Rod Nakamoto – Vice President/Studio Head
Rod Nakamoto is a videogame-industry veteran whose accomplishments span 25 years of involvement in the game industry. In 1979, while the microcomputer and game industry was still in its infancy, Rod developed one of the first synthesized sound cards for the Apple II computer. Called the MockingBoard, the device was supported by fledgling game companies such as Sierra Online and Electronic Arts. Rod also developed one of the first commercial sound cards for the IBM PC – an early predecessor to hardware that is in every PC today.
In 1984, utilizing the contacts he had developed in the game industry, Rod founded an independent game development company, Interactive Designs. He built the company from the ground up to more than 50 employees. For nearly a decade, Interactive Designs developed games for clients including Electronic Arts, Activision, Sierra Online, Data East, Cinemaware, Capcom, NEC, Sega of America, Disney and many others. They developed titles such as RoboCop (Apple II), Commando (Apple II) Ikari Warriors (PC), Victory Road (PC), Cabal (PC), Super Hang-On (PC), Power Drift (PC), Seven Cities of Gold (PC - New Version), Defender of the Crown (PC), TaleSpin (TurboGrafix, Genesis) and many others.
Near the end of 1992, Sega of America acquired Interactive Designs after utilizing all of its resources for more than a year. Over the next 4 years, Rod grew the studio to more than 65 employees and the newly named Sega Interactive produced 26 SKUs. Sega Interactive generated total revenues exceeding $250MM. They developed titles such as Eternal Champions, which sold more than 2 million units, Star Wars Arcade, Garfield, Lose Your Marbles (which was included in Microsoft’s Windows 98 package), David Robinson Basketball, Sonic Spinball and many others.
In 1996, Rod was recruited by Electronic Arts to oversee the Wing Commander franchise at Origin Systems. Within a year he managed the delivery of Wing Commander Prophecy, winning several awards as the Space Sim of the Year in 1997. Rod later went on to work for other industry giants such as GT Interactive, Hasbro Interactive, Namco Hometek and Vivendi Universal Games, where he helped to deliver the award winning NASCAR 2002 and NASCAR 2003, Empire Earth and Empire Earth II. Prior to joining Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, Rod negotiated world-wide mobile rights to and delivered a mobile version of the Da Vinci Code for Kayak Interactive.
Stu Rose – Director of Production
Stu Rose has been involved in the entertainment software industry for nearly 15 years. He has experience managing artists as well as their projects. The preponderance of Stu's career was spent at Blizzard Entertainment where he was involved with nearly every game Blizzard has developed to date. He designed the Blizzard, Warcraft and Starcraft logos, created game design documentation for Warcraft, created most of the buildings in Warcraft 3 and gave the peasant his voice.
Stu’s industry credits include Lost Vikings (SNES, GBA); Castles (Mac); Rock 'n' Roll Racing (SNES, Genesis, GBA); Blackthorne (SNES, Genesis, PC); Death of Superman (SNES); Warcraft (PC); Warcraft II (PC); Diablo (PC); Starcraft (PC); Warcraft III (PC); World of Warcraft (PC).
Prior to joining the world of entertainment software, Stu was an award-winning newspaper editorial cartoonist.
Mark Thompson — Art Director
Art Director Mark Thompson has more than 17 years of experience as a digital artist preceded by 14 years in electrical engineering. After graduating in 1982 with a BSEE from the University of Illinois, Mark started out his career in computer vision research at Manan Manufacturing where he designed and built high-speed visual inspection systems. He then went to RCA where he worked with the Princeton R&D Labs to develop autonomous robotic systems that were guided through computer vision. From there he moved into 3D graphics, becoming a systems architect and designing high-end 3D graphics rendering engines. This included work at Lockheed/Sanders where he designed and developed the single chip graphics engine for the F22 Raptor.
However, untapped creative urges forced him to leave engineering and apply his 3D knowledge to computer animation. Mark founded and successfully ran three different visual effects studios, garnering numerous awards and developing a large high-end client base. Starting as an independent digital artist and animation consultant, he provided services for projects such as Robocop: The Series. This led to co-founding Fusion Films, a full service digital production facility, where Mark was vice president and director of animation. At the time of his departure, Mark’s animation department had become the principal source of revenue for the company. He then founded The Big Machines Studios, a 3D animation and visual effects facility servicing clientele in the film, broadcast, game and new media markets. His work continues to be broadcast in the United States and abroad.
Most recently, Mark served as the art manager/director for Impressions Games, a development studio for Vivendi Universal Games and as the 3D animation program director for Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts. In addition, throughout his career, Mark has been a teacher, mentor and motivator to his staff and other aspiring artists. He has served as business, art and technical consultant on various startup ventures, and has published dozens of articles and videos on 3D animation and visual effects.
Herb Marselas — Director of Technology
Herb Marselas has been leading development of game and game play technology for more than a decade. He is an experienced senior engineer and manager with hands-on knowledge and experience with all facets of the game development process, as well as a recognized industry authority with published and referenced papers including those on performance analysis, content management and 3D graphics techniques.
Herb has contributed to more than a dozen games selling in total more than 30 milion units including Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome (Microsoft Game Studios), Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (Microsoft Game Studios), Age of Empires II: The Conquerors (Microsoft Game Studios), Age of Mythology (Microsoft Game Studios), and Halo 2 (Microsoft Game Studios). He also has led the development of game play technologies including Intel’s Graphics Performance Tools, and Microsoft’s DirectX SDK.
Herb Marselas has most recently been the lead client engineer on the Stargate Worlds MMO, and previously CEO and development lead for a small startup in Redmond, Washington.
As a veteran in the game industry with almost twenty years of software engineering experience, Herb has a broad and deep understanding of developing and delivering large-scale online games on PCs and game consoles.
Erik Harshman – Senior Producer
A passion for playing video games was the spark that started Erik Harshman’s career and it is the guiding force to his continued growth and success. Spanning 14 years, Erik’s career began in 1993 when he joined Virgin Interactive as a QA lead. His talent and enthusiasm later earned him a position as a producer. Since then, he has joined forces with the industry leading publishers such as Hasbro Interactive, Vivendi, and Namco to produce top line digital entertainment. There are nearly 30 titles across multiple platforms to his credit including Scrabble Deluxe, Q*Bert, Ghosthunter and Pac-man World 3. His drive to always seek new challenges brought him to mobile development in 2005 where he produced and delivered quality entertainment.
Erik’s addition to the team brings a keen understanding as to what it takes to make digital experiences successful on a production level as well as the “play.” It has always been about the love and Erik tries to extend that notion into all aspects within his life.
