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OK, it wasn’t this bad, but it felt that way.<\/em><\/p>\n Despite the upheaval, I can proudly announce two major developments for\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>:<\/p>\n #1<\/strong><\/p>\n I was contacted by a massive company in the PC gaming scene.\u00a0 They are very interested in\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>\u00a0and asked me what they can do to help. I’d love to name drop\u2026 but I can’t. You see, I signed an NDA\u2014and one of the first stipulations was, \u201cThe FIRST rule of Fight Club is . . .\u201d \u00a0\ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Just kidding\u2014but of course, I can\u2019t say who they are.\u00a0 We’ve already had one meeting and another is scheduled for this week. I don\u2019t need to say that this is\u00a0totally<\/em>\u00a0unexpected.\u00a0 Something about\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>\u00a0seems to draw people in from all corners of the world!<\/p>\n #2<\/strong><\/p>\n I hired a very talented user interface (UI) artist\u2014someone who has worked on 30+ games for PC, console, and handheld devices.\u00a0 He reached out because he read my first\u00a0Gamasutra<\/em>\u00a0post\u2014and he likes role-playing games.\u00a0 He’s also a\u00a0Dragonlance<\/em>\u00a0fan, which sort of sealed the deal. His first job out of art school was working with John Romero on\u00a0Daikatana<\/em>. I thought that was an epic way to start a career in game development.<\/p>\n This major hire got me thinking: It\u2019s time I described the awesome team behind\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>. While I am the lead designer, coder, and sole financier of this enterprise, God has brought some amazing people into my life to help make\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>\u00a0a reality.<\/p>\n Jack Collins wrote a very influential business book,\u00a0Good to Great<\/em><\/a>, in which he contrasts the difference between a good and\u00a0great<\/em>\u00a0company. One of the factors is the team. He stresses that you have to get the right people\u00a0on<\/em>\u00a0the bus and the wrong people\u00a0off<\/em>\u00a0the bus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maybe one day Archmage Rises will have a custom bus like this! \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\n Here in no particular order are the people on the\u00a0Archmage Rises\u00a0<\/em>\u201cbus\u201d:<\/p>\n Rogier van de Beek —\u00a0<\/em>Primary 2D Artist<\/em><\/p>\n Almost every piece of artwork you’ve seen of\u00a0Archmage<\/em>\u00a0comes from Rogier’s hand.\u00a0 I trolled Deviant Art for months and tried several artists before I found what I like to call \u201cThe Dutch Master.\u201d\u00a0 Based in the Netherlands, Rogier has worked as a game artist on many titles from World War II to fantasy to Sci-Fi, but his favorite setting is fantasy. I’m impressed that he did card art for the\u00a0World of Warcraft<\/em>\u00a0trading card game. You can see his impressive portfolio on\u00a0Deviant Art<\/a>.<\/p>\n Luis Levy and Jeannie Novak \u2013 PR & Marketing<\/em><\/p>\n If you’ve heard of\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>\u00a0it’s because of Luis and Jeannie \u00a0\ud83d\ude42 \u00a0They are the principals at\u00a0Novy PR<\/a>, a firm they started in 2011 to focus on indie developers. Luis has worked in the game industry as a QA tester (Quake 4<\/em>,\u00a0Call of Duty 3<\/em>) and wrote two books with Jeannie (who is the lead author and series editor of the\u00a0Game Development Essentials\u00a0<\/em>textbook series). Together, they have helped countless PC and mobile games get exposure through their numerous press contacts.<\/p>\n Andrew Hoogheem \u2013 Story & Dialogue<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew has worked in the publishing industry for 10+ years, has a masters in English, is currently pursuing a PhD, and is a full-time professor teaching creative writing at Blackhawk College in Ohio.\u00a0Andrew is not a gamer. This concerned him. He has read\u00a0The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, but not much other fantasy fiction. This also concerned him. He’s never written for the video game medium before.\u00a0 Thisreally<\/em>\u00a0concerned him.\u00a0 I think these are all\u00a0assets<\/em>, not deficits.\u00a0 Most video game writing is pretty terrible. There are tropes and clich\u00e9 cheese a plenty.\u00a0 I think bringing in an outsider, an expert in proper literature, is exactly what this project needs. I sent Andrew an excerpt from the beginning of\u00a0Planescape: Torment<\/em>. Once he read it, he immediately saw that video games\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0be a compelling written medium, and immediately signed on. You can see his\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0profile.<\/p>\n James Maranetette \u2013 Sound & Music<\/em><\/p>\n James is a talented musician, composer, and effects artist.\u00a0 We worked on some previous projects together.\u00a0 He went to Full Sail for game music composition. We\u2019re going for a soundtrack that reimagines the genre and turns heads\u2014like the\u00a0Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP<\/em>\u00a0soundtrack.\u00a0 He is also excited about all the interesting sound effects he can make for the magic and ambiance in the game.\u00a0 He lives in Portland, Oregon.\u00a0You can listen to his tracks\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n Nic Biondi \u2013 Game Mechanics & Coding<\/em><\/p>\n Nic is an indie game dev at Soulareus who is currently working on\u00a0Hard Lander<\/a><\/em>\u00a0a competitive physics-based four-player game. Nic is all about iterative development and game mechanics.\u00a0 He is helping to ensure that each subsystem of\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>\u00a0is fun on its own and fits within the whole.\u00a0 When I need help with unity or coding, Nic is my \u201cgo to\u201d guy.<\/p>\n Michael Uzdavines \u2013 Game design, Coding<\/em><\/p>\n Michael is an indie game dev working on the 3D action strategy game,\u00a0Heroes of Issachar<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 A long-time PC and console gamer, Michael is who I go to for brainstorming and as a sounding board for\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>\u00a0features. When I need help with Unity or coding, I also turn to Michael.<\/p>\n Rick Grossenbacher \u2013 User Interface<\/em><\/p>\n As already mentioned, Rick is a game industry veteran who has worked on over 30 titles across PC, mobile, and console systems.\u00a0 He’s a fan of\u00a0Dragonlance<\/em>\u00a0and had the opportunity to work with the famousDragonlance<\/em>\u00a0artist\u00a0Jeff Easly<\/a>\u00a0at one of the studios.\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>\u00a0is UI-heavy and expands the idea of what a UI can and should be.\u00a0 Rick is excited for the challenge.\u00a0 You can visit Rick’s online portfolio\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n Rob Cook \u2013 Website<\/em><\/p>\n Rob has been building websites since before there were websites. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 He’s a CSS\/HTML\/Javascript wizard\u2014and even though I used to build websites for a living, I just defer to him because he knows so much more than I ever will.\u00a0 Rob helped work his magic to take my concept for the\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>\u00a0website and make it a reality.\u00a0 Check out Rob\u2019s portfolio at his company site,\u00a0Sudymo Web Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n Darryl Spratt \u2013 Graphic Design<\/em><\/p>\n Darryl is a fellow Canadian who went to school for graphic and game design.\u00a0He has worked in the game industry and focuses on design and UI.\u00a0I worked with Darryl before on a few projects and I\u2019ve always been impressed with his work.\u00a0 Darryl made the\u00a0Archmage<\/em>\u00a0logo . . . twice. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I was super happy with the first one, but the consensus was that it wasn’t “hardcore” enough.\u00a0 So he outdid himself making a second one.\u00a0 You can see his portfolio\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n Which do you like best?<\/em><\/p>\n And finally, I’m currently in discussions with a former AI programmer at Blizzard.\u00a0 His GDC talk made an impression on me, and we\u2019re currently discussing how he can help with the NPC AI.<\/p>\n Like any other major artistic endeavor, there is an entire team behind the scenes bringing\u00a0Archmage Rises<\/em>to life.\u00a0 I may be the band\u2019s frontman, but we wouldn\u2019t be jamming like this without the raw talent of the professionals mentioned in the lines above.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.15rounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Pacquiao_team_bus_110502_001a.jpg\")
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