Meet Michael Morlan!
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English
Today we welcome aboard Michael Morlan, who will be working out of Cloud Imperium Games Austin on a lot of our video projects, among other things! If you’d like to ask him a question be sure to join the inaugural Wingman’s Basement broadcast this Friday, where he’ll be taking calls. Here’s his Q&A:
How did you get started in the game industry?
I backed into developing games, actually. In the late 80’s, I was working as a programmer/analyst for CRSS, a large architectural firm in Houston when they decided to jump into 3D animation in a big way – I mean $100K Silicon Graphics workstations and $50K-a-seat Wavefront Advanced Visualizer software. I had an amateur experience with photography and was playing with the crude 3D software of the time and so was tapped to head the new Advanced Visualization Lab. When CRSS ran into financial challenges during a downturn in the early 90’s, I spent a couple years doing freelance broadcast graphics with my little Silicon Graphics Indigo and a Mac IIe. Around ’95, as I was rethinking my career path, my Mom mailed a job section of the Houston Chronicle to me (as Mom’s are want to do) and I found this little ad for a company in Austin named Origin Systems. I over-nighted my demo reel and received a call to come up and interview the next afternoon. After a lunch with Richard Garriott and Beverly Garland and the usual “beauty parade” round of interviews, I received an offer to come up to Austin and work on Ultima IX: Ascension. But, before I could get seriously into that, the Crusader: No Remorse team was under the gun with a release date looming and didn’t have any cinematics yet. My first major assignment was writing, animating (with the fabulous Denis Loubet) and editing the opening flic and several interstitial flics.You’ve also worked in film – what has that entailed? While I was at Origin Systems, I spent my spare time with independent film study, a seminar or two, shot a whole lot of short films, and started collecting the tools of the trade – lighting, camera gear, etc. I was working with Eric Peterson for Gizmondo when that whole house-of-cards collapsed. So, I hung out my cinematographer shingle and went to work full-time freelance. In that time I managed to work on fifteen feature films – none of which you will have seen in a theater – dozens of short films, scads of commercials and corporate pieces, and the occasional music video. You can check out my work at talltalepictures.com.What will you be doing for Cloud Imperium? “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Eric, an old high-school theater buddy, a compatriot at Origin Systems, and my boss at Fever Pitch/Warthog/Gizmondo, called me a month ago and asked me to be the Wingman’s wingman. (I guess that makes me the man, behind the man, behind the man.) My official titles are Media Producer and Project Manager. I’ll be helping create the many forms of video and visual communication with our backers and fans, and empowering the dev team to build a production schedule and deliver on it.
What are you most excited to see in Star Citizen/Squadron 42? The first game I played, upon becoming a game developer back in ’95, was Tie Fighter Wars with my newly-purchased Pentium 90 PC. What a thrill! I’ve always had a penchant for space opera, from the novels of Stephen Baxter and Greg Bear, to recent film and TV fare like “Firefly”, “Serenity” and the “Battlestar Galactica” reboot. I’d love to see a game that creates a world of challenging relationships and resonant heroic journeys – whether ferrying trade goods through hostile territory like Malcolm Reynolds and his crew, or strapping myself into a top-level gunship like Apollo and Starbuck.
Are you a gamer? What are you playing right now?
I just returned to Half-Life 2 last week. I never got to finish that game. I have several first-person shooters lined up including Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, and the latest Deus Ex. Oh! And, I look forward to a smacktardin’ round of Battlefield 1942 with my mates here in the office!
How did you get started in the game industry?
I backed into developing games, actually. In the late 80’s, I was working as a programmer/analyst for CRSS, a large architectural firm in Houston when they decided to jump into 3D animation in a big way – I mean $100K Silicon Graphics workstations and $50K-a-seat Wavefront Advanced Visualizer software. I had an amateur experience with photography and was playing with the crude 3D software of the time and so was tapped to head the new Advanced Visualization Lab. When CRSS ran into financial challenges during a downturn in the early 90’s, I spent a couple years doing freelance broadcast graphics with my little Silicon Graphics Indigo and a Mac IIe. Around ’95, as I was rethinking my career path, my Mom mailed a job section of the Houston Chronicle to me (as Mom’s are want to do) and I found this little ad for a company in Austin named Origin Systems. I over-nighted my demo reel and received a call to come up and interview the next afternoon. After a lunch with Richard Garriott and Beverly Garland and the usual “beauty parade” round of interviews, I received an offer to come up to Austin and work on Ultima IX: Ascension. But, before I could get seriously into that, the Crusader: No Remorse team was under the gun with a release date looming and didn’t have any cinematics yet. My first major assignment was writing, animating (with the fabulous Denis Loubet) and editing the opening flic and several interstitial flics.You’ve also worked in film – what has that entailed? While I was at Origin Systems, I spent my spare time with independent film study, a seminar or two, shot a whole lot of short films, and started collecting the tools of the trade – lighting, camera gear, etc. I was working with Eric Peterson for Gizmondo when that whole house-of-cards collapsed. So, I hung out my cinematographer shingle and went to work full-time freelance. In that time I managed to work on fifteen feature films – none of which you will have seen in a theater – dozens of short films, scads of commercials and corporate pieces, and the occasional music video. You can check out my work at talltalepictures.com.What will you be doing for Cloud Imperium? “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Eric, an old high-school theater buddy, a compatriot at Origin Systems, and my boss at Fever Pitch/Warthog/Gizmondo, called me a month ago and asked me to be the Wingman’s wingman. (I guess that makes me the man, behind the man, behind the man.) My official titles are Media Producer and Project Manager. I’ll be helping create the many forms of video and visual communication with our backers and fans, and empowering the dev team to build a production schedule and deliver on it.
What are you most excited to see in Star Citizen/Squadron 42? The first game I played, upon becoming a game developer back in ’95, was Tie Fighter Wars with my newly-purchased Pentium 90 PC. What a thrill! I’ve always had a penchant for space opera, from the novels of Stephen Baxter and Greg Bear, to recent film and TV fare like “Firefly”, “Serenity” and the “Battlestar Galactica” reboot. I’d love to see a game that creates a world of challenging relationships and resonant heroic journeys – whether ferrying trade goods through hostile territory like Malcolm Reynolds and his crew, or strapping myself into a top-level gunship like Apollo and Starbuck.
Are you a gamer? What are you playing right now?
I just returned to Half-Life 2 last week. I never got to finish that game. I have several first-person shooters lined up including Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, and the latest Deus Ex. Oh! And, I look forward to a smacktardin’ round of Battlefield 1942 with my mates here in the office!
German
Heute begrüßen wir Michael Morlan an Bord, der von Cloud Imperium Games Austin an vielen unserer Videoprojekte arbeiten wird, unter anderem! Wenn Sie ihm eine Frage stellen möchten, nehmen Sie an der ersten Sendung Wingman's Basement diesen Freitag teil, wo er Anrufe entgegennehmen wird. Hier ist seine Frage und Antwort:
Wie bist du in der Spieleindustrie gestartet?
Ich habe mich auf die Entwicklung von Spielen konzentriert. In den späten 80er Jahren arbeitete ich als Programmierer/Analytiker für CRSS, ein großes Architekturbüro in Houston, als sie sich entschieden, in großem Stil in die 3D-Animation einzusteigen - ich meine 100.000 $ Silicon Graphics Workstations und 50.000 $ Wavefront Advanced Visualizer Software. Ich hatte eine Amateurerfahrung mit der Fotografie und spielte mit der groben 3D-Software der damaligen Zeit und wurde deshalb als Leiter des neuen Advanced Visualization Lab angezapft. Als CRSS während eines Abschwungs in den frühen 90er Jahren in finanzielle Schwierigkeiten geriet, verbrachte ich einige Jahre damit, freiberufliche Broadcast-Grafiken mit meinem kleinen Silicon Graphics Indigo und einem Mac IIe zu erstellen. Um 95 herum, als ich meinen Karriereweg überdenkte, schickte mir meine Mutter einen Jobabschnitt des Houston Chronicle (wie es Mamas wollen) und ich fand diese kleine Anzeige für eine Firma in Austin namens Origin Systems. Ich habe meine Demo-Rolle überbewertet und erhielt einen Anruf, um am nächsten Nachmittag zum Interview zu kommen. Nach einem Mittagessen mit Richard Garriott und Beverly Garland und der üblichen Interviewrunde "beauty parade" erhielt ich das Angebot, nach Austin zu kommen und an Ultima IX zu arbeiten: Aufstieg. Aber, bevor ich mich ernsthaft damit befassen konnte, der Kreuzritter: Kein Remorse-Team stand unter Beschuss, ein Release-Termin stand bevor und hatte noch keine Kinofilme. Mein erster großer Auftrag war das Schreiben, Animieren (mit dem fabelhaften Denis Loubet) und Schneiden des Eröffnungsfilms und mehrerer interstitieller Fliks. Du hast auch im Film gearbeitet - was hat das mit sich gebracht? Während meiner Zeit bei Origin Systems verbrachte ich meine Freizeit mit einem unabhängigen Filmstudium, einem oder zwei Seminaren, drehte eine ganze Reihe von Kurzfilmen und begann, die Werkzeuge des Handels zu sammeln - Beleuchtung, Kameraausrüstung, etc. Ich habe mit Eric Peterson für Gizmondo gearbeitet, als das ganze Kartenhaus zusammenbrach. Also habe ich mein Kameramann-Schild aufgehängt und bin Vollzeit-Freelancer geworden. In dieser Zeit gelang es mir, an fünfzehn Spielfilmen zu arbeiten - von denen keiner in einem Theater zu sehen sein wird - an Dutzenden von Kurzfilmen, einer Vielzahl von Werbespots und Firmenstücken und gelegentlichen Musikvideos. Du kannst dir meine Arbeit unter talltalepictures.com ansehen. Was wirst du für Cloud Imperium tun? "Gerade als ich dachte, ich wäre raus, ziehen sie mich wieder rein!" Eric, ein alter High-School-Theaterfreund, ein Landsmann bei Origin Systems und mein Chef bei Fever Pitch/Warthog/Gizmondo, rief mich vor einem Monat an und bat mich, der Flügelmann des Wingman zu sein. (Ich schätze, das macht mich zum Mann, hinter dem Mann, hinter dem Mann, hinter dem Mann.) Meine offiziellen Titel sind Medienproduzent und Projektmanager. Ich werde dabei helfen, die vielen Formen der Video- und visuellen Kommunikation mit unseren Geldgebern und Fans zu gestalten, und das Entwicklungsteam in die Lage versetzen, einen Produktionsplan zu erstellen und umzusetzen.
Was freut dich am meisten in Star Citizen/Squadron 42 zu sehen? Das erste Spiel, das ich spielte, nachdem ich 95 als Spieleentwickler tätig war, war Tie Fighter Wars mit meinem neu erworbenen Pentium 90 PC. Was für ein Nervenkitzel! Ich hatte schon immer ein Faible für Weltraumoper, von den Romanen von Stephen Baxter und Greg Bear bis hin zu aktuellen Film- und Fernsehpreisen wie "Firefly", "Serenity" und dem Neustart von "Battlestar Galactica". Ich würde gerne ein Spiel sehen, das eine Welt voller herausfordernder Beziehungen und heroischer Reisen schafft - ob es nun darum geht, Handelsgüter durch feindliches Gebiet wie Malcolm Reynolds und seine Crew zu transportieren oder sich in ein hochkarätiges Kampfschiff wie Apollo und Starbuck zu stürzen.
Bist du ein Spieler? Was spielst du gerade?
Ich bin erst letzte Woche zu Half-Life 2 zurückgekehrt. Ich konnte das Spiel nie beenden. Ich habe mehrere First-Person-Shooter aufgestellt, darunter Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Dishonored und die neueste Deus Ex. Oh! Und ich freue mich auf eine knallharte Runde Battlefield 1942 mit meinen Kumpels hier im Büro!
Wie bist du in der Spieleindustrie gestartet?
Ich habe mich auf die Entwicklung von Spielen konzentriert. In den späten 80er Jahren arbeitete ich als Programmierer/Analytiker für CRSS, ein großes Architekturbüro in Houston, als sie sich entschieden, in großem Stil in die 3D-Animation einzusteigen - ich meine 100.000 $ Silicon Graphics Workstations und 50.000 $ Wavefront Advanced Visualizer Software. Ich hatte eine Amateurerfahrung mit der Fotografie und spielte mit der groben 3D-Software der damaligen Zeit und wurde deshalb als Leiter des neuen Advanced Visualization Lab angezapft. Als CRSS während eines Abschwungs in den frühen 90er Jahren in finanzielle Schwierigkeiten geriet, verbrachte ich einige Jahre damit, freiberufliche Broadcast-Grafiken mit meinem kleinen Silicon Graphics Indigo und einem Mac IIe zu erstellen. Um 95 herum, als ich meinen Karriereweg überdenkte, schickte mir meine Mutter einen Jobabschnitt des Houston Chronicle (wie es Mamas wollen) und ich fand diese kleine Anzeige für eine Firma in Austin namens Origin Systems. Ich habe meine Demo-Rolle überbewertet und erhielt einen Anruf, um am nächsten Nachmittag zum Interview zu kommen. Nach einem Mittagessen mit Richard Garriott und Beverly Garland und der üblichen Interviewrunde "beauty parade" erhielt ich das Angebot, nach Austin zu kommen und an Ultima IX zu arbeiten: Aufstieg. Aber, bevor ich mich ernsthaft damit befassen konnte, der Kreuzritter: Kein Remorse-Team stand unter Beschuss, ein Release-Termin stand bevor und hatte noch keine Kinofilme. Mein erster großer Auftrag war das Schreiben, Animieren (mit dem fabelhaften Denis Loubet) und Schneiden des Eröffnungsfilms und mehrerer interstitieller Fliks. Du hast auch im Film gearbeitet - was hat das mit sich gebracht? Während meiner Zeit bei Origin Systems verbrachte ich meine Freizeit mit einem unabhängigen Filmstudium, einem oder zwei Seminaren, drehte eine ganze Reihe von Kurzfilmen und begann, die Werkzeuge des Handels zu sammeln - Beleuchtung, Kameraausrüstung, etc. Ich habe mit Eric Peterson für Gizmondo gearbeitet, als das ganze Kartenhaus zusammenbrach. Also habe ich mein Kameramann-Schild aufgehängt und bin Vollzeit-Freelancer geworden. In dieser Zeit gelang es mir, an fünfzehn Spielfilmen zu arbeiten - von denen keiner in einem Theater zu sehen sein wird - an Dutzenden von Kurzfilmen, einer Vielzahl von Werbespots und Firmenstücken und gelegentlichen Musikvideos. Du kannst dir meine Arbeit unter talltalepictures.com ansehen. Was wirst du für Cloud Imperium tun? "Gerade als ich dachte, ich wäre raus, ziehen sie mich wieder rein!" Eric, ein alter High-School-Theaterfreund, ein Landsmann bei Origin Systems und mein Chef bei Fever Pitch/Warthog/Gizmondo, rief mich vor einem Monat an und bat mich, der Flügelmann des Wingman zu sein. (Ich schätze, das macht mich zum Mann, hinter dem Mann, hinter dem Mann, hinter dem Mann.) Meine offiziellen Titel sind Medienproduzent und Projektmanager. Ich werde dabei helfen, die vielen Formen der Video- und visuellen Kommunikation mit unseren Geldgebern und Fans zu gestalten, und das Entwicklungsteam in die Lage versetzen, einen Produktionsplan zu erstellen und umzusetzen.
Was freut dich am meisten in Star Citizen/Squadron 42 zu sehen? Das erste Spiel, das ich spielte, nachdem ich 95 als Spieleentwickler tätig war, war Tie Fighter Wars mit meinem neu erworbenen Pentium 90 PC. Was für ein Nervenkitzel! Ich hatte schon immer ein Faible für Weltraumoper, von den Romanen von Stephen Baxter und Greg Bear bis hin zu aktuellen Film- und Fernsehpreisen wie "Firefly", "Serenity" und dem Neustart von "Battlestar Galactica". Ich würde gerne ein Spiel sehen, das eine Welt voller herausfordernder Beziehungen und heroischer Reisen schafft - ob es nun darum geht, Handelsgüter durch feindliches Gebiet wie Malcolm Reynolds und seine Crew zu transportieren oder sich in ein hochkarätiges Kampfschiff wie Apollo und Starbuck zu stürzen.
Bist du ein Spieler? Was spielst du gerade?
Ich bin erst letzte Woche zu Half-Life 2 zurückgekehrt. Ich konnte das Spiel nie beenden. Ich habe mehrere First-Person-Shooter aufgestellt, darunter Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Dishonored und die neueste Deus Ex. Oh! Und ich freue mich auf eine knallharte Runde Battlefield 1942 mit meinen Kumpels hier im Büro!
Chinese
Today we welcome aboard Michael Morlan, who will be working out of Cloud Imperium Games Austin on a lot of our video projects, among other things! If you’d like to ask him a question be sure to join the inaugural Wingman’s Basement broadcast this Friday, where he’ll be taking calls. Here’s his Q&A:
How did you get started in the game industry?
I backed into developing games, actually. In the late 80’s, I was working as a programmer/analyst for CRSS, a large architectural firm in Houston when they decided to jump into 3D animation in a big way – I mean $100K Silicon Graphics workstations and $50K-a-seat Wavefront Advanced Visualizer software. I had an amateur experience with photography and was playing with the crude 3D software of the time and so was tapped to head the new Advanced Visualization Lab. When CRSS ran into financial challenges during a downturn in the early 90’s, I spent a couple years doing freelance broadcast graphics with my little Silicon Graphics Indigo and a Mac IIe. Around ’95, as I was rethinking my career path, my Mom mailed a job section of the Houston Chronicle to me (as Mom’s are want to do) and I found this little ad for a company in Austin named Origin Systems. I over-nighted my demo reel and received a call to come up and interview the next afternoon. After a lunch with Richard Garriott and Beverly Garland and the usual “beauty parade” round of interviews, I received an offer to come up to Austin and work on Ultima IX: Ascension. But, before I could get seriously into that, the Crusader: No Remorse team was under the gun with a release date looming and didn’t have any cinematics yet. My first major assignment was writing, animating (with the fabulous Denis Loubet) and editing the opening flic and several interstitial flics.You’ve also worked in film – what has that entailed? While I was at Origin Systems, I spent my spare time with independent film study, a seminar or two, shot a whole lot of short films, and started collecting the tools of the trade – lighting, camera gear, etc. I was working with Eric Peterson for Gizmondo when that whole house-of-cards collapsed. So, I hung out my cinematographer shingle and went to work full-time freelance. In that time I managed to work on fifteen feature films – none of which you will have seen in a theater – dozens of short films, scads of commercials and corporate pieces, and the occasional music video. You can check out my work at talltalepictures.com.What will you be doing for Cloud Imperium? “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Eric, an old high-school theater buddy, a compatriot at Origin Systems, and my boss at Fever Pitch/Warthog/Gizmondo, called me a month ago and asked me to be the Wingman’s wingman. (I guess that makes me the man, behind the man, behind the man.) My official titles are Media Producer and Project Manager. I’ll be helping create the many forms of video and visual communication with our backers and fans, and empowering the dev team to build a production schedule and deliver on it.
What are you most excited to see in Star Citizen/Squadron 42? The first game I played, upon becoming a game developer back in ’95, was Tie Fighter Wars with my newly-purchased Pentium 90 PC. What a thrill! I’ve always had a penchant for space opera, from the novels of Stephen Baxter and Greg Bear, to recent film and TV fare like “Firefly”, “Serenity” and the “Battlestar Galactica” reboot. I’d love to see a game that creates a world of challenging relationships and resonant heroic journeys – whether ferrying trade goods through hostile territory like Malcolm Reynolds and his crew, or strapping myself into a top-level gunship like Apollo and Starbuck.
Are you a gamer? What are you playing right now?
I just returned to Half-Life 2 last week. I never got to finish that game. I have several first-person shooters lined up including Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, and the latest Deus Ex. Oh! And, I look forward to a smacktardin’ round of Battlefield 1942 with my mates here in the office!
How did you get started in the game industry?
I backed into developing games, actually. In the late 80’s, I was working as a programmer/analyst for CRSS, a large architectural firm in Houston when they decided to jump into 3D animation in a big way – I mean $100K Silicon Graphics workstations and $50K-a-seat Wavefront Advanced Visualizer software. I had an amateur experience with photography and was playing with the crude 3D software of the time and so was tapped to head the new Advanced Visualization Lab. When CRSS ran into financial challenges during a downturn in the early 90’s, I spent a couple years doing freelance broadcast graphics with my little Silicon Graphics Indigo and a Mac IIe. Around ’95, as I was rethinking my career path, my Mom mailed a job section of the Houston Chronicle to me (as Mom’s are want to do) and I found this little ad for a company in Austin named Origin Systems. I over-nighted my demo reel and received a call to come up and interview the next afternoon. After a lunch with Richard Garriott and Beverly Garland and the usual “beauty parade” round of interviews, I received an offer to come up to Austin and work on Ultima IX: Ascension. But, before I could get seriously into that, the Crusader: No Remorse team was under the gun with a release date looming and didn’t have any cinematics yet. My first major assignment was writing, animating (with the fabulous Denis Loubet) and editing the opening flic and several interstitial flics.You’ve also worked in film – what has that entailed? While I was at Origin Systems, I spent my spare time with independent film study, a seminar or two, shot a whole lot of short films, and started collecting the tools of the trade – lighting, camera gear, etc. I was working with Eric Peterson for Gizmondo when that whole house-of-cards collapsed. So, I hung out my cinematographer shingle and went to work full-time freelance. In that time I managed to work on fifteen feature films – none of which you will have seen in a theater – dozens of short films, scads of commercials and corporate pieces, and the occasional music video. You can check out my work at talltalepictures.com.What will you be doing for Cloud Imperium? “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Eric, an old high-school theater buddy, a compatriot at Origin Systems, and my boss at Fever Pitch/Warthog/Gizmondo, called me a month ago and asked me to be the Wingman’s wingman. (I guess that makes me the man, behind the man, behind the man.) My official titles are Media Producer and Project Manager. I’ll be helping create the many forms of video and visual communication with our backers and fans, and empowering the dev team to build a production schedule and deliver on it.
What are you most excited to see in Star Citizen/Squadron 42? The first game I played, upon becoming a game developer back in ’95, was Tie Fighter Wars with my newly-purchased Pentium 90 PC. What a thrill! I’ve always had a penchant for space opera, from the novels of Stephen Baxter and Greg Bear, to recent film and TV fare like “Firefly”, “Serenity” and the “Battlestar Galactica” reboot. I’d love to see a game that creates a world of challenging relationships and resonant heroic journeys – whether ferrying trade goods through hostile territory like Malcolm Reynolds and his crew, or strapping myself into a top-level gunship like Apollo and Starbuck.
Are you a gamer? What are you playing right now?
I just returned to Half-Life 2 last week. I never got to finish that game. I have several first-person shooters lined up including Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, and the latest Deus Ex. Oh! And, I look forward to a smacktardin’ round of Battlefield 1942 with my mates here in the office!
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- 12841
- Channel
- Undefined
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- Undefined
- Series
- Meet the team
- Comments
- 49
- Published
- 13 years ago (2012-12-19T00:00:00+00:00)