Summary
I've been a Lead Designer, Developer / Production
Manager 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 Taiwan
business consultant, writer and ghost writer for many years now, also
contributing game development articles to industry books and gaming web
sites. Also I'm currently writing a book on game production procedures
for a well known US book publisher, out in 2008. (MagicByDzn@hotmail.com)
Published Games Worked On:
* Midway Game Party, Wii.
* Pinball Hall Of Fame: The Williams Collection, PS2/PSP/Wii.
* Hard Rock Casino, PSP/PS2.
* Scarface, PSP (Sony Greatest Hits)
* Daxter, PSP (Sony Greatest Hits)
* Gauntlet Seven Sorrows, PS2.
* Army Men Sarges War, X-Box/Game Cube.
* Maximo Ghost to Glory, PS2. - (Sony Greatest Hits)
* Abes Oddysee, PSX. (Sony 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.
* More!
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, including setup.
* Experience rewriting company marketing bio’s.
* Experience managing trade show meeting scheduling.
* Lots of experience working with the press.
* Sculptor and Artist.
* Industry Writer.
Specialties:
* Extensive industry knowledge in
development and publishing.
* Developed more than 50+ project GDD’s.
* Designed well over two hundred game play 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 3D experience using Studio Max & Maya.
* Past experience in 6502/ 68000 assembly, some C++.
(Privately Held; 11-50
employees; Computer Software industry)
April 2007 – Present ( 9 months)
* Project
Producer, Midway's Game Party, Wii Title.
* Assistant Producer, Williams Pinball Classics, PS2, PSP & Wii
Title.
* Design coordinator/ designer.
* 3D Environmental designer.
* Game Writer.
* FarSight’s Pinball Hardware Engineer.
(Privately Held; 11-50
employees; Computer Games industry)
April 2006 – April 2007 (1 year 1 month)
* Development
assistant to Director.
* Assistant Producer / Designer Hard Rock Casino.
* Assistant Producer / Level Designer Scarface.
* Assistant Producer / Charlie Browns All Stars Baseball.
* Design coordinator/ designer.
* 3D Environmental designer.
* Scenario, tutorial development.
* Text localization.
* Help with product research.
* FarSight’s Pinball Hardware Engineer.
William has 2
recommendations (2 co-workers) including:
View recommendations
(Privately Held; 11-50
employees; Entertainment industry)
September 2004 – March 2005 ( 7 months)
* Game Designer on
Daxter for Sony PSP.
* Responsible for level design.
* Character A.I and Design Coordination.
* Designed mini-online game system.
William has 1 recommendation
(1 co-worker) including:
View recommendations
(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.
William has 2
recommendations (1 manager, 1 co-worker) including:
-
eiko oba, Animator, Jailed Games, Inc.
-
Daryl Pitts, President/Executive Producer, Jailed Games,
Inc.
(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.
(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.
William has 2
recommendations (1 co-worker, 1 client) including:
(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.
William has 1 recommendation
(1 co-worker) including:
(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.
(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)
William has 2
recommendations (1 report, 1 co-worker) including:
(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 (3.5K 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.
William has 4
recommendations (1 manager, 2 co-workers, 1 partner) including:
(Privately Held; 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.
(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.
(Privately Held; 11-50
employees; Computer Software industry)
January 1983 – July 1983 ( 7 months)
* Designer/
Programmer of Diamond Hunter for Atari 8-Bit.
“Will's enthusiasm for this industry and his work
comes through on a daily basis. Even though his lengthy experience
would warrant wanting to approach tasks on his own, he is always
welcoming to new ideas and collaboration. His creativity and
detailed organization are much appreciated and I thoroughly enjoy
working with him.” September 11, 2006
Craig Alexander, Lead Artist, Farsight Studios
worked directly with William at FarSight Studios
“I've worked with Will for a while now and he has
proven to be a valuable asset to the company. He has lots of game
design experience and has excellent presentation and organizational
skills. I'd highly recommend him.” August 21,
2006
Chris Kline, Senior 3d Artist / Audio Engineer, Farsight
Studios
worked with William at FarSight Studios
“Will carries with him a lot of insight from a
design and industry perspective, having extensive experience since
the 16-bit era of platform video gaming. He masterful with fun
underlying and progressive gameplay mechanics which was extremely
valuable during the development of Daxter. It was a pleasure working
with him.” September 2, 2006
Daniel Choe, Game Designer, Ready At Dawn Studios
worked directly with William at Ready at Dawn Studios
“He is very experienced and enthusiastic about
work. I was really impressed by all 2D level design and flowchart
and documentation he has done and they are very organized and well
structured. Not only coming up with cool ideas but also knowing how
it would be executed. He is matured and realiable, very easy to work
with!” August 30, 2006
eiko oba, Animator, Jailed Games, Inc.
worked indirectly for William at Jailed Games, Inc.
“Very enjoyable to work with. Wide breadth of
experience with 2D map and 3D game design. Remarkable attention to
detail in overhead map design work. Keen understanding of game
marketing principles and product positioning.”
February 3, 2006
Daryl Pitts, President/Executive Producer, Jailed Games,
Inc.
managed William at Jailed Games, Inc.
“Bill was contracted to do our papermaps on
Sarge’s War, I was so impressed I pushed management to pay extra and
bring him in to teach all of our level designers his techniques. The
detail and clarity of design he conveyed was inspiring and has
changed how I've done level concepts since.”
September 6, 2006
Steven Goodale, Designer, 3DO
was William's client
“I worked with Bill on Eagle Claw and found him
to be creative, well organized and proactive. I would work with Bill
again in a heartbeat.” March 31, 2006
Susan Manley, Consultant, Consultant
worked directly with William at Eagle Claw Studios
“Working with William was a pleasure. He always
managed to communicate complex game design concepts to the
engineering department allowing us to more easily implement his
visions. His positive attitude and passion for his work was a great
asset to our team while creating the Maximo game franchise.”
February 22, 2007
Keith Weatherly, Senior Software Engineer, Capcom
worked directly with William at Capcom Digital Studios
“I collaborated with Will as a team co-lead and
thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of visualizing his fresh, inventive
design concepts. His passion and commitment to creating a high
quality, engaging gameplay experience made him a pleasure to work
with.” June 6, 2007
Phil Trumbo, Art Director, Alexandria Digital Studio
worked directly with William at Alexandria, Inc. / Oddworld
“If anyone is a mentor to me in this industry,
it's Bill Anderson. He took the time to give this "sprite monkey" a
shot at working in game design and I will always be thankful for it.
He generously taught me many of the foundations of game design and
skills that I use to this day. I had the pleasure of working with
Bill for several years, not only at Alexandria, but also Namco and
Capcom where he was instrumental in team building and creatively
leading the teams that created several top-selling games. But
leadership skills aside, his most important trait is that he loves
games. Whether as a manager or "down in the trenches", Bill is a
strong asset to any game production team.” May 7,
2007
Scott Rogers, Artist, Alexandria Inc.
reported to William at Alexandria, Inc. / Oddworld
“Bill thinks clearly and communicates well. He
quickly understood the limitations of our tUME map editor software,
and he was able to communicate his feature requests clearly and
concisely. By implementing his requests we were able to improve our
product for all our customers. Thanks Bill!”
February 25, 2007
Dan Chang, Managing Partner, Echidna
was a consultant or contractor to William at Virgin Games
“He had show a great passion for his work and
took total responsiblity for the projects he would be involved in as
a Sr. Lead Designer. I had the pleasure of not only working with
him, but learning from one of the best game designers of the
generation. He was imaginative, creative and worked on a high level
of professionalism while at Virgin Games.”
February 15, 2007
Julian A.Moran, Owner, MonkeyJAVA Studio
worked directly with William at Virgin Games
“Worked with Bill back in the early 90's at
Virgin Games in Irvine, California. We won numerous awards for our
work, at that time he was our main level design & layout dude!
Amazing work.” February 14, 2007
David Perry, Team Leader / Lead Programmer / Game Designer,
VIRGIN GAMES INC.
managed William indirectly at Virgin Games
“Back in 1991, as we were developing our internal
studios at Virgin Interactive, we decided to look for full-time game
designers. It might be hard to believe, but most game design in 1991
was done by programmers and artists. I don't remember how, but Bill
showed up with a game design he had done in a notebook. It was for
an RPG game ... but we were looking for a level designer for a Super
NES platform game. Because of Bill's great looking RPG design, and
incredible enthusiasm, we decided to give him a shot at the level
design for Cool Spot. Needless to say, Bill's work was not only
terrific, but really pioneering as well. He also did most of the
level design in Disney's Aladdin for Sega Genesis, which I believe
is still one of the top 10 best selling games of all time on a
single platform. Bill worked with new tools, developed processes and
approaches, and worked with our art director and programmers
(particularly Dave Perry) to help define a production process that
was probably (I say in all modesty) the most efficient in the world
at that time. Bill has tremendous enthusiasm for game design and a
real desire to create quality products and I heartily endorse him as
a game designer, both from a high-level point of view, and from a
detailed implementation point of view.” February
13, 2007
Stephen Clarke-Willson, Vice President, Worldwide Product
Development, Virgin Interactive
managed William at Virgin Games
Additional
Information
Honors and Awards:
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)
|