
Producer at Relic Entertainment
Vancouver, Canada Area

Producer at Relic Entertainment
Vancouver, Canada Area
Contact or Connection Requests: rvanlierop(at)rocketmail(dot)com
I've positioned myself at the confluence of game production and creative development, believing that understanding one makes you better at the other.
Expertise:
* Team Leadership
* Organization and Communication
* High Concept Design
* IP Development
* Story Development
Game concept development, production, team leadership and project management. Interactive narrative and gameplay design. Creative writing and storyverse design. Interactive entertainment industry trend analysis. Communication, prioritization, and effort optimization.
(Public Company; Computer Games industry)
December 2009 — Present (1 month)
(Public Company; FR0000054470; Computer Games industry)
November 2008 — December 2009 (1 year 2 months)
I held the Narrative Director position on an unannounced FPS title at Ubisoft Montreal.
My primary responsibility was to drive all story-related content creation and development efforts on a new triple-A action game at Ubisoft's award-winning Montreal studio.
This included the creation of all elements of the game's fiction as a transmedia entertainment property, leadership of the narrative design team, management of external consultant relationships, and representing these interests (for our project) to the company's top management in Paris.
As a member of the 'core team', I worked with the other discipline directors to ensure our game had the highest potential to deliver memorable characters and strong storytelling through directed and embedded narrative.
I had the opportunity to work with some incredibly passionate, talented people on an amazingly cool project, and was sad to leave the studio. Montreal proved to not be the best fit for my family and so we chose to return out West.
(Entertainment industry)
January 2007 — October 2008 (1 year 10 months)
Executive Creative Director & Co-Founder of Radar Group
NOTE: At Radar, my position was a hybrid creative direction and production oversight role.
As 'Executive Creative Director', I was responsible for:
* providing high-level creative direction for multiple original IP projects built from the ground up to have transmedia potential; this work included establishing all key gameplay and fiction pillars in collaboration with the external dev teams
* providing high-level production guidance for the successful planning, scheduling, team organization and management, and project leadership for multiple externally developed titles
* building and leading a team of CDs who would provide front-line management for the multiple original IP projects co-developed by Radar.
I also co-founded Radar with several industry veterans, and supported the startup efforts of Recoil Games.
Focus on: Creative Direction, Brand building, Character and World Creation, Gameplay Prototyping, Production Management
Projects: Earth No More, Prey 2, Incarnate, multiple unannouced original IP.
(Public Company; Computer Games industry)
November 2003 — January 2007 (3 years 3 months)
Held production management roles (AP to Producer) on:
* Company of Heroes (94% metacritic; highest rated RTS of all time)
* Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (86% metacritic; multiple million units sold)
* Dawn of War: Winter Assault (85% metacritic; Expansion Pack of the Year 2005)
At the peak of my career at Relic, I was directly responsible for leading a team of over 75 developers in the creation of triple-A RTS games. At Relic, I learned a ton about game production, team leadership, and creating high quality entertainment.
(Computer Games industry)
September 2000 — November 2003 (3 years 3 months)
Key Projects:
* Fatal Frame
* Fatal Frame 2
* Steel Battalion
* ZBoard
* Unannounced Blue Shift/Namco Project
* Gameloft Community Portal
Provided game writing and design services for clients in the interactive entertainment development industries. Key clients included Gameloft, Capcom, Microsoft Games Studios, Kaydara [Alias], Blue Shift Games, Bauhaus Software, Ideazon, Sherpa Games, and Sherpa Games. Key projects I contributed to during this time include: Fatal Frame, Fatal Frame 2, Steel Battalion, Z-Board, and several design and story proposals for game projects that never saw the light of day. Working as a freelancer allowed me to experience a wide variety of projects with a broad spectrum of companies, and helped refine a strong work ethic based on self-motivation, professionalism, and clear communication.
(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Computer Software industry)
May 1999 — August 2002 (3 years 4 months)
Marketing & Technology writer for two major players in the 3D hardware and software industries -- Matrox Graphics, and Kaydara. At Matrox, I worked on the G400, G450, and G800 product launches. At Kaydara, I worked on FiLMBOX and Motionbuilder. The company later went on to be purchased by Alias. I wrote extensive technical and marketing documents for both of these companies, including Advertising, Manuals, Packaging Copy, etc. Working for these companies exposed me to many projects in the Entertainment industry (film and video games) which fueled my passion for those fields.
Volunteer, IGDA Programs & Membership Committee, GI
Personal:
- 2004 Team Award, THQ Inc., for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (awarded out of all THQ's internal production teams).
- 2004 Unsung Hero Award, Relic Inc., for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (awarded by development team).
- 2005 Furious Charge Award for Team Leadership, Dawn of War: Winter Assault (awarded by development team).
Projects:
>Company of Heroes (2006)
Over 35 major awards including...
- Game of the Year (PC Gamer)
- Game of the Year (Computer Games)
- Best PC Game, Best Sound, Best Multiplayer, Best RTS (GameSpy)
- Best PC Game, Best RTS (Gamespot)
- Best PC Game, Best RTS, Best Online Game, Best Sound (IGN)
- Best Stratey Game (Game Critics)
- Strategy Game of the Year (Interactive Achievement Awards)
>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (2004)
- (Runner Up) Best RTS of the Year (IGN)
- Best Use of License (GameSpy)
>Dawn of War: Winter Assault (2005)
- Expansion Pack of the Year (IGN)