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HARVEY
SMITH, Game
Designer
mailto:witchboy@ionstorm.com
SUMMARY OF
EXPERIENCE
Drawn into
the entertainment software industry by a long-term interest in video
games, I have played a role in the development of a number of computer
games. Positions I’ve held range from game tester to project director. I
have been responsible for generating creative/technical materials, leading
others involved in diverse aspects of the development process and acting
as qualitative judge for the overall project. I enjoy working with teams
of dedicated people, pursuing creative and technical excellence in a field
for which I have great passion.
GAME
PROJECTS
Project Director
, Deus Ex 2, Ionstorm Austin
The sequel to the award-winning
Deus Ex. Published by Eidos.
Lead
Designer, Deus Ex, Ionstorm Austin
A
first-person-perspective RPG. Published by Eidos. DX was a hybrid game,
allowing the player to customize his experience through strategic and
play-style choices. As one of the key people guiding the project, I worked
closely with Chris Norden (Lead Programmer) and Warren Spector (Director)
for over 2 years to complete DX. During this time, I managed the design
team, worked on over-arching game systems and mechanics, created
plot/mission concepts and worked on many of the games 3D maps.
Lead
Designer, FireTeam, Multitude, Inc.
An Internet
-only tactical squad game featuring real-time voice communications between
players. The game/project was very focused, relying on fundamental video
game elements to make it fun and addictive. Our goal in developing
FireTeam was to create an exciting game environment in which team play was
rewarded. We wanted players to feel like part of an online community. One
of the greatest challenges regarding this project was the Internet itself:
latency was constantly an issue. The human interaction aspects of the game
and the community were also challenging. My responsibilities included high
level game design, scoring systems, character/weapon differentiation, game
mechanics engineering, map/level creation and lobby/interface design. I
also assisted the art staff with concepts and ideas, worked with the audio
engineer to generate concepts for sound effects and music and implemented
various low level game changes (game data, art, sound, maps, etc).
Overall, working on FireTeam and being at Multitude (a start-up company)
was a great learning experience.
Project
Director/Designer, Technosaur, EA (Origin)
Technosaur
was one of the most positive educational experiences of my life. It grew
out of a relationship with several other developers who wanted to create a
great strategy game. We put together the game's design doc, schedules and
technical development plan, then underwent a series of Origin/EA project
reviews. We were approved for development and worked on the game for 12
months, but eventually, due to company-wide financial upheavals, the
project was canceled. Still, the education I received from this project
was phenomenal and I have carried its lessons with me into subsequent
game-making efforts.
Associate
Producer, Cybermage, EA (Origin)/David W. Bradley
Brought
onto this project midway through its development, I was given the
responsibility for handling the day-to-day relations with David W.
Bradley, creator of the award winning fantasy role-playing game Wizardry
VII. I worked directly for (Executive Producer) Warren Spector during this
project.
QA
Lead Tester, Ultima VIII: Pagan (patch to v2.12), EA
(Origin)
This
re-release project was not planned (or budgeted for) by OSI. But, deciding
that the released version of Ultima VIII: Pagan did not meet the standards
of Origin or the expectations of Ultima fans, I personally crusaded for a
patch until the idea picked up enough support and momentum to get
underway. Once this was accomplished, I worked with designers and
programmers from the original U8 project team to create fixes for over a
hundred flaws within the game. This resulted in a major improvement in the
overall estimation of U8's quality, a positive re-review by game critic
Scorpia and a second release of the game as a 'Publisher's Choice'
package.
QA
Lead Tester, System Shock CD, EA (Origin)/Looking Glass
During this
project, I coordinated the efforts of the Origin QA team, acted as liaison
to the out-of-house developer and wrote most of the fiction in the SS
play-guide. Incredibly immersive, System Shock won the following awards
(from various industry publications): 1994 Single Character RPG of the
Year, Best Action Category for CGW's Premier Award, Best Adventure Game
for 1994, Best Adventure Game--Readers' Choice Awards and Top 50 Games of
All Times (#29).
QA
Assistant Lead Tester, System Shock, EA (Origin)/Looking
Glass
As System
Shock APL, I redefined Origin's notions of QA's involvement in the
development process. Acting on my own initiative, I restructured the SS QA
team, creating liaison roles to the Translations and Creative Services
departments. Origin’s QA department subsequently adopted these roles as
standard procedure. I also took it upon myself to aggressively pursue the
advertisement and support of the game via on-line mediums. My actions were
later adopted as part of the Marketing On-line Checklist process at
Origin.
QA
Play-tester, Super Wing Commander 3DO, EA (Origin)
This was my
first role in the industry. During this time, four other team members and
I worked extraordinary hours to test the first 3DO game that Origin ever
published, a conversion and upgrade of Wing Commander I and II to the 3DO
format.
TOOLS
Various 3d game editing packages
(UnrealEd, Worldcraft)
Various 2d game editing packages
CoolEdit
Audio File Editor
Adobe PhotoShop and various art programs
Various
high-level proprietary scripting languages
MS Office Apps (Excel, Word,
Power Point)
Various HTML Editors
FREELANCE
PUBLICATIONS
My game design articles have appeared on industry
publications (including Gamasutra.com and Chris Crawford's Interactive
Entertainment Design). My novella, "Aces and Eights," appeared in issue #6
of Amberzine. I was an English major with the University of Maryland's
European Division, and I contributed short stories to their literary
magazine (The Gathering) that were subsequently used as material for
student analysis.
AWARDS
IGDA 2001
-- Excellence in Design (Deus Ex)
IGDA 2001 -- Spotlight Award (Deus
Ex)
AIAS 2001 -- PC Action/Adventure GotY (Deus Ex)
AIAS 2001 -- PC
Innovation in Gaming (Deus Ex)
IEA (BAFTA) 2000 -- PC Game of the Year
(Deus Ex)
Origin Manager of the Year Nominee, 1996
Origin QA
Employee of the Month, October 1994
Origin Unsung Hero of the Year,
1994
REFERENCES
Steve
Powers, Senior Designer, ION Storm Austin
Mike Grajeda, CEO,
ClearCommerce Corporation
Warren Spector, Exec Producer, Ionstorm
Austin
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