Randel B. Reiss
Phone:
(650) 366-7601/Cell (650) 208-4994/ randel@randelreiss.com
ADVANCED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Skills Summary
25+ Years of Successful
Internal and External Game Development
Strong Technical, Design and
Production Expertise in Console, PC and Online Gaming
Results-oriented professional who has consistently
delivered projects on time & on budget. Built excellent network of
US and international developers.
Willing and able to travel extensively. Expertise
includes:
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Managed Internal and External Teams |
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Accurate Project Scheduling and
Budgeting |
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Senior-Level Technical Expertise |
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Complex Project Management |
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Business Development and Product
Acquisition |
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Business Plan Development |
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P&L and Budget Management |
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Team Recruitment and Management |
Professional Experience and Achievements
PERPETUAL ENTERTAINMENT,
Executive Producer
Designed
large-team production pipe-line, process and procedures for state-of-the-art MMOs.
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Created a comprehensive production, tracking and
reporting methodology for all engineering.
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Designed and implemented a modern large-scale,
large team, MMO production pipeline and design
process; collaborating all facets of the company.
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Developed a complete business plan for a
micro-transaction based MMO portal service.
INDEPENDENT CONSULTING 2002
– 2007
Consultant
Provided
strategic guidance and tactical assistance to major video game publishers on a
wide range of issues.
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CEO, Board Director, and co-owner of the first indie MMORPG company, Prairie
Games. 50,000 registered users on
Minions of Mirth for PC and Macintosh.
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Finalized 4 SKUs of Backyard Wrestling 2, 2 regions
of PS2 and 2 regions of Xbox, as Senior Producer for Eidos Interactive.
Required heavy travel.
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Launched www.GameLaw.ORG,
the first and only live, centralized, portal of legal and business issues
affecting the interactive entertainment software game industry.
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Represented 3DO as an
expert witness in lawsuit brought by former developer. Wrote
extensive expert witness declaration in support of 3DO. Plaintiff agreed to a deal within two weeks.
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Conducted due diligence on the developers for
EA. Pulled together small team and
traveled to studio to study technology, processes and staffing.
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Resolved networking issues for EA on Battlefield 1942. Led team of engineers to develop patch which
resolved the issues and helped the game become a trendsetter in online
networking.
EVIL TWIN STUDIOS/DOPPELGANGER,
San Francisco, California 2004,
1 Year
Vice President Product Development
Original
founding partner in startup focusing on 3D social environment for online teens.
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Launched online, closed-Beta milestone, to support
up to 300 simultaneous users, system designed for up to 11 million users, with
behavioral metric tracking.
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Managed partner relations with major beverage,
music and clothing conglomerates.
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Recruited development staff of 12 and managed
pre-product through Alpha development.
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Closed Series A funding
with Draper Fisher and Venture Strategy Partners.
Randel B. Reiss – Page 2
Sony
Computer Entertainment
Production
Manager/Studio Director, Online Studios
Initially recruited on a
contract basis to develop online strategy for Playstation
2. Subsequently hired full-time and charged with the
design, technology, development and marketing of SCEA
Online Service for Playstation 2. Recruited,
trained and managed an expert team of 20 professionals whose diverse
backgrounds and technical expertise resulted in success.
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Sourced and recruited three external development
teams, and managed a total of six external developers.
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Built relationships with high profile business
partners such as AOL, Real Networks, MacroMedia, Cisco, Earthlink, Netscape,
and AT&T.
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Built technology which allowed PlayStation users to
go online using any ISP, which provided Sony with a competitive advantage as
the Dreamcast worked with only one.
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Designed user-friendly interface so that customers
had only to answer a few simple questions in order to set-up their system for
online game play.
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Assumed responsibility for troubled studio which
was working on two products, including a MMOG.
Evaluated current projects and made the decision to terminate the online
game for financial reasons.
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Established model for break-even analysis for
online games which is now used throughout Sony.
Technopop,
Inc.,
Founder/Executive
Producer
Founded and managed this independent game and
software developer which grew to 40-person studio with annual revenues of $2
million within five years. Also managed external projects and contarctors.
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Saved Sega’s Marvel license by developing product
which sold to over 2/3 of Sega Genesis console owners. Marvel had been
intending to pull the license but changed their minds after this success.
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Designed and developed action/arcade titles Zero Tolerance and Beyond Zero Tolerance for Accolade.
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Signed lucrative development deal with Trimark
pictures to create 7- book series with heavy animation and celebrity voice-over
to compete with Broderbund’s Living Books.
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Performed due diligence for Sony Interactive.
Conducted formal on-site review and evaluation of independent developers to assess
long term development capabilities.
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Designed state-of the-art development facility
which included high resolution digital video and still production facility,
custom blue-screen studio and digital sound studio.
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Developed software for the Mac, including
‘MacSleuth’ and ‘MovieWorks.
ASCII
Entertainment Software, Inc.,
Director,
Product Development
Led software and peripheral
product development and market strategy for 3DO, MSDOS, Super NES, Sega
Genesis, CD-ROM, Macintosh, Game Gear, and Gameboy. Managed
team of 14 as well as off-site contractors and four external development
studios – two of which were in
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Developed business plan; negotiated contracts;
performed product cost analysis and budgeting; scheduled projects; traveled
heavily and built strong relationships with Nintendo and Sega.
Early Career
Project
Leader, Farallon Computing, Inc., 1989
– 1990
Software
Engineer, Electronic Arts 1985 –
1987
Project
Manager, Sinclair Research Ltd 1981
Education
Northeastern University,