Rich Whitehouse
Encyclopedia
Rich Whitehouse is a game designer and programmer
. He is well known for several famous game modifications, including the Jumbot and Scientist Hunt mods for Half-Life
. Rich is also well known in the video game industry for work on titles in the Jedi Knight series (such as Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
, in cooperation with LucasArts
) and Soldier of Fortune series, as well as, most recently, Prey
.
in December 1997, with his Famkebot mod, the first bot
for Quake 2. Rich continued periodic development of the Famkebot for several years, eventually offering a complete rewrite of the source code, and a Capture the Flag
version of the bot.
After work on the Famkebot, Rich continued on to work with Half-Life
to create the Jumbot and Scientist Hunt. Rich continued development of these projects for roughly 2 years, offering a variety of improvements and new features in each release of the software.
In May 2000, Rich contacted Raven Software
about writing a bot for Soldier of Fortune. Studio head Brian Raffel requested that Rich come to the studio to meet the developers of the game and look at the preliminary game source code distribution, and development was underway shortly thereafter. Development of the bot, named hidebot (after Japanese rock star Hideto Matsumoto), eventually led to its distribution at retail, with the release of Soldier of Fortune Gold. Rich began fulltime work at Raven Software
shortly after the release of Soldier of Fortune Gold.
During his career in game modding, Rich also contributed to other community efforts, such as Action Half-Life
, and did several community interviews.
, at only 18 years of age, with no formal training or experience beyond his history in game modifications. Rich first worked on Soldier of Fortune 2 under the supervision of game programmer Keith Fuller, and moved on to the Star Wars
game, Jedi Knight II
, shortly after. In addition to handling multiplayer game logic, networking, and integrating single player technology features into the multiplayer code-base, Rich also focussed a great deal on keeping the game code mod-friendly, and creating simplistic and easy-to-work-with interfaces, which contributed to the game's extreme longevity in support from its mod community.
Following the success of Jedi Knight II
, Rich continued on to serve as the multiplayer programmer on Jedi Academy
. Rich continued his focus on mod-friendliness, and worked closely with programmer Mike Gummelt and designer Mike Majernik in conceptualizing and implementing new gameplay elements.
Rich moved on to X-Men Legends
after the successful completion of Jedi Academy. However, citing the desire to move more into technology and expand his knowledge, he resigned from his position at Raven Software
before the completion of X-Men Legends
. In the time following this period, Rich dabbled in development for the Game Boy Advance
, as well as development of an OpenGL-based game engine.
in 2005, where he served as network and general technology programmer on Prey
. Rich once again served a design role in multiplayer development, in addition to his technological duties, organizing in-house testing and feedback sessions. After the completion of Prey
, Rich left his full-time position at Human Head Studios
, to once again pursue personal interests and further development of his own technology. However, he remained on the 3D Realms
forums, where he was often seen assisting users with technical problems.
After his departure, Rich returned to Human Head Studios
the following year to assist in the development of technology for an unannounced title. Rich writes that his contributions to this title include robust texture streaming (with real-time texel area determination), hardware vertex blending/animation, and shadowmaps
with dynamic frustum grouping/LOD. Following the completion of this technology, Rich left Human Head Studios
again.
and games in his spare time. Especially notable among these projects are Hydroball, Ninja Mod, Dixerius, and Quake Royale.
Additionally, Rich is known for having created Nintendo DS
ports of Hexen
and a NES
emulator
.
Most recently, Rich has created the, freeware, highly advanced, Final Fantasy VII
fan game AVALANCHE. The game has received praise from various online gaming magazines and has great success with the audience it has reached. It was a contender for Indie Game of the year on the gaming mod site Mod DB
. The game uses a version of Rich's own R-Cube engine, previously used in Dixerius.
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
. He is well known for several famous game modifications, including the Jumbot and Scientist Hunt mods for Half-Life
Half-Life (series)
The Half-Life series of video games share a science fiction alternate history. Nearly all of the games are first-person shooters on the GoldSource or Source engines, and most are linear, narrative, single-player titles....
. Rich is also well known in the video game industry for work on titles in the Jedi Knight series (such as Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, often abbreviated JK2 or JO, is a first- and third-person action game developed by Raven Software and published by LucasArts and Activision. The PC version was released in March and the Mac OS X, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions were released in November...
, in cooperation with LucasArts
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...
) and Soldier of Fortune series, as well as, most recently, Prey
Prey (video game)
Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios , and published by 2K Games. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Venom Games. The game was initially released in North America and Europe on 11 July 2006...
.
Game modding
Rich first became publicly involved in game developmentGame development
Game development is the software development process by which a video game is developed. Development is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games are normally funded by a publisher and take several years to develop. Indie games can...
in December 1997, with his Famkebot mod, the first bot
Computer game bot
A bot, most prominently in the first-person shooter types , is a type of weak AI expert system software which for each instance of the program controls a player in deathmatch, team deathmatch and/or cooperative human player. Computer bots may play against other bots and/or human players in unison,...
for Quake 2. Rich continued periodic development of the Famkebot for several years, eventually offering a complete rewrite of the source code, and a Capture the Flag
Capture the flag
Capture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
version of the bot.
After work on the Famkebot, Rich continued on to work with Half-Life
Half-Life (series)
The Half-Life series of video games share a science fiction alternate history. Nearly all of the games are first-person shooters on the GoldSource or Source engines, and most are linear, narrative, single-player titles....
to create the Jumbot and Scientist Hunt. Rich continued development of these projects for roughly 2 years, offering a variety of improvements and new features in each release of the software.
In May 2000, Rich contacted Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
about writing a bot for Soldier of Fortune. Studio head Brian Raffel requested that Rich come to the studio to meet the developers of the game and look at the preliminary game source code distribution, and development was underway shortly thereafter. Development of the bot, named hidebot (after Japanese rock star Hideto Matsumoto), eventually led to its distribution at retail, with the release of Soldier of Fortune Gold. Rich began fulltime work at Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
shortly after the release of Soldier of Fortune Gold.
During his career in game modding, Rich also contributed to other community efforts, such as Action Half-Life
Action Half-Life
Action Half-Life is a mod for the award-winning first-person shooter computer game Half-Life. It strives to simulate action movies, especially those directed by John Woo.-Development:...
, and did several community interviews.
Raven Software
Rich started working full-time in the video game industry at Raven SoftwareRaven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
, at only 18 years of age, with no formal training or experience beyond his history in game modifications. Rich first worked on Soldier of Fortune 2 under the supervision of game programmer Keith Fuller, and moved on to the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
game, Jedi Knight II
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, often abbreviated JK2 or JO, is a first- and third-person action game developed by Raven Software and published by LucasArts and Activision. The PC version was released in March and the Mac OS X, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions were released in November...
, shortly after. In addition to handling multiplayer game logic, networking, and integrating single player technology features into the multiplayer code-base, Rich also focussed a great deal on keeping the game code mod-friendly, and creating simplistic and easy-to-work-with interfaces, which contributed to the game's extreme longevity in support from its mod community.
Following the success of Jedi Knight II
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, often abbreviated JK2 or JO, is a first- and third-person action game developed by Raven Software and published by LucasArts and Activision. The PC version was released in March and the Mac OS X, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions were released in November...
, Rich continued on to serve as the multiplayer programmer on Jedi Academy
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is a first and third-person shooter action game set in the Star Wars universe. It was developed by Raven Software and published, distributed and marketed by LucasArts in North America and by Activision in the rest of the world. Jedi Academy was released in...
. Rich continued his focus on mod-friendliness, and worked closely with programmer Mike Gummelt and designer Mike Majernik in conceptualizing and implementing new gameplay elements.
Rich moved on to X-Men Legends
X-Men Legends
X-Men Legends is an action role-playing video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It was released on the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles in the fall of . Barking Lizards Technologies developed the N-Gage port of the game, which was released in early...
after the successful completion of Jedi Academy. However, citing the desire to move more into technology and expand his knowledge, he resigned from his position at Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
before the completion of X-Men Legends
X-Men Legends
X-Men Legends is an action role-playing video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It was released on the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles in the fall of . Barking Lizards Technologies developed the N-Gage port of the game, which was released in early...
. In the time following this period, Rich dabbled in development for the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
, as well as development of an OpenGL-based game engine.
Human Head Studios
Rich began working at Human Head StudiosHuman Head Studios
Human Head Studios is a computer game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin.It was founded in October 1997 by a group of six developers formerly from Raven Software: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted—later joined by game producer Tim...
in 2005, where he served as network and general technology programmer on Prey
Prey (video game)
Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios , and published by 2K Games. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Venom Games. The game was initially released in North America and Europe on 11 July 2006...
. Rich once again served a design role in multiplayer development, in addition to his technological duties, organizing in-house testing and feedback sessions. After the completion of Prey
Prey (video game)
Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios , and published by 2K Games. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Venom Games. The game was initially released in North America and Europe on 11 July 2006...
, Rich left his full-time position at Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios is a computer game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin.It was founded in October 1997 by a group of six developers formerly from Raven Software: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted—later joined by game producer Tim...
, to once again pursue personal interests and further development of his own technology. However, he remained on the 3D Realms
3D Realms
3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987...
forums, where he was often seen assisting users with technical problems.
After his departure, Rich returned to Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios is a computer game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin.It was founded in October 1997 by a group of six developers formerly from Raven Software: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted—later joined by game producer Tim...
the following year to assist in the development of technology for an unannounced title. Rich writes that his contributions to this title include robust texture streaming (with real-time texel area determination), hardware vertex blending/animation, and shadowmaps
Shadow mapping
Shadow mapping or projective shadowing is a process by which shadows are added to 3D computer graphics. This concept was introduced by Lance Williams in 1978, in a paper entitled "Casting curved shadows on curved surfaces"...
with dynamic frustum grouping/LOD. Following the completion of this technology, Rich left Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios is a computer game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin.It was founded in October 1997 by a group of six developers formerly from Raven Software: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted—later joined by game producer Tim...
again.
Industry interim
During his professional career in the video game industry, Rich has continued to produce freewareFreeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
and games in his spare time. Especially notable among these projects are Hydroball, Ninja Mod, Dixerius, and Quake Royale.
Additionally, Rich is known for having created Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
ports of Hexen
Hexen
Hexen is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on September 30, 1995. It is the sequel to 1994's Heretic, and the second game in the Serpent Riders series...
and a NES
Nes
-Localities:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway* Nes, Hedmark, a former municipality in the county of Hedmark in Norway...
emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
.
Most recently, Rich has created the, freeware, highly advanced, Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
fan game AVALANCHE. The game has received praise from various online gaming magazines and has great success with the audience it has reached. It was a contender for Indie Game of the year on the gaming mod site Mod DB
Mod DB
Player's Choice*Best Indie Game: Tremulous*Best Released Mod: Point of Existence 2*Best Unreleased Mod: Black Mesa*By genre-2005:*-2004:*-2003:*-2002:*- External links :* *...
. The game uses a version of Rich's own R-Cube engine, previously used in Dixerius.