Gamesindustry.biz Magazine Issue 1

65

Charles Cecil,

Co-founder, Revolution Software “I left school in 1980 and decided to read Mechanical Engineering at university,” begins Broken Sword creator Charles Cecil.

“I won a sponsorship with Ford on what was called the Special Engineering Programme. A fellow student, Richard Turner, had disassembled the ROM of the ZX80 and had started selling the listing under the name Artic Computing. One day he showed me some TRS-80 games, including Scott Adams’ adventures - I was blown away. Richard suggested that if I were to write a text adventure then he would code it, and we could publish it under the Artic label and maybe earn some beer money. And so I did.”

Cecil co-founded Revolution in 1990 and he’s excited by the the changes in games today.

“In the early ‘80s we would meet our community at events called Microfairs,” he says. “It was hugely insightful to hear people’s opinions. The dominance of publishers and retailers for the next 20 years meant that we lost direct contact with our community, but with digital that direct link has been reestablished.”

Cecil has achieved a lot in 30 years, from Broken Sword to education initiatives. So what’s next?

“It is said that games have not yet had their Citizen Kane moment,” he says. “It would be amazing to create a new genre that utilises the rich veins of narrative creativity that are emerging.”

Fiona Sperry,

Founder, Three Fields Fiona Sperry began in book publishing at McGraw-Hill, before joining Criterion Software in 1997.

After initially working with external teams, she ended up leading the development of Dreamcast launch title Trickstyle.

“It was the first game I had been involved with from start to finish,” she says. “I led a small team of nine to make a Dreamcast game. It was also the game through which I met Alex Ward, who signed it for Acclaim.”

She asked Ward to join her and the two relaunched the studio as Criterion Games. Over the next 13 years they would develop the Burnout series, Black and rejuvenate Need for Speed - winning four BAFTAs. EA acquired the studio in 2004.

Then in 2014 she (along with Ward) decided to set-up their own outfit, Three Fields Entertainment.

“We have published two games in the last 9 months and we plan to release another in the next 6 months,” says Sperry. “We are able to be fast and nimble and we’re having the time of our lives.”

In association with

62-71 - GamesIndustry.Biz Top 100 Supplement_v3.indd 4

21/03/2017 13:20