My family moved to mesa when I was 11 and I have been here ever since. I did live in Europe for 2 years (Spain), which was totally freakin’ awesome, and I think about moving back there all the time. I am now happily married with 2 kids that I love to death.

I have a bunch of hobbies, and I absolutely love sports. I play golf whenever I can, I love it. I also played high school volleyball for 3 years, and went to AZ High School All-Stars as Outside Hitter. I also love MMA, and am of course a huge UFC fan. I really like playing the drums, and have played the guitar for the better part of the last 15 years or so. Some of my favorite bands are Metallica, Strung Out, Whippersnapper, Lagwagon, and then Avenged Sevenfold is slowly becoming one of my favorites as well.

I love hanging out with my buddies, and I love going to the movies. It is basically impossible for me to pick my favorite movie, but if I had to pick one, it would be a toss up between Snatch, Fight Club, Gladiator or The Count of Monte Cristo. My favorite genre of movie is government conspiracy/thriller or mafia flicks. I also like pretty much anything with mystery in it. My favorite video game series is Zelda, but if I had to choose a favorite game I would pick Goldeneye, Super Mario Bros 3, or Mike Tyson’s Punch out.

I work here at FireSky as a mesh and texture artist creating 3-D models and painting them. I also spend some time on world beautification touching up the environments.

Moving out to Phoenix is how most of my game career got started.  I came out here initially for school, to learn what I could about creating games and become immersed in the environment.  Having the opportunity to work at Firesky was the chance that I needed to jump into the industry and find out definitively that this is what I want to do.

Now the real secret to all of this work is the research behind it.  Spending time learning the tools and systems that I work with is extremely important.  Once I get down what I need to do, it’s time for field research.  Most of this consists of many long, hard hours of “playing” games to see what has been done, how it was done, and why it’s good.  This research can really take a lot out of me, as sometimes the other players don’t appreciate my study of game flow and how tactics and game flow work in levels which either consists of me testing tactics, or in most cases, dying many times.  Research can definitely be brutal, but always worth it.

I’ve always wanted to make video games. Initially I would make levels for myself though over time I began to make levels that everyone would enjoy playing. As a result of my chosen hobby/career I earned my Bachelor’s in Game Design from UAT, where I was able to add to my skills and meet others with similar goals in life.

Throughout the last few years I’ve worked with others on various mods or campaigns using several different engines, and even landed a job testing for a time (And yes, testing is veeeeeery different from playing), though I finally managed to become a full-time Level Designer for Firesky working on Stargate: Worlds and Stargate: Resistance!

My time at Firesky has been great. Everyone here are friends, play games together, go to the movies together, and really enjoy working with one another. I’ve been able to not only use my skills but continue to add to my skillset, which is loads of fun. I’ve even joined the Firesky Warhammer Campaign where my new legions of Chaos are marching full ahead! All in all, being at Firesky is a great experience!

I was born in Iowa but raised in Arizona since I was three. I attended the University of Advancing Technology where I got my bachelors in software engineering. Beyond a great education, UAT led me to be involved with the creation of Dodgeball Source which took our three man team to GDC 2006 where our mod was a finalist in the IGF Best Half-Life 2 Mod competition.

In and out of work, games and computers are where my passion lies. When not working you’ll probably find me doing one of the following; trying out the latest video games, having fun at one of the local arcades, battling in tabletop games like Warhammer, reading up on new game tech, looking at benchmarks for computer hardware, or enjoying one of the old classics on XBLA/Virtual Arcade. Beyond that I have many hobbies. Martial arts has always been a big part of my life. Taekwondo is my most practiced style where I have over 10 years of experience but I’ve also had training in Brazilian Jujitsu, Kick Boxing, and Kenpo. Other hobbies include: enjoying good beer with friends, free running, going to the local hookah bars, rock climbing, driving cars/motorcycles, playing sports, and finding the best “That’s what she said!” moments.

I play a large variety of games spanning most genres. Recent favorites are Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2, Forza 3, Left 4 Dead, and the new Wallace and Gromit adventure games. The most influential games for me would be the Zelda series. In my opinion, their combination of story, action, and exploration while making it all fun played a huge part in influencing most games today. A good portion of my game time is spent playing rhythm games both at home and the arcade. I still spend a few hours each week on the DDR machines at the arcade where I recently beat Arrabbiata on Double Expert.

As a gameplay programmer I tend to focus on combat systems and weapons. I work closely with the artists and designers to make sure everything looks and acts like it’s supposed to.

Mark Thompson is an Art Director with 20 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 grown to 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 both nationally and abroad.

More recently, Mark transitioned into video game development as the Art Manager/Director for Impressions/Vivendi Universal Games while also serving as the 3D Animation Program Director for Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts. After leaving Vivendi, Mark took a position as Art Director at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment where he is currently hard at work developing their next title for release. 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.

Jeremy Taylor, a veteran of Microsoft, Disney and THQ serves as the company’s Director of Marketing.

Jeremy brings over 10 years of video game and consumer software marketing experience to his role. With experience in a variety of titles including sports, MMOs, educational, and fantasy titles across console and PC platforms he has managed product portfolios of over $25m per annum. In the past he has specialized in dealing with licensed IP’s and has dealt with Nickelodeon, Disney, Paramount, Fox and MGM amongst others.

He is currently responsible for creating and maintaining a solid marketing infrastructure including all marketing, PR, and business development to support the launch of this exciting new Stargate game.

Only after we decided to move from Twin Cities Minnesoootah to the Valley of the Sun in January 2006 did I realized that timing is everything!  First let me start by introducing myself.  Hi, my name is Dana Stanton and my blood has officially thinned and I am now fully acclimated to desert living….(altogether) “hi, Dana”. 

Okay, back to that timing thing.  I landed this job on a near fluke and have no other explanation of getting hired other than I was meant to be here.  I have been with this company since February 2006 and have grown to love the people I work with.  They bring intelligent sarcasm which I greatly appreciate.  I am always up for a practical joke and friendly competition and I’m sure payback is coming when I least expect it.  I look forward to many more great memories with this special team!

Now, if you choose, you may read about my stuffy professional description and accomplishments.  I currently serve as the company’s Director of Corporate Services.  I am responsible for all contract, legal, administrative and investor matters for the company.  My department is responsible for working with outside legal counsel and with addressing all inquiries and requests from the company’s investors.  I have a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa majoring in Marketing and recently obtained my certification as a certified Paralegal.  Go Hawks!

In case you ever wondered what over a decade of general IT, multimedia, programming and specialized Quality Assurance experience can get you, it’s a few award plaques of recognition and ultimately the opportunity to work on amazing products with inspiring people in the great game industry.

I’ve been with our company since February of 2008 and since then I’ve been accountable for architecting, developing and leading many different projects. Each project can require a variety of skills and use a cocktail of scripting or programming languages. My official title is: Sr. QA Automation Engineer. In my daily tasks, I morph across a large spectrum of disciplines including quality assurance, tools development, game development, web development and project management. I was recently told that my title is sometimes deceiving but however you look at it, the first and last words of my title hold true. I’m also often accountable for driving many of my co-workers to lunch – which might mean that the second to last word in my title often holds true as well. You decide.

I was born in Reno, Nevada where I lived until 19 or so. I took off to New York City for school where I attended Parsons School of Design. While I enjoyed the city I elected to attend UAT in Tempe, Arizona so I could have a more direct education. I finished out with my intended Bachelor’s in Multimedia. While in college I was in the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

As far back as I can remember I have enjoyed making and playing games. As a kid I came up with a table top games one to note is a version of Mortal Kombat for me and my friends to play. It’s hard to pick a single favorite game but I have a special attachment to American McGee’s Alice. If there is any movie to watch it is probably The Emperor’s New Groove. For hobbies I pass the time painting miniatures, playing video games (obvs.), and if I’m not at work then I’m out with my friends and doing healthy things like going outside.

My roll at Firesky is as a game and level designer. I have multiple responsibilities in both categories of the job. And yes, I love, love, love my job.

A seventeen-year veteran of the gaming industry, Jeff brings outstanding experience to any company he works with. With strong 3D animation and model-building skills, he has taught students and co-workers not only how to refine their level design skills for the gaming industry, but he also reinforces the value of being a strong team player.

He began his career in digital games in 1992 at Bethesda Softworks. There Jeff worked as an artist/animator on games such as The Terminator: 2029 and The Elder Scrolls: Arena. He continued his experience at NorthStar Studios, the first developer in the U.S. for the Playstation I. Finding his way to Texas, Jeff joined 3DO-Austin where he worked for several years as a lead artist/animator and later worked at Big Sky Interactive building and designing levels for games such as Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius and SpongeBob Squarepants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman. Wanting to give back to the industry, Jeff became one of the founding faculty at The Guildhall at SMU where he, and other industry veterans, taught masters level classes, his being in Level Design; the first Masters degree ever offered in this field.

After spending five years teaching and creating some of the best Level Designers in the industry, he decided to move forward with his career again and joined the ranks at Superstition Studios working with some of the most talented artists, designers, and programmers around. Today Jeff is with CME working as the Lead Level Designer.

Jason is responsible for the production and publishing of our games.  Jason’s fifteen years of operations, software development, and production experience provide the skills necessary to ensure our studio works like a well-oiled machine. He has shipped several pieces of corporate software – 3 separate programs necessary for a $30M electronic lock product line, an enterprise wide software solution for a $50M manufacturing company, as well as numerous follow on additions to that software.  He has also managed a distribution and customer service facility employing over fifty people for an international manufacturing company, and has helped companies ranging in size from $500K per year to $75M per year to operate more efficiently.  Jason also has several years experience working with IT to help business units operate more effectively with fewer resources.

On the financial side, he has led two different $50M companies through six years of revenue forecasting and expense budgeting, has led a 100K circulation newspaper through three years of audits of circulation without an adjustment, and has always come in on time and under budget, whether it was for a project or a monthly departmental expense.

Jason looks forward to ensuring that CME’s ventures exceed every expectation.

My name is Justin Messner and I’m an Environment Artist at FireSky. Growing up I was always drawing, building stuff with LEGOs or playing Nintendo. These days not a lot has changed, those hobbies have just been upgraded to painting digitally, building 3D environments, and playing first-person shooters. I also enjoy other things like bike riding, playing dodgeball and watching TV with my family, but I pretty much can’t go more than a day or two without doing something creative. Coming up with game ideas or making music are sometimes the result of this creativity but mostly I like to paint. If you’re curious about what kind of art I do you can check out my portfolio at justinmessner.com. My passions in life are art and games, so getting the opportunity to merge the two into a career has been a dream come true.

Simon started as a game designer over ten years ago when he co-founded Round Table Productions, designing collectible card games in the UK. As the CCG craze ebbed, Simon moved into the pen and paper RPG field. Simon wrote, edited, and produced more than one hundred roleplaying products, managing several award-winning product lines, as well as designing card games, miniatures games, and board games.

In 2008, Simon moved to the USA to join Superstition Studios, where he served as assistant producer and systems designer before becoming lead designer for CME’s newest project. He lives in Gilbert, Arizona with his wife and two young children.

Originally from Connecticut, I found out I was one of those lucky people who knew what they wanted to do from an early age. I attribute Chrono Trigger as my tipping point in discovering that I wanted to work in videogames, and ever since I have been striving for that goal whether I was conscious of it or not. I have less time to enjoy the games that triggered my desire to work as I do now, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to complete games 100%. This ends up being particularly daunting as I tend to enjoy JRPGs as well as many other genres, so with limited time I find myself looking at certain achievement or item requirements and going, “…you want me to do what? Yeah, I can live without that.”

While in school, I discovered that above all else I loved the concept of making characters move and bringing them to life. This combined with my love of videogames and basically became a simple connect-the-dots for where I wanted to work so I could be part of the creation process. And it’s a good thing, too. It was a great day when I could prove to my parents that all that time they claimed I was “wasting” was actually very careful and diligent preparation for my chosen career.

In the beginning, trained as a theatrical lighting designer, Chris Klug worked on Broadway, in regional theater and opera, and toured with various rock n' roll bands. Starting his game design career with Simulations Publications, Inc., in 1981, he designed the 2nd edition of DragonQuest (a fantasy RPG and winner of a Game of the Year Award). When TSR bought SPI in 1982, Chris and the rest of the SPI staff moved on to form Victory Games. There Chris headed up the role playing games division.

After leaving Victory Games, Chris became a computer game designer and has worked for SegaSoft, TSR, Hasbro Interactive, 3W, THQ, Simon and Schuster Interactive, Target Games, h2o Interactive, Gizmo Games, Westwood Studios, EA and GT Interactive. Some of his computer game credits include Star Trek DS9: Dominion Wars, Europa Universalis, Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, Diamond Dreams Baseball, and Aidyn Chronicles: First Mage and Earth & Beyond.

Chris is a member of the Writer's Guild of America West.

This is Matthew Klausmeier.  Everyone calls him Matt.  He’s got a twin brother.  He lived most of his life in Indiana, and still loves that state.  While he was in elementary school, his dad started teaching him BASIC on an old Commodore.  From then on Matthew continued to teach himself programming.  After high school, he spent some time as a computer repair technician, a fast food employee, a magician, a videographer, a balloon twister, and a missionary.  It was on a particularly hot and muggy day in a third-world country when he realized that he wasn’t a very good missionary, but he was a very good programmer.  So he flew back to the states, got his degree from UAT, and landed his first official, full-time, for-pay programming job with Superstition Studios, one of the Firesky studios.  In his spare time, he likes to read, play Warhammer (the miniature war-gaming version), play D&D, play board games, play mini golf, collect Magic cards and program stuff, especially web programming.  He looks forward to having all his college debt paid off so he can go visit his friends and family living around the world.

Originally born to an albino spider monkey couple in the Panama Canal, my love affair with audio began in middle school when I realized that the sound of nails on a chalk board is nearly identical to the sounds made by female spider monkeys when in heat.

After becoming fully human, guitar, drums and keyboards became second nature. Combining this with  natural interests in technology and entertainment, as well as degrees in Computer Science and 3D Animation/Special Effects, the transition to interactive audio was as natural a choice as could possibly be for a transmutated Panamanian albino monkey. With almost two decades of recording and performing experience, my music and sound effects have been featured on numerous games as well as radio and television. Working on a project like Stargate: Resistance while simultaneously recording my new CD (which focuses on grunge, punk, rock, and funk) has really allowed me to stretch my proverbial wings – to the point where I’m considering becoming a pterodactyl next.

I am originally from Brazil and moved over here when I was young. I have always loved to draw and play games and I consider myself fortunate to get to combine the two. One of my favorite games would have to be the Diablo series and I am looking forward to playing Diablo 3.

I was a little late getting into the game industry but I think these are definitely exciting times to be working in this field. I got some formal training at Art Center in Pasadena and afterward worked on a game called Gods and Heroes where I learned a lot and met a lot of great people but unfortunately the game got cancelled.

Soon after that I heard that somebody was making a game based on Stargate. I thought the Stargate storyline was very appropriate for an online game and had a lot of potential so I decided to come on board and have been here ever since . I work here as a concept artist helping designers visualize their ideas.

Shane Hensley was the studio head for Superstition Studios on an unannounced project before becoming the President of Game Development at CME. Shane started in the interactive entertainment industry as a freelance designer and writer over 20 years ago. He also created dozens of card games, roleplaying games, miniature games and novels for such companies as TSR / Wizards of the Coast/ Hasbro, West End Games, FASA, Harper-Collins, Topps, WizKids and his own company, Pinnacle Entertainment Group. He first joined the computer game industry in 1992 when he worked as a scenario designer for SSI’s Panzer General series and tester for numerous other projects. Most recently, Shane worked as a lead on Cryptic Studios’ City of Heroes / Villains® before working on a number of prototype projects there. He left his good friends at Cryptic in 2006 only to work on a project of his own creation.

Shane is a frequent guest at gaming conventions around the world and loves to talk games and game design with fans and friends. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS in History and Political Science, and received his MA in Special Ops from the American Military University. Mr. Hensley served in the Virginia National Guard and lives with his wife and two sons in beautiful Gilbert, Arizona.

Michael Conn is the Sr. QA Test Lead for Firesky with ten years of experience in software quality assurance. He has been a gamer for as long as he can remember. Growing up in southern California, his career began doing freelance computer repair and support for small businesses at the age of 17.

Michael provided customer support for over a thousand different video game titles at GT Interactive Software (now Atari) before moving into quality assurance at Microsoft. After shipping Windows Millennium Edition he changed departments to what is now known as Microsoft Games Studios in order to merge his childhood passion for games with his professional career. He spent three years with MGS in the racing games division before accepting an offer at Symantec to work on their enterprise end-point compliance solution.

Missing the fun and excitement of games in the workplace, he left Symantec and spent two years at Bally Technologies in Las Vegas, Nevada. He spent his time there working on numerous slot machine games and slot operating systems before the opportunity to join the Firesky crew fell into his lap.

Michael has been with FireSky since 2007 and works in production, engineering, systems design, and IT in addition to his QA role.

Here at FireSky I am the lead TA which stands for Technical Artist. For those of you that are not familiar with the Game industry, my job is to be the go between guy between Art and Programming. Working on SGR has been one hell of a ride but that's not the first game I ever worked on.

The first game I ever made was one that I designed, coded, and shipped myself for the Atari 2600 entertainment system called N.E.R.D. which stood for Nano Recovery Emmersion Device. Basically it was like space invaders meets the human body.

When I am not working ( Like that ever happens) I play a lot of video games and watch tons of South Park and Futurama. My favorite genera of games are FPS, like the Battlefield series, TF2, and most recently COD MWII and well that's pretty much it...I look forward to shooting each and every one of you in face when SGR drops sometime very soon....

I have been with FireSky since the Precambrian Era. After witnessing the cooling of earth’s crust I began to build a Finance department for what was then known as Firesky.  I am originally from the rolling Palouse Hills of North Idaho; Moscow to be precise.   I lived in Moscow for most of my youth, graduated Moscow Senior High School (Pride of the North) and went on to attend The University of Idaho where I double majored in Accounting and Finance.  That’s The University of Idaho, not to be confused with that other school in Idaho that plays on the Smurf Turf.  We only play on blue turf when we are winning bowl games.  Go Vandals!

It was while attending U of I that discovered the MUDD.  I played several DIKU MUDDs fairly frequently throughout college where the gamer in me was developed. I spent a few years in public accounting, during which time my inner gamer lie dormant but was quickly awoken when I accepted the position of Controller at Firesky.  I have logged countless hours running around Azeroth from the time I was hired to around the time Burning Crusade was released. EA also has carved out a good chunk of my time with its fantastic football and hockey games. Sometimes I also enjoy daylight and people who aren’t composed of pixels. Mafia Wars manages to creep its way into my daily routine, although I have no idea why.  Art Director, Mark Thompson is no doubt to blame.

I enjoy games of all kinds, particularly sports. I have been a member of the company hack circle, Frisbee ring, Tuesday night basketball crew, Thursday night pool group, and Sunday flag football game. I am a big fan of our game and of the people who have worked so hard to develop it. Also, Pepsi > Coke.

My name is Becky Betancourt and I run the Human Resources department here at Firesky. I started back in December 2007 and the time since has been quite a ride. I have worked in HR for many years in a few firms around the valley, but I am happy to call Firesky “home”. I have an enthusiastic approach when responding to and resolving all of our employee's questions & concerns and do my best to resolve them all in a timely manner.

In addition to my work and keeping the devs in line, I enjoy camping with my husband in the White Mountains and around Arizona’s lakes, attending as many Diamondback & Coyotes games as possible and singing karaoke.

I love working here because of the creative, supportive and fun people we have within our walls. I am so excited about where our company is and where the road will lead us from here.