Paul Steed
Encyclopedia
Paul Howard Steed, Jr is a video game modeller and artist. He has worked for Origin Systems
, Electronic Arts
, id Software
, Wild Tangent, Microsoft's Xbox
, Atari
, and now Exigent. He created artwork or models for several prominent game series including Wing Commander
and Quake. He was employed by id Software until he was fired in retaliation for conflict over the creation of Doom 3
(according to John Carmack).
Steed began his career with videogames in 1991 at Origin Software, after answering a newspaper ad that said "Fantasy artist wanted". Starting as a game design sketcher, he moved up to art director then project director. Steed has indicated he "didn't touch a mouse until I was 27." He worked as an art director at Virgin Entertainment and a designer at Iguana entertainment as well. In 2000 after being fired from id Software he went to work for Wild Tangent making several dancing girl visualizers for Winamp and a third-person shooter called Betty Bad (an homage to Steed's favorite arcade game, Tempest).
Steed gained press and controversy with the release of a "Crackwhore" female model for Quake II
in response to a skin (character texture) contest for the first Quake sponsored by a group of female gamers who called themselves the "Crackwhore Clan". The Crackwhore model was released after Quake II was released as a downloadable character as an homage to that same female gamer clan. While Quake II included a female character as an option when playing, both the phraseology and approach to the Crackwhore model received some amount of criticism despite the 'Crackwhore Clan' having been created, organized and comprised solely of female gamers - not Paul Steed.
He is active in the game development community and gives talks not only at the annual Game Developer's Conference, but also at universities and art institutes. He has initiated and sponsored several modeling contests such as the Bad Girl and Cute Doll contests by which he challenged any and all other modelers to compete against him for sponsored prizes. Paul convinced many vendors like Autodesk to contribute those prizes as well as recognition to the contest winners.
A published author, Paul Steed has written three books on modeling and animating game characters for 3D games. He served on the Advisory Board for GDC for many years and as creative director for Microsoft's Xbox and Atari he gained experience on the other side of the developer fence. He left Atari in 2006 to co-found Exigent with Garland Wong and Jesse Rapczak. As President and Chief Creative Officer at Exigent, a global game art company for next generation and casual games, Paul oversees more than 100 artists in India and China while consulting with top developers and publishers. Most recently he provided creative and managerial leadership for an unannounced UTV Ignition Entertainment project, but has since moved on to a series of casual and console projects that will be announced in 2011.
Origin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was a computer game developer based in Austin, Texas that was active from 1983 to 2004...
, Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
, Wild Tangent, Microsoft's Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
, and now Exigent. He created artwork or models for several prominent game series including Wing Commander
Wing Commander (franchise)
Wing Commander is a video game media franchise consisting of space combat simulation computer games from Origin Systems, Inc., an animated television series, a feature film, a collectible card game, a series of novels, and action figures...
and Quake. He was employed by id Software until he was fired in retaliation for conflict over the creation of Doom 3
Doom 3
Doom 3 is a science fiction horror video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. An example of the first-person shooter genre, Doom 3 was first released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004. The game was later adapted for Linux, as well as being ported by Aspyr Media for Mac...
(according to John Carmack).
Steed began his career with videogames in 1991 at Origin Software, after answering a newspaper ad that said "Fantasy artist wanted". Starting as a game design sketcher, he moved up to art director then project director. Steed has indicated he "didn't touch a mouse until I was 27." He worked as an art director at Virgin Entertainment and a designer at Iguana entertainment as well. In 2000 after being fired from id Software he went to work for Wild Tangent making several dancing girl visualizers for Winamp and a third-person shooter called Betty Bad (an homage to Steed's favorite arcade game, Tempest).
Steed gained press and controversy with the release of a "Crackwhore" female model for Quake II
Quake II
Quake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to Id's difficulties in coming up with alternative names.The soundtrack for Quake II...
in response to a skin (character texture) contest for the first Quake sponsored by a group of female gamers who called themselves the "Crackwhore Clan". The Crackwhore model was released after Quake II was released as a downloadable character as an homage to that same female gamer clan. While Quake II included a female character as an option when playing, both the phraseology and approach to the Crackwhore model received some amount of criticism despite the 'Crackwhore Clan' having been created, organized and comprised solely of female gamers - not Paul Steed.
He is active in the game development community and gives talks not only at the annual Game Developer's Conference, but also at universities and art institutes. He has initiated and sponsored several modeling contests such as the Bad Girl and Cute Doll contests by which he challenged any and all other modelers to compete against him for sponsored prizes. Paul convinced many vendors like Autodesk to contribute those prizes as well as recognition to the contest winners.
A published author, Paul Steed has written three books on modeling and animating game characters for 3D games. He served on the Advisory Board for GDC for many years and as creative director for Microsoft's Xbox and Atari he gained experience on the other side of the developer fence. He left Atari in 2006 to co-found Exigent with Garland Wong and Jesse Rapczak. As President and Chief Creative Officer at Exigent, a global game art company for next generation and casual games, Paul oversees more than 100 artists in India and China while consulting with top developers and publishers. Most recently he provided creative and managerial leadership for an unannounced UTV Ignition Entertainment project, but has since moved on to a series of casual and console projects that will be announced in 2011.
External links
- Paul Steed profile on MobyGamesMobyGames-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...