The Murder Of Chris Todd (December 27, 2005)

[ChrisReid]

AD noticed that while we've worked with Origin veteran Chris Todd before, we never shared his website with everyone. www.7crows.com is a neat little place about his personal experiences and professional accomplishments. There is also an anecdote from his time programming Wing Commander 3. His accomplishments on such a tremendous game are impressive for a recent college grad on his first commercial project. Mr. Todd also worked on Freelancer and is currently writing a novel.

WING COMMANDER III
Origin (1993)

My first job out of college was working as one of the main programmers on Wing Commander III, a title widely credited with being the first "interactive movie" due to its extensive use of non-linear, live action cut scenes filmed by a professional crew in Hollywood. My job was to design a system that could integrate hours of movie footage with a 3D spaceflight engine and the user's input to create the illusion of a coherent story. The result was Scheherazade, a completely flexible multimedia scripting system. It was a hell of an introduction to the gaming industry -- like being handed a rifle and told that you're landing at Normandy -- but an achievment of which I'm still proud. WC3 was translated into several languages, ported to a number of other platforms, and went on to become one of the best-selling computer games of all time.


I graduated with a degree in computer science about the time I decided I'd like to do something different. But somehow something different led to programming computer games, and then starting a computer game company. I founded my company with a good friend and spent two years of my life on it, not all of it easy, but in the end I gained more than I lost in the form of many friends, old and new, who have become extremely important in my life. About the time the company went under, I decided to really do something different and I knew that meant becoming a writer -- and eventually a screenwriter.

Today I make things up and sometimes get paid for it. Not a bad way to make a living.

All of the previous could have been made up. But it's not. Really. You can trust me.

--
Original update published on December 27, 2005

 

[Delance]

Wow, he wrote the script for Deus Ex. The intro and the endgame. I really like those. This game has one of the best storylines around. It's amazing that it's from a guy who worked at WC.

 

[PeteyG]

This game has one of the best storylines around. It's amazing that it's from a guy who worked at WC.

I'm not surprised a bit that there's a connection between a Wing Commander veteran and another totally awesome game.

 

[AD]

Thats not the only link. I don't think its a coincidence that Warren Spector also had a very prominent part in Wing Commander history.

 

[ChrisReid]

Thats not the only link. I don't think its a coincidence that Warren Spector also had a very prominent part in Wing Commander history.

Yeah, there's a bunch of Wing Commander people involved in Deus Ex since it was made in Austin. If you look at where games are made geographically, there's always a big overlap.

 

[Delance]

Well, I said it 'amazing', not 'surprising'.

 

[ChrisReid]

Delance, you of all people, shouldn't start a conversation about semantics. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=amazing

2 entries found for amazing.
a·maze ( P )v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es
v. tr.
To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise.

6 entries found for surprise.
sur·prise ( P )
tr.v. sur·prised, sur·pris·ing, sur·pris·es
To cause to feel wonder, astonishment, or amazement, as at something unanticipated.

 

[Delance]

Amazing.

 

[Taser8]

Heehee, that picture of Chris was taken at a New Year's party at my house...I believe it was the Y2K party, IIRC!

 

[Delance]

Because, you know, the guy had a birthday, arrived at home, where his friends were hidden, then jumped and screamed 'AMAZING!'