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An archived Hellgate: London feature. See the Hellgate Archives for more.

Interview: Bill Roper, Dave Brevik, Erich Schaefer, Max Schaefer, Ken Williams, Tyler Thompson, Dave Glenn, Phil Shenk, Matt Householder, Steve Goldstein, Tricia Gray.
Date: April 25, 2007
Source: 1up.com.

Flagship Personality Profiles

Bill Roper
Chief Executive Officer

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Blackthorne - Sound and Music Composition
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans - Producer / Voice Acting / Manual Design & Layout / World Design
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness - Voice Acting / Narration / Manual Design & Layout
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal - Executive Producer / Storyline Consultant / Voice Acting / Narration
StarCraft - Producer / Voice Acting / Manual Design & Layout
StarCraft: Brood War - Executive Producer / Voice Acting / Manual Design & Layout / Campaign Design
Diablo - Producer / Strike Team / Voice Production, Directing & Casting / Story / Voice Acting / Manual Design & Layout
Diablo II - Senior Producer / Strike Team / Voice Casting / Voice Acting
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction - Strike Team / Global Launch Team / Voice Acting
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos - Strike Team / Voice Acting
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne - Voice Acting

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
World Design & Continuity / Voice Acting / Whatever production and design work is required

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
I have been playing the Evoker almost exclusively as a class advocate. This means that I focus in on what needs to be done to make the class play better, so it is constructive fun.

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
The constant flow of play which works well with my attention deficit style of play.

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself? I am so excited to be a part of the crew at Flagship. This is honestly the best team I have ever worked with.

David Brevik
Chief Visionary Officer

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Super High Impact Football (Genesis) - programmer
Aero the Acrobat (Genesis/SNES) - programmer, some design
NBA Jam (many platforms) - programmer, but not for long
Justice League Task Force (Genesis) - programming/design
Quarterback Club (Game Gear, Gameboy) - programming/design
Diablo (PC) - programming/design/co-project lead
Diablo II (PC) - programming/design/co-project lead
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (PC) - design
Starcraft (PC) - design feedback
World of Warcraft (PC) - design feedback

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
My job is hard to describe. I am the Chief Visionary Officer of Flagship. I do a lot of design and programming, mainly focused on quests, but I contribute to skills, overall design, level design and all sorts of other things.

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
Marksman no, question. The main reason is because that class more than any other works like I had originally envisioned the game to be. The pitch I made when I suggested Hellgate was a first-person shooter Diablo.

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
There are so many parts that I love. The action, obviously, must be fun, but I think my favorite part is the process of building a character. This is something I have enjoyed since I first played D&D as a kid.

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
I love playing all types of games; board games, console games and computer games. I also love to watch and follow many sports, my favorite sport being Baseball. I am super liberal and idealistic; so many people refer to me as the hippy of the group. I have 3 kids, ranging from 4-13 years old.

Erich Schaefer
Chief Creative Officer

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Diablo, Diablo II - Lead Designer
Diablo - Environment Artist

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
Lead Designer

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
Blademaster. Slice and Dice, baby.

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
The Pinata effect of blowing up monsters and getting goodies.

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
I'm shy around girls.

Max Schaefer
Chief Operation Officer

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Some early Quarterback Clubs on GameBoy and GameGear, the Diablos, and Mythos! All in various art director, design, and producer roles.

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
On Hellgate, aside from input into design, my main Hellgate task is to make things smoke, steam, blow up, burn, shoot, break, bleed, hit, and crumble. I'm the particle guy, and let me tell you, this game has lots of particles!

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
No long-term favorites yet, but for 15 minutes of instant gratification, you can't beat the Blademaster.

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
I think it's that I can geek out for six hours, but it's also fun to play when you only have 15 minutes. You can have an outside life and also play action RPGs like Hellgate.

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
There's nothing interesting here. Move along.

Ken Williams
Chief Financial Officer

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Diablo, Diablo 2, Diablo 2 Expansion - Producer and Operations

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
One of the Executive Producers, Operations and Business & Legal.

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
Engineer, equipping guns on the turrets

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
Killing Demons and finding new random items from them.

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
I like reading, television, Baseball, Football (American and European)

Tyler Thompson
Technical Director

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Diablo 2 - I was a programmer/designer. I mostly worked on the skills and random level generation.
Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction - I was the Project Lead. I worked on the design and code for the skills, monsters, random levels and items.

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
I'm the Director of Technology. I design the skills and contribute to the design of the monsters and weapons. Together with several other programmers, I work on the graphics, particles, skills, monster AI's, weapons, tools, animation and ragdolls.

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
Guardian - Only the Guardian can survive my reckless play style.

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
That feeling that the next crate, zombie or boss monster might drop the best item that I have ever seen.

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
My favorite hat is a black derby with a feather.

David Glenn
Art Director

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Diablo 2, Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction - Lead Background Artist
SimCity 3000 - Background Artist

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
Art Director, Backgrounds

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
Marksman; enjoy FPS weaponry

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
Phat loot and the pacing of gameplay

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
I'm a professional motorcycle racer, promoting Flagship Studios on the national racing scene (when not injured).

Phil Shenk
Art Director

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction - Lead Artist
Diablo 2 - Lead Artist

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
Art Director

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
Summoner - Ah, my minions

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
You never know what's coming up, just one more level...

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
I've got a lust for life.

Matt Householder
Director of Product Development

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
Too many to count. Highlights include: Krull coin-op 1983 designer/programmer/artist, California Games 1987 creator/designer/producer, Diablo II 2000 talent scout/writer/producer/creator of "!"

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
Talent scout, hiring, editing, facilities, producer/manager

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
They are all good.

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
Killing monsters and finding items.

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
See Matt compete in the Robotron and Defender Senior Gamers Tour coming soon to your city!

Steve Goldstein
Director of Business Development, Legal Counsel

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them? Hellgate is actually the first game I have directly worked on. Prior to joining Flagship, I was outside counsel for several video game, technology and internet companies.

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team? I am the Director of Business Development and General Counsel. Basically, I'm responsible for turning the Hellgate IP into other cool stuff such as comics, action figures, manga, television shows, movies, lunchboxes, you name it. I also negotiate all of our contracts and handle our legal issues.

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
I like pets. The Summoner is one of my favorites, although I'm also a big fan of the Engineer.

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
Blowing up monsters and getting loot.

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
I am the sole representative of Flagship Los Angeles. I'm based in Southern California so I can regularly meet with the Hollywood types & such.

Tricia Gray
Director of Global Marketing and Communications

1. What games have you worked on before, and what did you do on them?
I tested A LOT of games from Sega and Sony ( from Guardian Heroes to MotorToon Grand Prix) But I did PR for Tomb Raider 2, Grand Theft Auto: London, FlatOut (just to name a few).

2. What do you do on the Hellgate team?
I am the Global Marketing and Communications Director

3. What character class are you favoring in Hellgate right now and why?
Cabalist Summoner I LOVE PETS!

4. What's your favorite part of action RPGs like Hellgate?
The LOOT baby!

5. Is there anything else interesting you want to add about yourself?
I am a big Wendy O Williams fan and I collect stamps.