David Wessman

Current

• Creative Director at Primeval Games
• Professor at University of Advancing Technology
• Consultant at David Wessman Game Design (Self-employed)

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Past

• Senior Game Designer at Destineer Studios
• Instructor at Art Institute of California - San Francisco
• Senior Designer at Backbone Entertainment

• Instructor at University of Advancing Technology
• Senior Designer at Volition, Inc.
• Lead Designer at Starbreeze AB
• Lead Designer at Check Six Studios
• Lead Designer at Stormfront Studios, Inc.
• Gameplay & Story Lead at Totally Games
• QA Tester at Spectrum Holobyte
• QA Tester at LucasArts Entertainment

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Recommended

36 people have recommended David

Connections

430 connections

Industry

Computer Games

David Wessman’s Summary

Veteran game designer with a 17 year track record of successful games. Experienced in all areas of game and story design, as well as significant expertise in audio design. A regular speaker and guest lecturer at industry conferences and numerous colleges and universities. I have consulted on curriculum development for several schools. I am now a full time instructor at the University of Advancing Technology where I hope to prepare the next generation of great game designers.

Ludography:
Cobra, 3rd Ed.
Unannounced stealth/action title
Six Days in Fallujah
Judgmental Shooting Simulator (training sim)
Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil
Saints Row
Wacht am Rhein, 2nd Ed.
The Punisher
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Knights of the Temple
The Cossacks are Coming, 2nd Ed.
Army Men: Air Cavalry (cancelled)
Blood Wake 2 (cancelled)
Blood Wake 2001
War of 1812 – Strategy & Tactics Magazine #206
When Dragons Fight: If China Invades Taiwan – Command Magazine #54
Archipelago Xbox (cancelled)
Eldorado PC (cancelled)
Star Wars: X-Wing Trilogy
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
Lodz 1914: Blitzkrieg in the East
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
Millennium Falcon (cancelled)
TIE Fighter Collectors CD-ROM
TIE Fighter: Defenders of the Empire
TIE Fighter
X-Wing Collectors CD-ROM
Falcon 3.0: MiG-29
Falcon 3.0: Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1
Tetris Classic for Windows
X-Wing: B-Wing
X-Wing: Imperial Pursuit
Falcon 3.0: Operation Fighting Tiger
Star Wars: X-Wing
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (SWotL): P-80 Shooting Star Campaign Disk
SWotL: P-38 Lightning Campaign Disk
SWotL: Do-335 Pfiel Campaign Disk
SWotL: He-162 Volksjager Campaign Disk
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe

David Wessman’s Specialties:

Superior creative skills in all areas of game design: concept, game mechanics, control schemes, interface, AI behavior & scripting, story & character development, gameplay & story integration, and tool design. Outstanding verbal & written communications skills, especially documentation & instruction. Excellent research, analysis & organizational skills. Extensive knowledge of games & the game industry. Strong audio design & implementation skills. Effective team and outside contractor management.

David Wessman’s Experience

• Creative Director

  Primeval Games

  (Computer Games industry)

  May 2009 — Present (8 months)

  My responsibilities involve creative direction of video game projects developed by small teams consisting of senior students and recent graduates from UAT. I guide each team in clarifying their vision of the game and defining its scope and goals, as well as tasking and scheduling. I also provide mentorship and leadership as needed.

• Professor

  University of Advancing Technology

  (Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

  May 2008 — Present (1 year 8 months)

  Teach game design and game studies. Develop new courses and revise old ones. Faculty sponsor for Unplugged Games Club.

• Consultant

  David Wessman Game Design (Self-employed)

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Computer Games industry)

  June 2005 — Present (4 years 7 months)

  I provide expertise in game design and development and help design curricula for schools developing game design programs. Clients include the University of Advancing Technology, Houston Community College, Bay Area Video Coalition (www.bavc.org), Art Institute of California - San Francisco, and Ex'pression College for Digital Arts. I am also available for speaking engagements as a panelist or guest lecturer.

• Senior Game Designer

  Destineer Studios

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

  January 2007 — February 2008 (1 year 2 months)

  Contributed in all areas of game design for a training simulation and a follow on entertainment product. Assisted on a tactical shooter project. Primary focus during last 4 months was audio design and integration, plus voiceover work. Helped the dev team transition to agile development methods. Conducted valuable subject matter and competitive product research. Organized and wrote much of the company's Wiki pages.

• Instructor

  Art Institute of California - San Francisco

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; EDMC; Higher Education industry)

  January 2006 — November 2006 (11 months)

  Part-time in-class instructor in game level design. Guest lecturer for other classes. Consulted on curriculum.

• Senior Designer

  Backbone Entertainment

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

  August 2005 — August 2006 (1 year 1 month)

  Lead game designer and audio lead on Death Jr. 2:Root of Evil for the PSP. I oversaw all aspects of the game design for the first half of the project, building up a design staff of 5 before switching to audio lead for the second half of the project. As audio lead I was responsible for all in-game sound effects and managing external sound design contractors. I was credited with vastly improving the audio over the first game.

• Instructor

  University of Advancing Technology

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Higher Education industry)

  October 2005 — November 2005 (2 months)

  Taught an intensive 5-week course in game concept design for their online program. Was nominated for a Learning Award in recognition of the extra effort and inspiration I brought to the class.

• Senior Designer

  Volition, Inc.

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

  December 2003 — April 2005 (1 year 5 months)

  My roles included Lead Designer and Senior Designer on Saints Row, an open world driving and combat game for the Xbox 360. I oversaw all aspects of the game design during pre-production, and built up a design staff of 4 before trading places with the multiplayer lead. I was later responsible for all free play activities in the single player game – the early implementations of which helped secure the green light for production. I also provided some minor character voices for The Punisher.
  
  Saints Row has garnered great reviews, “Finally a game that out-Grand Theft Autos Grand Theft Auto.” It debuted as a top-10 seller, #1 rental and #1 demo download on Xbox Live Arcade.

• Lead Designer

  Starbreeze AB

  (Public Company; Computer Games industry)

  June 2003 — October 2003 (5 months)

  Led design during critical Alpha stage. Oversaw revision and refinement of entire game, including significant improvements to the combat and stealth action elements as well as the user interface and control scheme. Participated in major green light presentation to publisher.

• Lead Designer

  Check Six Studios

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

  November 2002 — January 2003 (3 months)

  I was the lead designer for Army Men: Air Cavalry, an action and strategy game based on combat helicopters planned for the Xbox, PS2 and GameCube. I was responsible for all aspects of design. The project was cancelled when Check Six suddenly closed down.

• Lead Designer

  Stormfront Studios, Inc.

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

  October 2000 — April 2002 (1 year 7 months)

  Designed or oversaw all design aspects of Blood Wake, including much of the actual implementation and tuning. This fast-action boat combat game was an Xbox launch title and became a Platinum Series hit. I joined the team during the prototype stage and worked through the end and onto the sequel that was cancelled when the business negotiations fell through.

• Gameplay & Story Lead

  Totally Games

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

  August 1992 — October 2000 (8 years 3 months)

  I joined Lawrence Holland's independent development team as an independent contractor to lead internal testing, (we incorporated as Totally Games in 1994), and soon began working on mission and story design for X-Wing. I became the lead mission designer, and later became the gameplay and story lead for the rest of the X-Wing/TIE Fighter series. I had a hand in the design and implementation of all aspects of the game from basic mechanics and interface issues, to detailed specifics of all craft and weapons, as well as writing most of the story. After 8 years of Star Wars I worked with Larry to create a stunning, but ill-fated concept for a fantasy creature-based aerial combat game that was to be an Xbox launch title.

• QA Tester

  Spectrum Holobyte

  (Computer Games industry)

  1992 — 1992 (less than a year)

• QA Tester

  LucasArts Entertainment

  (Privately Held; Computer Games industry)

  August 1991 — February 1992 (7 months)

  Did QA and gameplay testing on Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe plus all four Tour of Duty expansion disks.

Additional Information

David Wessman’s Interests:

Games, gaming, game design, game studies and game theory. Science, science fiction, technology, history, current affairs, satire, film, music, fine dining and travel.

David Wessman’s Groups:

A long-standing member of the IGDA and a founding member of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter.

•    International Game Developers Association
•    Starbreeze Studios
•    Game Developers
•    Game Design Professionals
•    David Perry's Game Industry Map Group.
•    Game Designers Network
•    Game Developers Conference®
•    Video Game Professionals
•    Game Writing
•    Game Creator's Network
•    Electronic Entertainment Industry Network
•    Game Audio
•    Gaming: Passion and Profession
•    Game Audio Professionals
•    VideoGame Professionals
•    Serious Games Group
•    Serious games people
•    LucasArts Network
•    THQ - Current & Past THQ Employees
•    Lucasfilm Alumns
•    Ex Atomic

David Wessman’s Honors:

Honored Developer at GDC, Computer Gaming World's Computer Game Hall of Fame Inductee, PC Gamer's Greatest Computer Game of All Time Award in 1999, and #9 on IGN's Top 100 list of 2005 - all of these and many others in recognition of TIE Fighter, Star Wars Space Combat Simulator. Almost every game I've worked on has either won or been nominated for various "best of" awards. A winner of the March 2009 "Imagine the Games of 2020" contest.

David Wessman’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• consulting offers
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch