For our second installment of Volition Developer Bios, we've gathered together a few more people which help turn Red Faction: Guerrilla from a dream into a reality. This time around, we've got a well known face and interviewee, a die-hard level designer, and the individual responsible for the contest. We'll be featuring many other departments from within the walls at Volition, so be on the lookout and hopefully you'll find out some interesting tidbits along the way. In the future, we'll also be asking the community inside the forums if they have any general questions about a certain department or individual which they would like to know. We'll begin today with...
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Sean Kennedy - Associate Producer
Born and raised on the beach in Southern California, Sean got his start in the industry in 2000 at Electronic Arts San Diego as an Assistant Producer, while in college working towards a career in politics and law. Needless to say a career in gaming won. After the closure of EASD, Sean went on to work for both Sammy Studios and Rockstar San Diego before making his big move to Champaign, IL for Volition. Sean is excited to serve as an Associate Producer on Red Faction: Guerrilla. Some of Sean’s previous titles include: Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Triple Play Baseball, and other EA Sports/EA.com titles; Seven Samuari 20XX, Spy Fiction, and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition. In his free time he likes to hang out with friends, go to movies, play games, kayak, and travel.
So Sean, what games are you currently playing?
Wow, what am I not currently playing is a better question. This time of year has such a huge and diverse release list, I am spreading myself thin trying to play a lot of games. A small breakdown of what I am bouncing between, by system of course:
Xbox 360® - Tomb Raider Underworld, Saints Row 2, and Bioshock. Yeah, still trying to finish BioShock; it not being done is a good sign that I play too many games.
Wii - de Blob (amazing and addictive game), Sonic Unleashed (it's been years...finally a good console Sonic game), No More Heroes (everyone should own it), and Tak and the Guardians of Gross.
NDS - Guitar Hero On Tour, Viva Pinata, Call of Duty World At War
PSP - Crazy Taxi Fare Wars, Loco Roco, and Patapon.
I play a lot of games, probably too many at once but with so many great games out there its hard to resist playing them right away. I hate waiting. |
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Matt Boynton - Level Design Coordinator
Back in the early 90s, when level editors started to become available to the general public, Matt started making levels on his own games like Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Quake 2, Half-Life and Unreal. The end result was a portfolio of playable single player and multi-player that allowed him to get his foot in the door and get a job in the industry working on the critically acclaimed System Shock 2. After that, he found his way out to the Midwest and Volition where has worked on Red Faction, Red Faction 2, The Punisher and finally Red Faction: Guerrilla.
In his spare time, Matt enjoys reading Warhammer 40K novels, playing guitar, and of course playing games.
What are your top 5 games (no particular order)? "Impossible Mission (C64), City of Heroes, Fantasy General, Quake, Advance Wars."
Favorite Food? "Bacon."
Best advice to give? "Play all the games you can get your hands on. Play games in genres you normally wouldn’t play, just to see what they’re about. Mechanics that work in one genre can be applicable to the other. Watch your friends play games and ask them what they liked or didn’t like about them. Make your own playable games, no matter how simple they may be. A design doc is worth the paper it’s printed on. You really don’t know what will be fun (or not) until you’ve got a playable example."
What made you want to be in the industry? "I love to see people have fun playing games I’ve worked on. I started making levels for old school FPS like “Doom” as a hobby and found it was something I really enjoyed doing."
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John Epp - Senior Designer
After 10 years of doing jobs ranging from sales, to pizza delivery, John put his considerable skill and passion as an amateur level designer to use by joining an upstart game company in Seattle at the turn of the century and hasn’t looked back since. Moving around the country from the Midwest to Seattle, then California and back again to the Midwest. John has now settled back into the Midwest lifestyle enjoying home theater, video games, BBQ, and swaying corn.
What games are you currently playing outside of RFG? I am currently playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Fable 2, Left 4 Dead, and of course Saints Row 2.
Favorite Quote? “It is what it is”
Favorite Food? “Steak, preferably Cowboy Cut Ribeye, 48 oz. Rare to Medium Rare, Prime, dry aged at least 30 days”
Best advice to give? “Hard work pays off. Don’t cut corners and be passionate about what you do.”
What made you want to be in the industry? “Wolfenstein 3D. Once I played that I wanted to learn how to do that. It went from there." |
More coming soon so make sure to check the front page often!
