Biographies
Eduardo Baraf – Director, Online / Mobile
Eduardo Baraf is the Director, Online / Mobile at Blue Fang Games responsible for end-to-end product development for online and mobile platforms. Most recently, Ed launched Lion Pride on the iPhone and is actively pushing new online endeavors at BFG.
Prior to joining Blue Fang Games, Eduardo was Director of Product Management at Tabula Digita responsible for their PC and Casual Online products in the educational game space. This included developing design and product requirements, building budgets, overseeing resources, building usage metrics, managing external development teams and contractors, and architecting the overall product line implementation. Some specific projects he was involved in was the MMO casual education game The League of Scientists and the Multiplayer education FPS Dimension M.
Prior to Tabula Digita, Eduardo Baraf was Studio Head at Mind Control Software where he oversaw all of Mind Control’s development efforts, day-to-day studio operations, and finances. He grew the staff of 12 to 40 and contributed his design and production skills to numerous titles. Before his promotion to Studio Head, Eduardo performed as a Project Manager, Producer and Lead Designer for the studio.
Bruce Blumberg – Lead Character Engineer
Bruce leads Blue Fang’s AI Team, which is focused on creating the technology, tools and processes that will enable Blue Fang to create expressive, intelligent and engrossing animal characters that will set the bar for the next generation of digital entertainment experiences.
Prior to joining Blue Fang, Bruce was an Associate Professor at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab where he served as the Director of the Synthetic Characters Group. This group performed ground breaking research on behavior, learning and motor control for autonomous animated characters.
As Director of the AI Team, Bruce has led teams that created and developed numerous award-winning interactive installations at such prestigious venues as SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, E3, and AAAI. An impressive list of published papers can be added to the list of awards he and his group have received, including Grand prize for “AlphaWolf” at the 2002 Digital Art Awards.
Prior to joining the MIT Media Lab, Bruce held management positions at Apple Computer and NeXT Computer.
Bruce holds a Master of Science degree in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Laboratory.
Alex Chouls – Creative Director
Alex is responsible for setting the creative direction for all Blue Fang products. As Creative Director, he leads the effort to identify and select future development projects by creating initial treatments for potential games. Through the prototype and pre-production phases he works closely with all disciplines to shape the overall game design and artistic approach. Throughout production Alex provides constant input to the team to ensure the final experience delivers on the core vision at the highest level of quality.
Alex has over a decade of experience in creative art and game development experience. Prior to his role as Creative Director, he served as Technical Art Director at Blue Fang where he collaborated with all internal departments to develop interactive prototypes to inform the design and production of Blue Fang’s games. Alex entered the game industry as a 3D Artist with Looking-Glass Studios where he worked on Jane’s Attack Squadron and Flight Unlimited III. He later joined Blue Fang as a Graphic Artist and his artistic talents and vision quickly earned him promotions to Lead Artist and Technical Art Director.
In addition to his work within the games industry, Alex also worked as a freelance modelmaker for Olive Jar Animation Studio, working on projects for companies including IMAX and Citibank. He has also scripted, shot and edited numerous short films as well as worked as a storyboard artist and Cinematographer. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts – Film from Emerson College in Boston, MA.
Hank Howie – President
Hank Howie is currently the President of Blue Fang Games where he guides Blue Fang’s business and strategic direction.
Hank began his career in the gaming industry as a Product Manager at Spinnaker Software in 1989. In 1993, Hank ran Interchange GameSpace, the Ziff-Davis/AT&T online multi-player game service. In 1996 he joined Restrac, Inc., as their Internet G.M., where his team built and launched the Internet recruiting service Webhire. Hank joined Blue Fang at its founding in 1998 and was named President shortly thereafter.
Hank has guided Blue Fang for over 11 years. He profitably managed Blue Fang’s 9-year partnership with Microsoft, and led Blue Fang’s successful transition to its new publishing partner – THQ. In the interim, he raised $3 million in debt capital for Blue Fang. Blue Fang will launch World of Zoo, its next big game project for the Wii and PC platforms – in conjunction with partner THQ – this fall, 2009. In addition, Blue Fang shipped its first iPhone game, Lion Pride, in July, 2009, which achieved Top 10 status in both the arcade and strategy iPhone game categories.
Hank holds a BA degree in History from Bates College and an MBA degree from Boston College.
Adam Levesque – CEO/Founder
Adam Levesque is the co-founder of Blue Fang Games and creator of the best-selling Zoo Tycoon franchise.
Adam began his career as a game tester and later became the Producer and Designer for top-selling “NASCAR Racing” and “NASCAR Racing 2” from Papyrus Design Group. These two games had combined sales of over 2 million units and generated over $50 million in revenue. Adam left his role of General Manager at Papyrus in 1998 to start Blue Fang Games.
Adam served as Creative Director for Blue Fang Games through 2008 where he created the best-selling Zoo Tycoon franchise. In this role, Adam oversaw the release of 11 Zoo Tycoon products which generated sales of over $200M worldwide. Adam is now focused on new online endeavors at Blue Fang.
Scott Triola – Chief Operating Officer
As COO, Scott is responsible for supporting Blue Fang Games in the areas of business strategy, finance, marketing and public relations. In addition, Scott acts as the primary liaison with the publisher’s marketing and PR team.
Prior to joining Blue Fang Games, Scott worked as a Brand Manager at Atari where he launched and managed products on PC and console gaming platforms. His portfolio included key franchises including Transformers, RollerCoaster Tycoon, Deer Hunter and Axis & Allies. In his role, Scott also managed relationships with leading entertainment companies including DreamWorks, Hasbro, Six Flags and Intel.
Prior to joining Atari, Scott worked as a Consultant for The Boston Consulting Group, a leading international strategy and general management consulting firm. As a Consultant, Scott worked on a variety of strategic planning projects for companies across multiple industries.
Scott holds a MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Business Economics and Psychology from Brown University.
John Wheeler – Founder
John is the Co-founder of Blue Fang Games. John is responsible for driving the work of the Engineering Department and integrating the team’s work into Blue Fang’s products. John also researches technological advances in game development and assesses new technologies for internal use.
John’s 15 year game development career took off at Papyrus Design Group, where he began as an engineer on “IndyCar Racing” and became Technical Lead on Papyrus’ ground-breaking “NASCAR Racing”, “NASCAR Racing 2” and “Grand Prix Legends”. John left Papyrus in 1998 to form Blue Fang Games with Adam Levesque. John holds a BSE in Computer Science from Princeton University.
Eduardo Baraf is the Director, Online / Mobile at Blue Fang Games responsible for end-to-end product development for online and mobile development. Most recently, Ed launched Lion Pride on the iPhone and is actively pushing new online endeavors at BFG.
Prior to joining Blue Fang Games, Eduardo was Director of Product Management at Tabula Digita responsible for their PC and Casual Online products in the educational game space. This included developing design and product requirements, building budgets, overseeing resources, building usage metrics, managing external development teams and contractors, and architecting the overall product line implementation. Some specific projects he was involved in was the MMO casual education game The League of Scientists and the Multiplayer education FPS Dimension M.
Prior to Tabula Digita, Eduardo Baraf was Studio Head at Mind Control Software where he oversaw all of Mind Control’s development efforts, day-to-day studio operations, and finances. He grew the staff of 12 to 40 and contributed his design and production skills to numerous titles. Before his promotion to Studio Head, Eduardo performed as a Project Manager, Producer and Lead Designer for the studio.
