08 December 2008
A Gamer Goes to “The Darkest of Days”
By Bill Wadleigh
Information and communications technologies have been among the nation’s most rapidly expanding and dynamic industries in recent decades. A producer of video games explains how he rode the wave from TV to MMORPGs and FPS’s – and if you don’t know what they are, read on.
Bill Wadleigh is vice president of gaming at Phantom EFX, a developer of casino games and video games for both personal computers and next-generation consoles.
I’ve always been a gamer. Back when I was a teenager, I played a Star Trek game on a college mainframe computer. But that was 1975, when few people were even dreaming that computers would become a home appliance, much less that somebody could have a career making games for computers. So I was at college, majoring in television production. My secret ambition was to be the director of the CBS Evening News [a respected U.S. television network]. Well, that didn’t work out, and I don’t regret it at all!
Television was a good place to learn a lot of skills that helped me do other things on down the line. My first jobs were at universities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, producing video versions of classroom instruction. After a few years, I became very skilled at working on complex technical projects where you juggle a lot of elements – camera operators, talent, content, a schedule, and a budget.
I like to say, when you are good at pushing buttons, they make you king of the button pushers. I was promoted and became responsible for managing the projects rather than actually creating them. I learned how to deliver programs on time and on budget.
In 1994 I took all these acquired skills, headed in a new direction, and changed careers. It was the time of the Internet “bubble,” a time when everyone and their grandmother was coming up with ideas to make a million dollars on the Internet.
A friend told me there was an opening for a project manager at a bleeding-edge [ahead of its time] technology company called VR-1 Entertainment. The company started as an ISP, an Internet service provider, one of many during the early-Internet era. Each ISP was trying to entice more subscribers by developing exclusive features to make their service better than the competition. VR-1 had a games division, but they had no one with experience managing complex technical projects. That’s where I came in. Having been a big gamer all my life and knowing a little HTML programming and a lot about managing complex projects, I got the job.
It was a start-up company, so it was a high-risk, high-reward situation. It might have led to a windfall financial gain, but, at the very least, it was an opportunity to make video games. So I left a safe career path and jumped into this brand-new thing. It was a little scary to make all these changes, sure. My wife had just given birth to our son, and that’s a time in life when “normal” people settle down and stay put in their careers. But I am often reminded of a saying that describes my career experiences and path: “A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” (William G.T. Shedd, 19th-century American theologian and author)
The world of video games in 1994 was completely different than today. Everquest ®, World of Warcraft ®, and the other common massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) were only risky ideas, not the huge successes they are today. The challenge in making online games was to make small, downloadable games, with high replayability and a social component so players could chat with one another.VR-1 had a tool called Conductor, which allowed hundreds of players around the world to play together in a single game. Today this is normal, but in the days of the 9600 baud dial-up modem, it was truly a breakthrough that gave the company its competitive edge.
I served as the producer for VR-1 Crossroads and later worked on Fighter Ace 1.5 for Microsoft, a series of e-mail games for Hasbro Interactive, and an Xbox launch title. Then the company went the way of so many that sprang on the scene during the dot-com bubble. It downsized and scrambled for survival but eventually closed.
After leaving VR-1 in 2000, I worked for some of the biggest corporate players in the gaming industry. I worked in several roles as I was promoted from producer to director of game studios for slot machines, gambling devices, and online gaming. All told, I was responsible for nearly 100 different games that made millions of dollars for the companies. Along the way, I also became a patented inventor of new gaming ideas and products.
In 2007, I joined Phantom EFX in Cedar Falls, Iowa. I lead an international team of artists and computer programmers making video games. We develop casual entertainment, one of the largest growth areas in the software world. We make card games, poker, slots, and table games.
My first project here is a First Person Shooter (FPS) Darkest of Days for PC and Xbox 360 that will be released in early 2009. It’s another technological challenge for me, working with a new team using a new, custom-built graphics engine to make a state-of-the-art game. I use all the skills, experiences, and tricks I have learned in this job. I am in my element.
I have been riding technology all the way. For me, the exciting thing about the road I’ve taken is to work on products that are just on the other side of the horizon. I found my dream job; it just took me a couple of decades to get here.
