as the head of Acclaim’s new localization department.
All of these talented and dedicated individuals came from our Top Secret community.
“I think we’ve proven that this is a great way to find super passionate people, by creating an incredibly difficult task, unleashing it on a massive amount of people who live for games, using the latest internet technologies, and hiring the ones that rose to the top. It’s a win-win and you can be sure we will be doing more of it in the future,” says David Perry.
In fact, Acclaim is already interviewing other members of the community so you can expect more of our Top Secret standouts to be working in the game industry, just as we hoped at the beginning of the project. Moreover, each finalist will receive a personal industry letter of recommendation from David Perry describing their contributions to the project.
And now the winner of the Directorship – Michael “Doran” Zummo.
Mike will be offered the biggest career bump in the industry as he’s offered the directorship of an upcoming game from Acclaim Games, working with David Perry as Executive Producer.
“This was a closer contest than some people might think,” says Assistant Director Rusel DeMaria, “but Mike was always among our top choices. His dedication to the project has never wavered for almost a year and a half of consistent effort – while holding down a full-time job! Mike has a steady, honest and humble demeanor, a great attention to detail and a phenomenal work ethic. He has all the makings of a great game director.”
Congratulations Mike! You have joined a small, but growing group of Top Secret members who are getting a giant leap forward into the industry they love.
“We offered to change one person’s career path forever,” says Perry, “and we ended up doing it for five. I call that a success, and I’m excited to see what they all come up with!”
About Mike Zummo
Mike Zummo (nicknamed Doran in the project), age 34, is a usability expert and avid gamer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has served as co-director of the Top Secret Advisory Board since its inception in November 2007. Mike presides over many meetings with team members from around the world and writes a weekly What’s Going On section and has contributed steadily to the Top Secret design.
About Acclaim Games
Based in Beverly Hills California, Acclaim Games is a revolutionary new company with a familiar name. In 2005 the cofounder of Activision, Howard Marks, purchased the company confident that the Acclaim name would surpass its former glory as one of America’s marquee brands. Today, Acclaim Games offers only the finest free to play multiplayer online games with a focus on community, playability and most importantly fun. To learn more please visit www.acclaim.com.
About David Perry
David Perry is a 27 year industry veteran whose games have sold over a billion dollars at retail. He’s the Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim Games, Inc. and prior to that was the founder of Shiny Entertainment, Inc. which was purchased by Atari. For more information, please visit: www.dperry.com.
I just want to say congratulations to these people, they really worked hard and show just how passionate people are about getting careers going in the video game industry. I will be announcing the winner(s) soon. :)
This is the press release...
Project ‘Top Secret’ Announces Finalists
Los Angeles (June 19, 2008) – Acclaim Games is approaching the final stage of the “Project: Top Secret” game design contest. “Project: Top Secret” is the brainchild of industry superstar David Perry. In addition to being the biggest video game project ever, it is the first large-scale user-driven game design project in video game history.
One lucky winner will be chosen this month, and we have determined who the finalists are. One of these people will receive the top prize, and an unprecedented career boost – the Directorship of a game to be published by Acclaim Games and Executive Produced by David Perry.
Picking our finalists for this amazing contest was not easy. Out of 60,000 people who signed up, there were certainly hundreds of amazing participants, so we have had to work hard to narrow the field.
“Working with these dedicated gamers for nearly a year and a half on this project, I have come to appreciate not only the efforts of literally hundreds of participants out of this huge field, but their range of personalities and individuality,” said Rusel DeMaria, Assistant Director to David Perry. “In helping to pick these finalists, I kept remembering all their persistence, creativity and passion. Limiting the list of finalists was very difficult, as there were always more people I wished I could add.”
To honor our designers, we have provided a brief biography of each of the finalists. Only one of these people will win the grand prize, but we want to acknowledge every one of them for their contributions.
“To be hand chosen from 60,000 means every single one of these people are field tested and proven. To be honest, we are having a very difficult time pinning this down to just one winner,” says David Perry, the Director of the game.
“Project: Top Secret” will continue, and the team will remain on the project until the game is published. While the original plan was to have the community design the game, then have a professional team make it, that all changed when the community asked to design AND build the final product.
So we are simultaneously working on the second phase, the actual development of the game itself. We currently have ten independent development teams working on the related Top Secret development contest hoping to win a prize worth up to a million dollars, a publishing deal, and a professional development contract going forward.
The Top Secret design winner will be announced next week, along with some special announcements. Stay tuned for more!
To find out more about this exciting project, just visit: www.videogameteam.com or www.acclaim.com
Contest Finalists (alphabetical order.)
Kim Bartlett (Reyaughi ) just completed her undergraduate studies in Game and Simulation Programming and will be completing a Master's of Level Design in early 2010 as part of her studies for becoming a game designer. Kim says she has truly enjoyed being a part of Project Top Secret, where she contributed to several areas of the project in the early stages, but her primary passion was the development of beasts, where she developed concepts for mechanics and created a plethora of concept art.
Robert Brown (Knight1b) is a 27 year old single parent with 2 small daughters, has served on the Top Secret Advisory Board since its creation, and is the producer for Coin shop items. He says, "I’ve learned a lot about how games are made and what a pain they can be sometimes, but I've had fun learning."
Adrian Clark (Aclark) is an Australian who describes himself as a "typical I.T. Jack of all trades, who loves to design, play and create games". While acting as producer for Breeding Systems, Guilds, and the Social System, he found the Top Secret experience to be absolutely priceless, a project which seriously opened his eyes to the gaming industry, and introduced him to some of the world's most talented and amazing people.
Frédéric Corneau (Elkhorno), 31, is an illustrator from Quebec, Canada. Although he left the project months ago, he left behind an amazing catalog of art which has played a central part in the design work for Top Secret, particularly mounts and tracks, and his drive and skill helped fuel the early days of the project.
Flavio Creasso (Creasso), 33, is a 3ds Max Instructor from Brazil who came to Top Secret for the opportunity to showcase his skills to industry insiders and participate in a real game project. His time on the project gave him some solid game production knowledge, and gave the project some of its most amazing art.
Kris Davidsohn (Brokentrain), 24, works as a Software Engineer, and says, "I'm very much into gaming, and have always wanted to develop them, particularly in the areas of game and systems design". His other hobby, drawing (mostly comics), led to his Top Secret positions as Co-producer for Concept Art and Art Style/Direction, and co-producer for Rank Systems.
Bryan Dong (Klyfarthfa) is a programmer who hails from San Mateo, CA. As a member of the Advisory Board since late 2007, he has worked on Items, Items systems, Environmental dynamics, and Crafting systems.
Matthew Edwards (Matt58) is from the UK, where he works as a lead web developer, and, although he's always been interested in game design as a career, will soon be graduating from university with an Archaeology degree. At the start of the project he contributed a lot of design ideas, was eventually appointed to the Advisory Board, and has used his programming knowledge to work on the more detailed and technical aspects of the design tracks, while also serving as the co-producer for social systems.
Steven Egan (Wordweaver), 22, is a Computer Science major who has worked on Cards, UI, Breeding, Ethnicities, the Wiki, Stats and was one of the leaders in designing the concept of Rankings. Mostly I now have experience dealing with people and a better idea how projects can and should be run.
Robert Florio (Robflorio) is a 26-year-old game design graduate, a quadriplegic mouth artist, and a motivational speaker specializing in game accessibility advocacy. He co-designed Top Secret's accessible controls and user interface, contributed a good deal of concept art to the project, and feels that Top Secret has helped him take his passion for game design to new heights by giving him the opportunity to gain greater knowledge of the industry as well as how to design a game right.
Joel Haddock (Zargonx), 29, is a website manager and writer from Baltimore, as well as a recent newlywed, having just been married in May. Joel joined Project Top Secret as an opportunity to engage in his passion for game design, and also to take part in an interesting community experiment; as such, he has worn many hats during the course of, with a focus on skill system and character customization designs, and as the project enters the next phases, he looks forward to working even more with the community to bring this dream to fruition.
Christopher Honour (Asurael) lives in Santiago de Chile and is studying for a Business degree, but says videogames are his real passion; "All my life I've dreamt about making games for a living, and PTS has given me the chance to do just that, I'll always be grateful for this experience. I've met some cool people, made some good friends and learned more than I thought I could from this." He's served as the producer for Mounts, and co-producer for Concept Art and Art Style/Direction, and also been a moderator.
Martin Juricek (Mjuricek) is a 30 year old computer scientist, father of three, and an amazing internet ferret. He has managed the development team contestants, created project tracking programs and charts, and recruited needed talent by casting his ferreting skills across the entire internet.
Nikita Logachev (Naereus), 21, is from the UK, holds a BA in Psychology, a PG Diploma in Artificial Intelligence, and hopes to create a life-altering game. He spent the first months of the project as a moderator and idea pitchman, working on design refinements and task creation assistance, and most recently has been instrumental in refining the track environments. He also provided the initial design for one of the core tracks and feels that Top Secret gave him "a taste of the difficulties in coordinating large-scale teams, and a few insights into the game design creative process".
Yana Malysheva (Yanamal1) is a 24-year-old math/computer geek, originally from Russia who enjoys playing RPGS, making up weird game systems, absorbing information, telling people what to do, and Heelys. She managed her role as Top Secret's producer for Riders, Professions, Weapons and the Rank system by relying on great organizational skills, good sense, and the Yanabot 3000 (play the game to learn more about that one!).
Michelle Montierth (Tandy), an urban planner and the mother of two college-aged sons, found her job as Co-Director of the Top Secret Advisory board, producer of Tracks/Environments, Towns, World Economy, Game (Race) Modes, Rider Personal Space, a rare and invaluable opportunity to learn how the design process works from start to finish. She also served as Lead moderator, Lead mentor, editor of the design doc, wiki, Joomla site, and credit tracking project.
David Newsome (Slayermon), 32, is and electronics technician and computer specialist from Germany who works part time while looking for a job in the video game industry or stipendium for game design college! He is credited with a number of game design concepts, including the concept behind one of the Daz3d Competition winners, sees himself as someone who thinks outside the box, and feels that this project helped him learn to put personal issues aside to get the best out of an idea. It also increased his desire to get deeper involved in game design.
Rasiel (Rasield) is a college student from the eastern US who hopes to enter the game industry professionally and eventually become a game creator. He has used his wide ranging art skills, traditional and digital, to create numerous concept pieces for several core areas of the game, has served as a mentor, and is the brainchild behind the Community Spotlight feature which showcases a high profile community member in a Q&A dialogue.
Ryan Richards (Ryorev), 26, currently attends Cal State Long Beach as an illustration major with a minor in Graphic Design. He is one of the project’s top mentors, has designed three of the four ethnicities, created numerous beast designs, and has influenced many of the core concepts for the game.
David Slauenwhite (AnjelusX) is a 29-year-old father from Nova Scotia, with a uniquely creative mind, a flair for writing and web design, and a prolific blogger. He's the producer for Top Secret's Storyline as well as Music and Sound, a leading moderator with terrific community management skills, and the creator of the Oceanus epic story and track, which will mold the entire flavor of the game.
T Michael Vang (Segua), 25, is a retail associate, a Top Secret community member since April of 2007, and as one of the team's most dedicated system designers, has been a regular contributor to almost every aspect of the design. He's also been one of a few dedicated team members willing to help those who just joined the project find a warm welcome, along with helpful info.
Mike Zummo (Doran), 34, is a usability expert and avid gamer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has served as co-director of the Top Secret Advisory Board since its inception in November 2007. Mike presides over many meetings and writes a weekly What’s Going On section and has contributed steadily to the Top Secret design.
About Acclaim Games
Based in Beverly Hills California, Acclaim Games is a revolutionary new company with a familiar name. In 2005 the cofounder of Activision, Howard Marks, purchased the company confident that the Acclaim name would surpass its former glory as one of America’s marquee brands. Today, Acclaim Games offers only the finest multiplayer online games for free with a focus on community, playability and most importantly fun. To learn more please visit www.acclaim.com.
About David Perry
David Perry is the CEO of GAMECONSULTANTS.COM and prior to that was the founder of Shiny Entertainment, Inc. For more information, please visit: www.dperry.com. David Perry’s latest Matrix Movie related game projects are estimated to have grossed over $300 million, and he has had numerous #1 hits and awards over his career with titles such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Disney’s Aladdin, Earthworm Jim, and many more.
GOAL: Try to stop the people jumping out of the buildings from hitting the ground.
FIRE