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Michael Paul Cottam

Still Flying After All These Years

I’ve had the wild luck of working across the globe—China, Kenya, the Czech Republic, India, Australia, Canada, the U.S., the UK, and Singapore—with studios like EA (Manchester, Vancouver, Guildford), LucasArts/Film, Pandemic, THQ, Psygnosis/Sony, Warthog, Relentless, Totally Games, and more recently, Virtuos, Dhruva, Madfinger, and Original Force.

I’ve contributed to over 60 game projects (18+ AAA titles), and yes, somehow I’m still at it. A career highlight? Definitely working with George Lucas in 2002, building 3D models for Star Wars. I also helped Doug Chiang with trailers for Robota—a film finally in production.

My gaming origin story begins in Austin, Texas, where Chris Roberts and Paul Steed kicked things off. Paul taught me how to model 3D ships while working on Wing Commander; I returned to the UK to build for Privateer: The Darkening, using a prehistoric tool called EOR. Absolute magic.

Before games, I was an electrician, CAD operator, and self-employed artist (even sponsored by Staedtler Pencils). I might’ve made the first digital newspaper and designed one of the earliest CD layouts—if memory serves.

Now, I juggle games, film, teaching, and novel writing—while topping the Wing Commander leaderboard after a new 10,000 points and a Medal of Honor. I learnt 3D making the first 3D for Wing Commander… and I’m still here. Kind of poetic, really.