Cliff Bleszinski

Clifford Bleszinski

Bleszinski at the Gears of War 2 launch event in Universal City Walk Los Angeles in 2008
Born Clifford Michael Bleszinski
February 12, 1975
North Andover, Massachusetts, USA
Residence Raleigh, North Carolina
Other names CliffyB, Dude Huge[1]
Occupation Game designer
Spouse(s) Lauren Bleszinski

Clifford Michael Bleszinski (born February 12, 1975), popularly known as CliffyB, is an American video game designer, former design director for the game development company Epic Games, and the founder of Boss Key Productions. He is most famous for his role in the development of the Unreal franchise, especially 1999's Unreal Tournament, and the Gears of War franchise.[2]

Career

His first commercial game was made at age 17: an independently developed point-and-click adventure game called The Palace of Deceit: Dragon's Plight.[3][4] Bleszinski created the game while he was a student at Bonita High School in La Verne, California, and released it in 1991 via his own company, Game Syndicate Productions. He also sent a copy of the game to Tim Sweeney, the founder of Epic Games (then known as Epic MegaGames).[5] Sweeney was impressed with the game and hired Bleszinski to work at Epic.[6][7][8]

Epic Games

His next game was Dare to Dream, a point-and-click adventure, released in 1993. One of Epic's first multi-person projects brought Bleszinski's talents to bear on 1994's Jazz Jackrabbit and then 1998's Jazz Jackrabbit 2. He would help develop many of the spin-off games such as Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare. It was with his involvement in designing the first-person shooter Unreal, though, that Bleszinski began the work for which he is best known today. Unreal grew out of an idea by fellow Epic designer James Schmalz.[9] Bleszinski felt that it was crucial to Epic that Unreal be a success. From the concept in late 1994 to release in May 1998, Epic threw all of its talent and money at Unreal, and it paid off: the result was a successful first-person shooter. In addition to his work on the Unreal series, Bleszinski served as lead designer on the Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War. The game's sequel, Gears of War 2 was released in November 2008 for the Xbox 360. On April 12, 2010, Bleszinski appeared on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to show the debut trailer for Gears of War 3, called "Ashes to Ashes".[10][11] Bleszinki's last game for the company was Gears of War 3.[12][13]

Departure from Epic

Bleszinski at the Gears of War event at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 2006

Cliff announced his departure from Epic Games on October 3, 2012. He has worked in Epic Games for 20 years and decided to chart the next stage of his career, giving the reason that he had been making games since he was a teenager and that it was time for a break.[14][15]

On July 29, 2013, Bleszinski published a post on his blog, pleading for Phil Fish to continue as a video game developer. He ended his post with the remark, "Come back, Phil. We miss you already. Maybe I’ll be right behind you, returning with Adamantium skin."[16]

After Epic

On June 30, 2014, Cliff stated on Twitter that he would be making video games again, stating, "I'm officially coming out of retirement to make video games again."[17][18][19] On July 8, 2014, Cliff announced a free-to-play, PC-focused arena shooter called BlueStreak created by Boss Key Productions, his new studio.[20][21][22]

He cites Shigeru Miyamoto as his biggest influence.[23]

Personal life

One of his brothers is Tyler Bleszinski, a sports blogger who founded Athletics Nation and Vox Media.[24] He is married to Lauren Bleszinski (née Berggren), who is a blogger.[25] The nickname "CliffyB" was given to him derogatorily by "some jock kid" when he was a shy teenager; he then took it and developed a tougher persona around it.[26] In 2008, he expressed a desire to retire the CliffyB moniker, saying it's "time to grow up a bit".[27] Bleszinski is an atheist.[28]

In 2014, Bleszinski opened a bar in Raleigh, North Carolina[29][30] and plans to open another establishment in the city in 2015.[31]

Credits

Bleszinski at PAX Prime 2012

Video games

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ Ashcraft, Brian (8 April 2010). "Why We Call Him Dude Huge". Kotaku. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  2. ↑ Gaudiosi, John (21 July 2014). "Interview: Legendary designer Cliff Bleszinski discusses the future of free-to-play shooters". PC World. International Data Group. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  3. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (18 February 2014). "With new perspective on life and games, Cliff Bleszinski plots next move". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  4. ↑ Hsu, Dan (22 January 2013). "Life after Epic: Getting to know Cliff Bleszinski (exclusive interview, part one: his past)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  5. ↑ Bissel, Tom (3 November 2008). "The Grammar of Fun. CliffyB and the world of the video game". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  6. ↑ Pitts, Russ (13 May 2008). "Cliff Bleszinski: The Escapist Interview". The Escapist. Defy Media. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  7. ↑ Modest Law (17 October 2010). "Interview With Cliff Bleszinski". Royal Flush. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  8. ↑ K. Ohnesorge, Lauren (25 September 2014). "Exclusive: Q&A with the boss behind Boss Key Productions: Cliff Bleszinski". Triangle Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "Digital Extremes - Unreal". Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  10. ↑ Butts, Steve (12 April 2010). "Gears Of War 3 On Jimmy Fallon". IGN. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  11. ↑ Narcisse, Evan (13 April 2010). "The Techland Interview: Cliff Bleszinski, Part 1". Techland Time. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  12. ↑ Hoggings, Tom (19 September 2011). "Gears of War 3 interview: Cliff Bleszinski". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Killingsworth, Jason (29 September 2011). "Cliff Bleszinski interview". Edge. Future plc. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  14. ↑ Epic Games (3 October 2012). "Cliff Bleszinski Departs Epic". Epic Games Community. Epic Games. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  15. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (3 October 2012). "Cliff Bleszinski out at Epic Games". GameSpot. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  16. ↑ "Clifford Unchained - Dynamite Fishing: An Open Letter to Phil Fish". Dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  17. ↑ "Twitter / therealcliffyb: I'm officially coming out of …". twitter.com. 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  18. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (3 July 2014). "Gears of War Veteran Developer Cliff Bleszinski "Coming Out Of Retirement"". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  19. ↑ Hsu, Dan (21 July 2014). "Cliff Bleszinski on his retirement, returning, what he’s learned, and where he’s going from here (interview)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Campbell, Evan (8 July 2014). "Gear of War Designer Cliff Bleszinski announces F2P shooter BlueStreak". IGN. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  21. ↑ LeJacq, Yannick (8 July 2014). "Cliff Bleszinski's Next Game Is A Free-To-Play Shooter". Kotaku. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  22. ↑ Lahti, Evan (23 July 2014). "Interview: Cliff Bleszinski on Project BlueStreak, PC gaming, FPS design, moddability". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  23. ↑ "Cliff Bleszinski". Giant Bomb.
  24. ↑ Burg, Dustin (7 November 2006). "Interview: Tyler Bleszinski's GearHeads". Joystiq. AOL. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  25. ↑ Kumpan, Sean (12 March 2013). "EL337 Level: Interview with Lauren Bleszinski". PS Home Gazette. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  26. ↑ The Grammar of Fun. New Yorker (2008-11-03). Retrieved on 2012-11-21.
  27. ↑ Blog post on MTV Multiplayer. Multiplayerblog.mtv.com (2008-05-21). Retrieved on 2012-11-21.
  28. ↑ "Twitter / therealcliffyb: And I'm not Jewish. I'm an Atheist". Twitter.com. 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  29. ↑ Gaudiosi, John (22 July 2014). "From Gears to Beers: A Video Game Mogul Opens a Restaurant". Men's Journal. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  30. ↑ Good, Owen S. (27 July 2014). "Cliff Bar: Gears of War creator opens watering hole". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  31. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (28 July 2014). "Gears of War Creator Opened a Beautiful Bar in North Carolina, Has Plans for Another". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 32.5 32.6 32.7 32.8 32.9 32.10 32.11 32.12 32.13 32.14 32.15 32.16 32.17 32.18 32.19 32.20 32.21 32.22 32.23 32.24 32.25 "Mobygames Developer BIO". mobygames.com. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  33. ↑ Brown, David (18 February 2011). "Bulletstorm developer interview: Cliff Bleszinski". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  34. ↑ Hall, Charlie (11 July 2014). "Cliff Bleszinski's next game level is being made in Poland right now". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  35. ↑ jgaudiosi (26 September 2006). ""Stay Alive" Hits DVD". videogames.typepad. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
  36. ↑ "WARREN SPECTOR TRIBUTE with Cliff Bleszinski". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
  37. ↑ "SAKAGUCHI'S FINAL FANTASY". YouTube. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  38. ↑ "Sonic For Hire - Gears of War". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  39. ↑ "Class in session! Video Game High School 2 Ep. 1 is live". Destructoid. 2013-07-26.
  40. ↑ Makedonski, Brett (2014-03-25). "Cliffy B chooses you to die in this Pokemon rap". Destructoid. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
  41. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-video-games-movie-review-20140718-001-photo.html

External links

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