William Anderson

Current

• Owner and President at Awaken Games
• Producer/ Assistant Producer/ Designer at FarSight Studios

Past

• Game Designer at Ready at Dawn Studios
• Lead Game Designer at JGI Entertainment, Inc.
• Lead Game Designer at Midway (San Diego)

• Founder / Creative Director at Eagle Claw Studios
• Senior Game Designer at Capcom Digital Studios
• Manager of Design / Producer at Namco USA
• Lead Designer / Manager of Design at Alexandria, Inc. / Oddworld
• Senior Game Designer at Virgin Games
• Lead Game Designer/ Programmer at Astra System Software
• Lead Game Designer/ Programmer at Corona Micro / Elcom Systems
• Programmer/ Designer at Dynacomp (Game Publisher)

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Industry

Computer Games

William Anderson’s Summary

I'm a game developer, product manager and senior designer for well over two decades now, having worked in-house for many of the top developers and publishers in the world. I'm a US and international business consultant, designer, writer and ghost writer for many years now, contributing game development articles to industry books and web sites.

Games Worked On:

* Pinball Hall Of Fame: Williams Collection, PS3 & Xbox 360
* Game Party 2 & 3
* Hotel for Dogs, PC/Wii/DS
* Game Party, Wii (2 Mil Units Sold!)
* Pinball Hall Of Fame: Williams Collection, PS2/PSP/Wii
* Hard Rock Casino, PSP/PS2
* Scarface, PSP (Greatest Hits)
* Daxter, PSP (2 Mil Units Sold!)
* Gauntlet Seven Sorrows, PS2
* Army Men Sarges War, X-Box/Game Cube
* Maximo Ghost to Glory, PS2. - (Greatest Hits)
* Abes Oddysee, PSX. (Greatest Hits)
* Izzy’s Quest, Sega Genesis/ SNES
* Jungle Book, Sega Genesis
* Aladdin, Sega Genesis - (Over 4 Mil. Units Sold!)
* Cool Spot, Sega Genesis/ SNES/ Game Boy
* Global Gladiators, Sega Genesis. - "3rd Party Game of the Year"
* Double Dragons, Game Gear
* RoboCop Vs The Terminater, Sega Genesis
* Terminator, Sega CD
* Dweaby’s Quest, Atari ST
* Legends The Tower of Doom, Atari ST
* Legends The Underworld, Atari ST
* Hole-In-One Miniature Golf, Atari ST
* Caves of the Trolls, Atari 8-Bit
* Sub-Wars, Atari 8-Bit
* Dungeon Quest, Atari 8-Bit

Development Tools Designed/Worked on:

* World Builder for Eagle Claw Studios
* World Builder for Capcom
* World Builder for Namco
* tUME World Builder for Virgin Games

Other:

* Handled performance reviews and promotions
* Years of experience working trade shows/ setup
* Experience managing trade show meeting scheduling
* Lots of experience working with the press
* Sculptor and Artist
* Industry Writer
* Freelance Screenplay Ghostwriter

William Anderson’s Specialties:

* Extensive knowledge in development and publishing.
* Developed 50+ GDD’s.
* Designed 200+ game environments.
* Experience in UI, A.I and game controls.
* Worked on 2 major Walt Disney Licenses.
* Worked with 7UP and Olympic Committee.
* Worked on 3 Hollywood movie scripts to game projects.
* Experienced with Word/ Excel/ Visio/ SketchUp.
* Some experience using Studio Max & Maya.
* Decade of experience in HTML/ASP development.
* Experienced in SQL Database development for the web.

William Anderson’s Experience

• Owner and President

  Awaken Games

  (Computer Games industry)

  April 2007 — Present (2 years 8 months)

  * International Business Consultant.
  * Game Development and Design Consultant.
  * Industry Staffing Consultant.
  * Game Design/ Development Consultant to Universities.
  * Industry Consultant to Authors and Book Publishers.
  * Founder of The Game Designers Network (GDN) (200+ Members)
  * Founder of The Game Programmers Network (GPN)
  * Founder of The Game Artists Network (GAN) (100+ Members)

• Producer/ Assistant Producer/ Designer

  FarSight Studios

  (Privately Held; Computer Games industry)

  April 2006 — Present (3 years 8 months)

  * Designer/ Game Party 2&3
  * Development assistant to Director.
  * 3D Background Artist, Hotel for Dogs, Wii/PC/DS.
  * Project Producer/ Designer Midway's Game Party, Wii Title.
  * Assistant Producer, Williams Pinball Classics, PS2, PSP & Wii Title.
  * Assistant Producer / Designer Hard Rock Casino.
  * Assistant Producer / Level Designer Scarface.
  * Assistant Producer / Charlie Browns All Stars Baseball.
  * Design coordinator/ designer
  * 3D Environments Model Designer.
  * Scenario, tutorial development.
  * Text localization.
  * Help with product research.
  * FarSight's web site manager.
  * FarSight’s pinball hardware engineer.

• Game Designer

  Ready at Dawn Studios

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Entertainment industry)

  November 2004 — March 2005 (5 months)

  * Game Designer on Daxter for Sony PSP.
  * Responsible for level design.
  * Character A.I and Design Coordination.
  * Designed mini-online game system.

• Lead Game Designer

  JGI Entertainment, Inc.

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Entertainment industry)

  February 2004 — September 2004 (8 months)

  * Lead Game Designer on Shaolin Streets.
  * Developed the game story and play structure.
  * Helped with design of combat system.
  * Worked with programmers on movement systems.
  * Designed about four production level for the project.
  * Designed Camera AI/ Character AI and Controls.
  * Help with pitching the game concept to publishers.

• Lead Game Designer

  Midway (San Diego)

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Entertainment industry)

  March 2003 — August 2003 (6 months)

  * Member of Midway’s company restructures team.
  * Original lead world designer Gauntlet Seven Sorrows.
  * Developed game structure and helped with story.
  * Designed the over all world structure for the game.
  * Designing player character and NPC combat A.I.
  * Did competitive research work on other titles.

• Founder / Creative Director

  Eagle Claw Studios

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Entertainment industry)

  April 2002 — March 2003 (1 year )

  * Studio Founder.
  * Studio & Project Promotion, Fund Raising.
  * Lead Game Play Designer of FPS title for the PC.
  * Designed a 3D Game Development Tool.
  * Outside development consultant/ level designer to 3DO on Army Men Sarges War.

• Senior Game Designer

  Capcom Digital Studios

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Entertainment industry)

  September 1997 — March 2003 (5 years 7 months)

  I worked for Capcom for many years, where I was senior game designer on Maximo Ghost to Glory and managed the game play design and design staff for the product.
  
  * Senior Game Designer on Maximo (PS2).
  * Produced the game design bible.
  * Helped with funding approval with Capcom Japan.
  * Created the game structure and story plot.
  * Designed Maximo’s combat system with Producer.
  * Designed most of the in-level play mechanics.
  * Designed 2/3'rd of all levels for the game.
  * Designed the power-up management system.
  * Worked on Character A.I. and Game Camera.
  * Did final product tuning work.
  * Recruited, trained and managed design staff.
  * Helped with yearly performance reviews for staff.
  * Evaluated and recruited outside Sound studio.
  * Helped to design world builder tool for project.
  * Evaluate and report on external Capcom productions.
  * Responsible for new concept development.
  * Pitched new concepts to company directors.

• Manager of Design / Producer

  Namco USA

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; Entertainment industry)

  March 1996 — September 1997 (1 year 7 months)

  I joined Namco USA as Manager of Design responsible for coming up with new concepts for the company and handle the transition and staffing of the studio from PC/Sega Saturn development to Sony Playstation development. I was also responsible for evaluating outsourcing companies and in-coming products for the company.
  
  * Responsible for converting studio to PSX Development.
  * Produced 6 New Namco concepts in 3 months.
  * Helped to evaluate outside studios for Namco.
  * Helped to secure Treasures of the Deep from Black-Ops.
  * Lead Game Designer on Pac-Man Ghost Zone.
  * Managed production funding approval.
  * Managed a production staff of 17.
  * Help to design world builder tool for project.

• Lead Designer / Manager of Design

  Alexandria, Inc. / Oddworld

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Entertainment industry)

  February 1994 — January 1996 (2 years )

  I joined Alexandria, Inc. as lead designer on Izzy’s Quest, the mascot character game for the 1996 Olympics, published by US Gold (Now EIDOS). Later promoted to Design Coordinator of all productions at the company. Much of Alexandria would evolve into Oddworld Inhabitance where I was promoted to Manager of Design and design lead on Abes Oddysee.
  
  * Lead Game Designer on Izzy for the 1996 Olympics.
  * Promoted to Design Coordinator.
  * Managed all designers for the studio.
  * Joined Oddworld Inhabitants on 2/21/95
  * Designed primary game play mechanic for Abe's Oddysee.
  * Produced 4 worlds of game play.
  * (Much More)

• Senior Game Designer

  Virgin Games

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Entertainment industry)

  October 1991 — September 1993 (2 years )

  I was the first game designer ever employed in-house by Virgin Games US and helped to build and train the design staff during the early 1990’s. I also was the design lead on Global Gladiators (3rd Party Game of the Year), the award winning Cool Spot for Genesis/SNES and senior designer on Aladdin for Sega Genesis (4K Units Sold/ Developed in less than 4 months)
  
  * First Game Designer employed by Virgin Games US.
  * Helped to created Design Group with David Bishop.
  * Co-Managed all designers for the studio.
  * Did first pass designs on many products for License approval.
  * Senior Game Designer of Aladdin (Genesis).
  * Lead Designer of Cool Spot (Genesis/SNES)
  * Lead Designer of Global Gladiator (Genesis).
  * Did the GDD for Jungle Book and many other products.
  * Help to design world builder tool tUME for project.

• Lead Game Designer/ Programmer

  Astra System Software

  (Public Company; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

  February 1988 — September 1990 (2 years 8 months)

  * Help to start new game development group.
  * Designer/ Programmer of Dweaby's Quest.
  * Designer/ Programmer of Legends the Tower of Doom.
  * Designer/ Programmer of Legends 2 The Underworld.

• Lead Game Designer/ Programmer

  Corona Micro / Elcom Systems

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

  January 1985 — November 1987 (2 years 11 months)

  * Help Start Shareware Game Division.
  * Designer/ Programmer of Caves of the Trolls.
  * Designer/ Programmer of Sub-Wars.
  * Designer/ Programmer of Dungeon Quest.
  * Designer/ Programmer of Micro Art.

• Programmer/ Designer

  Dynacomp (Game Publisher)

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  January 1983 — July 1983 (7 months)

  * Designer/ Programmer of Diamond Hunter for Atari 8-Bit.

Additional Information

William Anderson’s Interests:

* Business Management * Business Consulting * Teacher of Game Design * Article Writing * Ghostwriter * Movie Screenplay Ghostwriter * Production Analyst * Sculpting/ Woodworking * Photography * Inventing * Street-Rod Builder * Owner/ Developer www.PrayerShrine.com * Owner/ Developer www.iToMind.com

William Anderson’s Groups:

* Boy Scouts of America #49 (Committee Member)
* GDN - Game Designers Network (Founder)
* GPN - Game Programmers Network (Founder)
* GAN - Game Artists Network (Founder)
* Son's of The American Revolution.

•    Casual Games
•    Game Developers
•    Game Designers Network
•    Game Artists Network
•    Game Programmers Network
•    Global Jobs Network

William Anderson’s Honors:

Product Awards on...
* Maximo Ghost to Glory
* Abe's Oddysee
* Aladdin (Sega) (Over 4 Mil. Units Sold)
* Cool Spot (Sega)
* Global Gladiators (Sega 3rd Party Game of the Year)

William Anderson’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch