THE GREATEST JOB IN THE WORLD

Welcome!

As Creative Director of Origin, it is my great pleasure to help give visual substance to everything in this persistent state world, including the kitchen sink. Well, if the game had need for sinks I would. The environments, monsters, characters, creatures both natural and synthetic, the technology, the graphics, and art direction of the action figures all fall under my jurisdiction. Hell, even the game logo is my domain. As the architect of Originfs look and feel, I eat, sleep and live Originfs fantasy. As a matter of fact, if it werenft for Origin my wife wouldnft have left me, my 15-year-old daughter wouldnft have shaved her head and my Pug wouldnft have become a Corgi. Yes, I exaggerate. Dogs canft spontaneously change breeds.

But seriously, anyone who works on a landmark project such as this will tell you that it is THEY who have the best assignment because it is THEY who breathe life into the world with their code and their story. It is THEY who build and texture the characters and environments. And while it may be difficult to argue with this, you decide. After my job description, everything else not only pales by comparison, it shrivels and falls off the bone. Come on, letfs get serious! Who else wraps the Lead Designer, Producer and Lead Fiction Writer around their finger, letting them think that all of Originfs great ideas are theirs? Who else is foolhardy enough to tell Todd McFarlane where he could be a tad bolder with his designs? Me, thatfs who.

Not long after being hired by Richard Garriott in the fall of f97 to Art Direct the finale of Utima: Ascension I was given the assignment of Creative Director to the follow-up of the biggest Internet game to hit the web thus far. I didnft need much prodding, I can tell you that. Not only was I going to work with the hottest talent in the business, I was going to surpass my previous art design forays with Sierra Online by leaps and bounds. I knew this because Master Garriott willed it so.

I first got the hankerinf to create realms never before seen early in 1986 when I was hired by Marvel Productions in Burbank California. It was while at Marvel, working side-by-side with comic book efantasy greatsf Nestor Redondo and E.R. Cruz, that I first got the gitchf to be one of the few, the proud, the weird.

My first game Art Direction assignment came early in 1990 for Sierra Online and the project was Kingfs Quest 5. I acquired a taste for game imagery 5 minutes after making my brain think in terms of the fantastic. I say gmaking my brain think in those termsh because before that I was involved with television graphics, advertising design for movies, animation design & background painting and generally things that not only do not need a computer, but require far less imagination.

When Sierrafs Creative Director asked me how I would feel about Art Directing the elatest and greatestf from Roberta Williamsch, I said gGreatcCoolcNo problemch, as a shallow pool of sweat formed at my feet. Never before had I attempted anything of such a fantastic nature. My chance to design a world from scratch had come and I couldnft stop my knees from shaking. Well, as it turned out KQ5 came out to rave reviews of the art design and unprecedented sales of an adventure game. I went on to creatively lead many products for Sierra, thirteen in all. Among them were Quest for Glory 3, Leisure Suit Larry 5, Kingfs Quest 8, Phantasmagoria and Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh. I have thought of myself as a game maker ever since.

I feel that in the end, no one person can lay claim to the ggame lookh kudos that are sure to follow the release of Origin. No one knows better than I that this is a massive team effort requiring the skills and abilities of many talented people. The lionfs share of the credit must go to the artists of Origin. My concepts create the spark. Their game art fans it into a flame.

Now, who has the greatest job in the world? Me, thatfs who.