Tony's

Game Career

Mediagenic SSI Lucasfilm Games Sega of America Propaganda CODE SegaSoft Electronic Arts/EA.com Ubi Soft

Ubi Soft (Ubisoft) Entertainment

2002 - present

I'll give you a hint on finding a job in this industry when your fairly high up. You have to find them before they officially open.

I had contacted about 50 friends and 10 recruiters to try to find my next job. One of those was Bret Berry, my old boss from my SSI days, who was VP of Product Development in the SF office of Ubi Soft. When I spoke with him in December 2001, he told me sorry, there were no openings at that time.

A few months later, I got a call from Bret. Ubi Soft was having a great year and things were heating up. He wanted me to be the head of a third production group, with two producers reporting to me and interacting with other internal teams across the globe. (Things changed a bit in 2003, there are only 2 Exec Producers, and have 5 producers reporting to me.)

I started work on May 17th, 2002. The office is in San Francisco, right by the new ball park and train station (which I use to commute each day.) The SF office has about 130 people in it, and the company has 1800 people worldwide!

As an Executive Producer, I'm in charge of multiple game brands on multiple platforms (PC, PSX, PS2, GameCube, XBox and Game Boy Advance). I watch over the strategic development of these games while my producers deal with the day-to-day issues and directions. I give them advice, make game play comments, attend meetings with developers and the big-wigs, and in general try to keep a large number of games on time, on budget and of high quality.

In November of 2003, Ubi Soft changed its name spelling to Ubisoft. By the way, it's pronounced U-B-Soft (not OO-B-Soft.)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - PC

Executive Producer & Co-Designer - 2003

When I first started in May 02, Bret told me on top of my normal Exec Producer duties, I would have to produce CSI on my own. This was no problem for me, as I loved the show, love the Graphic Adventure genre, and as it turned out, loved the developer, 369 Interactive (AKA Radical Entertainment).

This game was one of my best experiences ever, due to working so closely with the cast and crew of CSI, CBS, and 369. And people ask me ALL THE TIME what it was like to work on this game.

It was a blast! We worked directly with CBS to get access to what we needed. This was a little tricky, since CSI was in production and we couldn't interfere with their schedule. But everyone knew the game demanded the authenticity of the show to be successful, and CBS helped make that possible.

Rhonda and I went to the CSI set on a non-shooting day and she took over 300 reference pictures for the artists to build 3D sets for the game. We hired Max Allan Collins (author of Road to Perdition, CSI original novels, and other mystery novels) to write the dialog. We hired Daniel Holstein (a real live Las Vegas CSI, who was the basis for Grissom's character) to be our Technical Advisor. We got access to all the existing video, sound and music files of the show.

And I even helped direct all 8 of the show's actors, who agreed to do the Voice Over sessions in between their days shooting the show (they work pretty much YEAR LONG shooting CSI.) Recording them was soooo cool. We spent months writing and re-writing the lines, and when doing so I imagined exactly how they sound. When the actors finally read those lines the way imagined, it was mind-blowing. And sometimes when they'd use a different approach, I found that was even better!

369 worked incredible hours to make this happen. First, they had to create an adventure game engine from scratch. On the script, they had to "instantly" come up with 5 original, twisting, CSI-like cases, then make them non-linear, logical and believable. (for fun, here's a picture of the first draft flowchart for the first case in CSI, which I quickly laid out on the airplane flying back from Canada.) This alone was a massive task, which is why the game has 4 designers (including myself.)

Then they slaved to create high-res 3D models of all the actors, locations, props, interface, plus animations and cinematics. Not to mention secondary voice casting and editing around a thousand lines of dialog (BEFORE we localized it into 4 other languages!) We also had to re-work many items on the fly, while adding new features when possible.

Let me state this again... this was an INCREDIBLE effort by all involved at 369, especially Kirsten Forbes, Steve Bocska, Darren Woo and Xichi Zheng!

The game was designed from the outset to capture the show's target audience (26 million in the US ALONE, a large percent casual computer users both male and female), not for hard-core adventure gamers (est. 100K at best, based on current sales data.) Thus, we strove to create an simple, accessible game that allowed the player to feel like they were in episodes of the show. (This is actually much harder then it sounds.)

The net result - our target audience loved the game, as its very easy for them to play (A friend of mine thanked me for making a game his mother could both play and enjoy.)

I stand by an old adage of mine... I'd rather have 10 hours of constant fun in a game then 40 hours of drudgery/repetition/frustration (and remember, I'm an OLD SCHOOL adventure fan!) None-the-less, I'm proud of what we achieved with CSI, and look forward to doing even better on CSI 2.

Order your own copy of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Check out the Ubi Soft CSI web site and fan site CSIgame.net

Ubi Soft's PR crew set up a ton of interviews, and a few of them became part of our "making of" clip (including a clip of yours truly.) This clip was featured on network news when the game was released, and again on 2 million CBS/Blockbuster promotional DVD distributed for free in Sept 04.

CSI: The Game also was part of a TV promotion/contest on TNN (AKA SPIKE TV).

Read press clippings from Gamespot, USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, Cleveland Plain Dealer and Seattle Post

Read/hear interviews from HomeLAN.net, Gamespy and VideoGameRadio.com (it's streamed audio, I'm in the last 1/2 hour of Episode 10)

Read ratings and reviews at Gamerankings.com, MobyGames and Internet Movie Database.

Chessmaster 9000 - PC

Myst III: Exile - XBox

Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction - GC, PC

Dogz 5 & Catz 5- PC

Lock On: Modern Air Combat - PC

Executive Producer (by default) - 2002-2003

While they are all under my group, these games were virtually complete when I first arrived at Ubi Soft, thus I had little to do with them. But they are all pretty cool games, so check them out!
Go to MobyGames to rate Chessmaster 9000, Myst III: Exile, Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction (PC or GameCube), Dogz 5 or Catz 5

Bratz - PC, PSX, GBA

Executive Producer - 2002, 2003

The concept was to make a cool dancing game for the Bratz characters, ala Dance Dance Revolution. Since Rhonda and I had played that game to DEATH when I was unemployed, I was very happy to be associated with the development of this game.
Ashley Bushore was the Producer, who worked like the devil to get all the games done ASAP. The PC version was completed JUST in time for Christmas '02, and was sold out immediately due to the Bratz doll buying craze. The PSX and GBA versions were released in March, and also sold quite well.

This game is a lot of fun, has some GREAT graphics of the girls, and avoids the mistake of being too difficult for its target audience.

Go to MobyGames to Rate Bratz

Monsters of Metal 4x4 - PS2, GC

US Executive Producer - 2004

This game was created by the Ubisoft Barcelona development team. I helped define the core game elements and design goals, polish the text of the game, and get licensor approval.
My goal was to make a less frustrating race game, while giving some "open road" feel. I think we achieved those goals, and the truck models look really cool on Gamecube!

Laurentiu Rusu was also on-board from my team, to ensure the game quality, such as making sure the trucks physics were good, sounds were good, and camera controls were good.

Plus, Rhonda and I got to go to the Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas, which was pretty cool too!

Mucha Lucha: Mascaritas of the Lost Code - GBA

Executive Producer - 2003

The execs at Ubisoft saw this nutty WB cartoon, and wanted to get the license and make games for it ASAP!
When we signed the license, the show was a "potential" hit. By the time the game released, it was among the most watched cartoons in the US!

Ashley and Marc Fish produced this.

CSI: Dark Motives - PC

Executive Producer, Co-Designer - 2004

Nothing more to say on this at this time, except we're hoping to give people more of what they liked, and less of what they didn't like!
Shawn Storc and Laurentiu worked together to produce this game, working hand-in-hand with 369 Interactive, and under my watchful eye. :)

(I need to add more here, I know, just don't have the time now... but will update soon!)

The Political Machine - PC

Executive Producer (by default) - 2004

Stardock developed this game all on their own, and came to us to publish it. I reviewed it in a meeting, said "looks really cool, great presentation, and the UI is very accessible." A week later, it was in my group to finish.
Ashley really did all the work here, finalling the game for publication with the developer. One of the small perks of being an EP, you get credit for something others really did.

The game is really cool, and it makes you think about how the elections are really won!

Chessmaster 10th Edition - PC

US Executive Producer - 2004

I helped define the core goals of what we wanted to achieve with this game, and designed the new Visual Chess Coach option.
The Ubisoft Romanian development team did an excellent job re-defining the look and feel (both with 3D features and new visual design), while Marc and Ashley really dug in to help polish the UI and presentation of the game.

I also helped define the core concepts of Josh Waitzkin's Academy would be, which was a daunting task, trying to cover the entire gamut of Chess in about 3 hours! Fortunately, Josh, Ashley and Marc all worked like crazy to bring my "pipe dream" to fruition, cumulating in a marathon 2 day recording session (we really needed 3!)

Ioan (the producer from Romania) also came up with a number of outstanding features, including a number of enhancements and even innovations in the Online games.

The final result is really outstanding, both innovative and classic. I'm very impressed, and if you have even the slightest interest in Chess, I suggest you buy this game!

CSI: Miami - PC

Executive Producer - 2004

Yep, we go to the Sunshine state for another CSI adventure!
As before, we were lucky and blessed to get all the actors involved in the series to lend us their time and energy to be in the game. It was a very cool experience to meet them all and voice direct them.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Xbox

Executive Producer & Co-Designer - 2003

This is a combination of both CSI and CSI: DM from the PC, but playable on Xbox.
The Ubisoft Romania team really outdid themselves in taking a game written in Director and creating an Xbox C++ port in under 6 months. They also made some interface changes as well as key art changes. It was a really amazing job!

Chessmaster Challenge - PC

Executive Producer - 2003

This was a simplified version of Chessmaster 10th Anniversary created expressly for downloading for casual players, who don't need it's massive contents.
Playfirst did a great job of taking over a gig of info and picking and choosing what to use, what to pass on, and what to simplify to make this the premier casual chess game, keeping the brand values of easy to play and easy to learn.
My main role was overseeing these values were adhered to, letting the day-to-day management of this game fall on associate producer Marc Fish's shoulders. The end result is really cool, you can see the 60 minute free trial here.

Games in development...

America's Army: Rise of a Soldier - PS2, Xbox

Executive Producer - 2005

Working with the U.S. Army was really a blast. I helped define the vision of what this game would be on console, redefining what the PC game was know for. We came up with a number of unique concepts for the oversaturated military market, including a unique "Career Mode."
We chose Secret Level to develop the game, which was very convenient since their offices were a few blocks away from our office!

I've got more stories to tell about how we worked with the Army on authenticity, but that will have to wait for later...

These games are due out in the summer of '05, and will be available for hands-on play at E3.

Myst V: End of Ages - PC/Mac

Executive Producer - 2005

Another great experience, working with Cyan Worlds, the company of Myst co-creator Rand Miller.
The game looks gorgeous, and it's a fitting conclusion to the Myst saga, with both new and old conventions. I personally like the new interface ideas we worked together on to make as accessible as possible.

Myst V will be out in fall of '05, and will also be at E3, but behind closed doors for the press only.