Alex Seropian
Encyclopedia
Alexander Seropian is an American video game developer
, one of the initial founders and later president of Bungie Software Products Corporation
, the developer of the Marathon
, Myth
, and Halo
video game series. Seropian became interested in computer programming in college and teamed up with fellow student Jason Jones
to publish Jones' game Minotaur
. The two became partners, and Bungie grew to become the best-known Apple Macintosh game developer before being bought by Microsoft in 2001.
In 2004, Seropian left Bungie and created Wideload Games
, with the goal of streamlining game development. Wideload's small core development team worked with outside contractors to produce Stubbs the Zombie and Hail to the Chimp
. Wideload was acquired by Disney in 2009. As part of the deal Seropian became vice president of game development for Disney Interactive Studios.
, and joined the Phi Delta Theta
fraternity (where he would meet one of his future game development colleagues). Interested in computer programming
, Seropian was pursuing a mathematics degree with a concentration in computer science as the Department of Computer Science did not offer undergraduate degrees at the time. Before graduating Seropian was living on his father's couch debating whether to get a job or create his own video game company. Seropian's father advised him to take a job to get experience, but the next day Seropian decided to found his own company. "My dad is a master of reverse psychology," Seropian said.
-clone called Gnop!
. The Apple Macintosh-exclusive game was free, although a few customers paid $15 for the game's source code. In 1991 he founded Bungie and published his first commercial game, Operation Desert Storm. Seropian sold 2,500 copies of the game, assembling the game boxes and mailing them out from his bedroom. Seropian partnered with his Artificial Intelligence classmate Jason Jones
to publish Jones' nearly complete Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete
; while the game sold only around 2,500 copies—it required a then-rare modem for network play—it developed a devoted following. After publishing Minotaur, the two formed a partnership.
For the next Bungie title, 1993's Pathways Into Darkness
, Seropian hired a third team member for graphics work. The game was the first three-dimensional texture-mapped
game on the Mac and the first true first-person shooter
. By 1994 Bungie had grown to a staff of six and had moved into a rundown Chicago office—a converted former religious school located in front of a crack house
. Their next title, Marathon
, began development as a sequel to Pathways but grew larger. On release it won several awards and established Bungie as the top Mac game developer.
For the first game of the Halo series, Halo: Combat Evolved
, Seropian noted that the company had to incorporate new features such as surround sound and cinematics. Halo went on to sell more than 4 million units by 2004 and founded a media franchise encompassing sequels, books, and music. Seropian left Bungie in 2002 to spend time with his new family, but also due to frustrations with the game development process.
, intended to be more streamlined than most video game studios. Calling the current method of game development "broken", Wideload began with a staff of 10, with the plan to hire independent staff to actually complete the game. Seropian said that the idea came from figuring out that his decade-old assumptions about how to make games did not necessarily apply to the future. Seropian turned to the film industry for cues, saying that it helped to look at an older industry that had been solving the same types of problems for a longer period than video games. The external development model allowed Wideload to focus on the creative aspect of a project and added flexibility in what types of projects the team could take on. Wideload produced two games, 2005's Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse and 2008's Hail to the Chimp
.
On September 8, 2009 Disney acquired Wideload. Seropian joined Disney to head its in-house game development team, Disney Interactive Studios. The sale of Wideload was not originally planned: Wideload and Disney began working on a title together, and as conversations turned to a "broader scope and vision", the two companies "discovered [they] had a lot in common," Seropian said. Seropian also serves as DePaul University
's second "game designer in residence"; DePaul is the first liberal arts university to offer a bachelors degree for game design.
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
, one of the initial founders and later president of Bungie Software Products Corporation
Bungie
Bungie, Inc is an American video game developer currently located in Bellevue, Washington, USA. The company was established in May 1991 by University of Chicago undergraduate student Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones after publishing Jones' game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of...
, the developer of the Marathon
Marathon (computer game)
Marathon is a first-person shooter video game with a science fiction theme developed and published by Bungie released in December 1994 for the Apple Macintosh. The game was Bungie's second foray into the emerging genre of games with a first-person perspective, the first being Pathways into...
, Myth
Myth (computer game)
Myth is a series of real-time tactics computer games. The games are:*Myth: The Fallen Lords*Myth II: Soulblighter*Myth III: The Wolf Age...
, and Halo
Halo (video game series)
Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...
video game series. Seropian became interested in computer programming in college and teamed up with fellow student Jason Jones
Jason Jones (programmer)
Jason Jones is a game developer and programmer who co-founded video game studio Bungie with Alex Seropian in 1991. Jones began programming on Apple computers in high school, assembling a multiplayer game called Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete...
to publish Jones' game Minotaur
Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete
Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete is a 1992 Macintosh computer game produced by the founders of Bungie Studios, Jason Jones and Alex Seropian. It is a sharply detailed dungeon crawler similar to many other computer role-playing games and adventure games...
. The two became partners, and Bungie grew to become the best-known Apple Macintosh game developer before being bought by Microsoft in 2001.
In 2004, Seropian left Bungie and created Wideload Games
Wideload Games
Wideload Games is an American game developer located in Chicago, Illinois.It was founded in 2003 by Alexander Seropian—the co-founder of Bungie and head behind the games Halo: Combat Evolved, Myth, and Marathon—and 6 other former Bungie Studios employees 3 years after Bungie's acquisition by...
, with the goal of streamlining game development. Wideload's small core development team worked with outside contractors to produce Stubbs the Zombie and Hail to the Chimp
Hail to the Chimp
Hail to the Chimp is a video game developed by Wideload Games and published by Gamecock Media Group. The game was released on June 23, 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was later added to the PlayStation 3's online PlayStation Store in European and Australian markets on April 10, 2009...
. Wideload was acquired by Disney in 2009. As part of the deal Seropian became vice president of game development for Disney Interactive Studios.
Early life
Alex Seropian attended the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, and joined the Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
fraternity (where he would meet one of his future game development colleagues). Interested in computer programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
, Seropian was pursuing a mathematics degree with a concentration in computer science as the Department of Computer Science did not offer undergraduate degrees at the time. Before graduating Seropian was living on his father's couch debating whether to get a job or create his own video game company. Seropian's father advised him to take a job to get experience, but the next day Seropian decided to found his own company. "My dad is a master of reverse psychology," Seropian said.
Bungie
Seropian's first game was a self-published PongPong
Pong is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity...
-clone called Gnop!
Gnop!
Gnop! was the first computer game created and published by Bungie Studios. It was a simple Pong clone written and released nearly 20 years after the original. The name Gnop is simply Pong spelled backwards. The game was created by Alex Seropian in 1990, almost a year before Bungie's official...
. The Apple Macintosh-exclusive game was free, although a few customers paid $15 for the game's source code. In 1991 he founded Bungie and published his first commercial game, Operation Desert Storm. Seropian sold 2,500 copies of the game, assembling the game boxes and mailing them out from his bedroom. Seropian partnered with his Artificial Intelligence classmate Jason Jones
Jason Jones (programmer)
Jason Jones is a game developer and programmer who co-founded video game studio Bungie with Alex Seropian in 1991. Jones began programming on Apple computers in high school, assembling a multiplayer game called Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete...
to publish Jones' nearly complete Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete
Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete
Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete is a 1992 Macintosh computer game produced by the founders of Bungie Studios, Jason Jones and Alex Seropian. It is a sharply detailed dungeon crawler similar to many other computer role-playing games and adventure games...
; while the game sold only around 2,500 copies—it required a then-rare modem for network play—it developed a devoted following. After publishing Minotaur, the two formed a partnership.
For the next Bungie title, 1993's Pathways Into Darkness
Pathways Into Darkness
Pathways into Darkness is a first-person adventure video game developed and published by Bungie Software Products Corporation in 1993, exclusively for Apple Macintosh personal computers. Players assume the role of a Special Forces soldier who must stop a powerful, godlike being from awakening and...
, Seropian hired a third team member for graphics work. The game was the first three-dimensional texture-mapped
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
game on the Mac and the first true first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
. By 1994 Bungie had grown to a staff of six and had moved into a rundown Chicago office—a converted former religious school located in front of a crack house
Crack house
Crack house is a term mainly used in the United States used to describe an old, often abandoned or burnt-out building often in an inner-city neighborhood where drug dealers and drug users buy, sell, produce, and use illegal drugs, including, but not limited to, crack cocaine.In the 1980s, inner...
. Their next title, Marathon
Marathon (video game)
Marathon is a first-person shooter video game with a science fiction theme developed and published by Bungie released in December 1994 for the Apple Macintosh. The game was Bungie's second foray into the emerging genre of games with a first-person perspective, the first being Pathways into...
, began development as a sequel to Pathways but grew larger. On release it won several awards and established Bungie as the top Mac game developer.
For the first game of the Halo series, Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved, frequently referred to as Halo: CE, or Halo 1, is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The first game of the Halo franchise, it was released on November 15, 2001 as a launch title for the Xbox gaming system, and is...
, Seropian noted that the company had to incorporate new features such as surround sound and cinematics. Halo went on to sell more than 4 million units by 2004 and founded a media franchise encompassing sequels, books, and music. Seropian left Bungie in 2002 to spend time with his new family, but also due to frustrations with the game development process.
Wideload Games
Seropian founded his own studio in 2004 called Wideload GamesWideload Games
Wideload Games is an American game developer located in Chicago, Illinois.It was founded in 2003 by Alexander Seropian—the co-founder of Bungie and head behind the games Halo: Combat Evolved, Myth, and Marathon—and 6 other former Bungie Studios employees 3 years after Bungie's acquisition by...
, intended to be more streamlined than most video game studios. Calling the current method of game development "broken", Wideload began with a staff of 10, with the plan to hire independent staff to actually complete the game. Seropian said that the idea came from figuring out that his decade-old assumptions about how to make games did not necessarily apply to the future. Seropian turned to the film industry for cues, saying that it helped to look at an older industry that had been solving the same types of problems for a longer period than video games. The external development model allowed Wideload to focus on the creative aspect of a project and added flexibility in what types of projects the team could take on. Wideload produced two games, 2005's Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse and 2008's Hail to the Chimp
Hail to the Chimp
Hail to the Chimp is a video game developed by Wideload Games and published by Gamecock Media Group. The game was released on June 23, 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was later added to the PlayStation 3's online PlayStation Store in European and Australian markets on April 10, 2009...
.
On September 8, 2009 Disney acquired Wideload. Seropian joined Disney to head its in-house game development team, Disney Interactive Studios. The sale of Wideload was not originally planned: Wideload and Disney began working on a title together, and as conversations turned to a "broader scope and vision", the two companies "discovered [they] had a lot in common," Seropian said. Seropian also serves as DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
's second "game designer in residence"; DePaul is the first liberal arts university to offer a bachelors degree for game design.
External links
- Wideload Games Inc.
- "Interview: Alex Seropian, Founder, Wideload Games" Chicagoist: (June 20, 2005)
- "Wideload Games' Alexander Seropian on Outsourcing for the Living Dead" Gamasutra: Wen, Howard (September 29, 2005)