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Scott Marison
Scott Marison has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and over nine years experience programming in C and C++. As a software engineer for 5D Games, Marison was responsible for the design and development of the low-level game engine, 3D graphics engine, physics engine, particle systems and skeletal animation for the company's premier title, Millennium Four. Prior to joining 5D Games, Marison worked at Sierra Online/Papyrus on Grand Prix Legends and the award winning Indycar Racing II, specializing in high-level engine design, engine programming and UI.
Marison currently works with Stainless Steel Studios' founder Rick Goodman to design and develop the technology and low-level substructure for the cutting-edge, next generation game engine that will support the company's first real-time strategy game title, Empire Earth. 5 Questions - 5 Answers:
Michael J. Tatro
At ATI Research, Tatro worked directly with several of the finest game developers on some of the industry's leading 3-D titles, making astonishing improvements in their underlying graphics engines. Though he specializes in multi-texturing techniques, his expertise extends to graphics engine architecture, design and 3-D hardware acceleration and performance optimization. He worked closely with the DirectX team at Microsoft to help define Microsoft's next-generation DirectX APIs. He is also a regular contributing author to Game Developer magazine. First and foremost a programmer, Mike Tatro is also a highly talented professional 3-D digital artist. Prior to ATI, Tatro worked for The DI Group, where he created broadcast-quality computer animation for television networks and production companies, including The Discovery Channel, Warner Brothers and ESPN. Tatro is working with the development team at Stainless Steel Studios to design and develop an entirely new, next-generation graphics engine for the company's first real-time strategy game, Empire Earth. 5 Questions - 5 Answers:
Bob Scott
Bob has over fifteen years of programming experience and a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz. He is proficient in C++, Java, Perl and Visual Basic. Prior to joining Stainless Steel Studios, Bob spent many years at Therma-Wave, Inc., as a senior programmer developing semiconductor test equipment software.
Seeking a new challenge after Broderbund's merger with TLC, Bob contacted Stainless Steel Studios founder Rick Goodman, expressing interest in the new gaming culture Rick was developing. After joining, Bob took responsibility for the game's multiplayer communications and Artificial Intelligence. He's already laid the groundwork for a solid multiplayer engine but is really looking forward to developing a good, but game-friendly, AI engine. Bob's a big fan of strategy games and RPGs, but has been known to cut loose on a high-end racing game when he feels "the need for speed." Recently he completed Baldur's Gate and is currently tearing up the tarmac in Viper Racing. An immigrant to Beantown, Bob has decided to take the Fifth when it comes to talking about his new home. Apparently Bob will only say that since he arrived in the middle of winter, he'll wait until summer before he starts asking everyone why you can't get decent guacamole. 5 Questions - 5 Answers:
Dan Higgins
Dan comes to Stainless Steel boasting a BS in Computer Science from Frostburg State University and impressive programming knowledge that includes C/C++, OOP, Assembly, COM/DCOM, Visual Basic, Java, SQL and UNIX. Dan was a software engineer at both Mystic River Software and InterActive8. At these companies, he developed programming tools in C++, ATL and MFC, putting together database engines. Dan has also developed Internet applications for clients such as The History Channel, A&E and AT&T.
A long-time gamer, Dan has a particular attraction for adventure and puzzle games, especially the Final Fantasy and Monkey Island series. In his all-too-few off hours Dan and his fiancée enjoy playing games together (right now they're working on Grim Fandango and Baldur's Gate). His goal for the future is convincing his fiancée that an Age of Empires theme wedding is a good idea. 5 Questions - 5 Answers:
Brian Stephens
Brian earned a BS in Computer Science at the University of New Hampshire, in May of 1991. After that, Brian secured a position at Banyan Systems developing their networking toolkit, the core technology used in many of their key products. Throughout his career, Brian has picked up extensive knowledge of C/C++, DirectX (DirectDraw), WinSock and Visual Basic. Prior to joining Stainless Steel, Brian helped in the development of a multi-user BBS software package, a job that included creating an API for connecting to the BBS via an IPX/SPX LAN. Finally, after eight years of exceptional work on products he wasn't terribly excited about, Brian decided to seek out a new environment where his passion for producing exceptional product would be appreciated. He came across the Stainless Steel Web page, read every word and decided that this was the place he wanted to work. After sending in his resume along with some demo code, he ran the interview gauntlet of Stainless Steel Studios, Inc., performed a swingin' rendition of Frank Sinatra's "Luck be a Lady Tonight" and was asked to join the organization. Since his arrival, Brian has taken responsibility for a great deal of Empire Earth's multi-player and networking code, although as the game progresses, he's also planning on making some contributions to the graphic engine. Brian is a long-time fan of classic arcade games, particularly retro titles like Moon Patrol and Joust. He's also recently developed an interest in real-time strategy games and is currently burning through Warzone 2100. During his infrequent off-hours, he enjoys hiking, camping, biking and restoring old cars with his wife, Veronica. His goals include becoming the best in the world at what he does and convincing his wife that there's more to computer gaming than SimCity 3000. 5 Questions - 5 Answers:
Charlie Cleveland
Shawn Shoemaker
Shawn began programming in third grade, writing Logo programs on an Apple II. At about the same time he began gaming on an Atari 2600. Shawn continued to work with computers and play games through high school -- then it was time for college. As he always enjoyed understanding how things are put together, Shawn decided that engineering was his calling - after ruling out a career as a Lego designer.
Stainless Steel is Shawn's third company in as many years. While completing his MS, he worked for a VR company that had some great toys: Head-Mounted-Displays, 6-DOF trackers, pinch gloves, and a CAVE virtual environment. For his MS, Shawn wrote a Star Wars-like game "CAVE Wars Episode 1: A New Hokie" for the CAVE environment. Shawn then left the VR company for something more like a game company. He found a small developer in Washington, D.C., that was trying (unsuccessfully) to get into the game business using DoD contract money to fund the game development. After spending too much of that year coding from a Navy-based fallout shelter (fallout shelter 13, incidentally) and working on the games at night, Shawn again sent out his resumes. After numerous phone interviews, programming tests, and multiple offers from mass-market game developers, Shawn found Stainless Steel and it was immediately obvious that this was the place for him. Shawn describes his present position at Stainless as his "dream job." Currently, Shawn is working on the Empire Earth game engine. Some of Shawn's more interesting past projects include a D&D RPG tool, a nuclear-missile expert system, a Web browser, a caller ID device, an ELIZA-style personality (Beavis), the Intel 440BX chipset, a Web server, an online coffee-ordering app, windsock via winsock (distributed sci-viz), a CAVE game, a designed and fabbed microprocessor and a not-so-successful game engine. Shawn grew up in northern CA and northern VA (D.C.). When he's not worrying about premature transaction termination, Shawn enjoys cheering for his Big-East-Champion Virginia Tech Hokies, worshipping his life-sized replica of Han Solo in carbonite, and having a good conversation with a friend over a pint of Murphy's. Shawn is quick to point out, however, that he never wanted to do this for a living. He always wanted to be... a LUMBERJACK! 5 Questions - 5 Answers:
Chad Dawson
Like many gamers, Chad started down the gaming path with an early console that played a number of different games - all variations on Pong. Like many game industry employees, it took a while for Chad to realize that it was possible to get a job in the gaming industry. While at school, Chad worked on a number projects that ultimately helped him land his current job, including working with a team to create interactive environments for a head-mounted 3D virtual world and programming neural network simulations. One day he spotted SSSI's ad for programmers on the Gamasutra Web site and things quickly fell into place. Chad is now working on the AI and the Scenario Editor for Empire Earth. He also reluctantly admits to being responsible for introducing the employees of SSSI to the time-eating scourge of so many other game developers: Counter Strike. Though polite and exceedingly pleasant in person, Chad's been overheard to say, "There's nothing like humiliating a coworker by putting away your sniper rifle and taking him out with your hunting knife." 5 Questions - 5 Answers:
Greg Seegert
Greg Seegert can trace his intense interest in video games back to when he was 10 years old. He got a Tandy 1000TX and his first computer game, Sierra's King's Quest III: To Heir is Human. Greg still fondly recalls turning the evil wizard Mannanan into a cat and kicking him around the castle. Once he started fooling around with BASIC, he was hooked.
At WPI he worked hard to develop the skills he felt he would need, both in class and out. In a graphics programming class, Greg worked on a 3-D renderer using X-Windows. Over the following summer he converted the program to a Windows OpenGL version. He also programmed a DirectX UI for a game he was working on in his spare time. In 1999, Greg graduated from WPI with a BS in Computer Science. Knowing that the game industry can be a tough nut to crack, Greg waited a year after graduation before applying to game companies, in order to study up further on Windows programming, Glide, OpenGL and DirectX. Then he began his search and came across the Stainless Steel Studios, Inc., Web site. As a big fan of AoE and the RTS genre, Greg found the opportunity of working with the Lead Designer of AoE on a new, epic RTS game in the Boston Area too great to pass up. After his test of fire - also know as the SSSI interview process - he was offered the job. Greg is now working on the UI and Game Engine for Empire Earth. When not working, Greg still enjoys jumping out of airplanes, as well as listening to music, reading, lifting weights, painting and drawing, and drinking beer. Sometimes all at the same time. 5 Questions - 5 Answers:
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Marison also did five-year stint as a senior software engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation, developing client-server code management systems for the PC platform. He is accomplished in C++ programming, 80x86 assembly, Visual Basic and DirectX. His game development experience began in 1982 when he programmed a version of Lunar Lander, followed by a real-time MUD-based adventure game, a ColecoVision emulator, a WWII strategy game and finally a major league baseball game.
Favorite video game(s) of all time?
Michael Tatro has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Computer Graphics and 12 years of programming experience, the last five in C and C++. As a software engineer in the 3-D Application Research Group at ATI Research, Inc., Tatro was responsible for the development of a high-performance 3D graphics engine designed to render directly to 3-D hardware through various APIs (Direct3-D, OpenGL, and ATI's CIF).
Favorite television show you watched growing up?
Since his days of typing in Commodore 64 game programs that he got out of the back of Compute! Magazine, Bob Scott's been working his way towards being a game programmer. With gaming credits ranging from his work on Warlords 3, to putting together the Red Orb Zone, to his current work on Empire Earth, Bob is well on his way to fulfilling that dream and becoming one of the bright lights of the industry.
In January of 1997 Bob joined Red Orb Entertainment. There he created the Red Orb Zone, Red Orb's free game-matching service. Afterwards, Bob became involved in games like Take No Prisoners, Warbreeds and titles in the Warlords series. The recipient of Broderbund's Intellectual Capital Award, Bob developed a reputation as a pioneer in introducing new technologies to the game development process.
Favorite television show you watched growing up?
A die-hard Yankee since his earliest days, Dan Higgins was born in the Northeast, and has been working his way toward becoming a game programmer since running primitive game servers on early gaming BBSs. Somehow instinctively knowing that gaming companies look for brilliant technical skills paired with slightly deranged minds, Dan e-mailed his resume to Stainless Steel Studios attached to digital photographs of superhero action figures posed in various "scenarios." A lengthy interview process later, it was determined that Dan's dementia fell into the "wacky" rather than the "scary" category and he's been happily employed as a Game Programmer ever since.
Dan's duties at Stainless Steel encompass the entire development of Empire Earth's technological infrastructure. This includes putting together the game's data structures, iterative systems, game rules, collision and ballistics engine, thread management, memory management and AI development.
What game are you playing right now?
Born and raised in a little suburb of Boston that nobody's ever heard of called Boxford (not Boxboro), Brian Stephens has been working toward becoming a game programmer. After ditching his Atari 2600 for the far more advanced 64K computers of his day, Brian began developing games in BASIC, putting together RPGs and arcade titles - simply because they didn't exist.
Favorite television show you watched growing up?
Favorite video game(s) of all time?
Shawn's interests led him to Virginia Tech, where he received a BS and an MS in Computer Engineering. He had a few different internships in school, including two tours at Intel. In his second job at Intel, he worked in the Developer Relations Group with several game developers and hardware manufacturers. Upon returning to school for his senior year, Shawn decided to combine his two passions and pursue game programming. Should game programming ever grow old, though, he can always return to the world of VLSI and digital logic (yeah right!).
Favorite video game(s) of all time?
After earning a BS in Math and Computer Science (1991) and an MS in Human-Computer Interaction (1999) from Carnegie Mellon University, holding a number of research and system administration positions at Carnegie Mellon, serving his country in the US Army Reserve from 1995-1998 and working as an Application Developer in the computer industry, Chadley Dawson took a 15-minute break and got himself a job at SSSI.
Favorite Musician/ Band?
After high school, Greg spent a few semesters at the US Air Force Academy studying Computer Science. He also took Basic Training, Drill and Ceremonies, Combat Survival Training and Free-Fall Parachuting. Though he thoroughly enjoyed plummeting from airplanes, he decided military training wasn't really helping him achieve his goal of getting a job as a game programmer, so he transferred to Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Favorite video game(s) of all time?
