Jerry O'Flaherty

Jerry O'Flaherty (born Jeremiah O'Flaherty), is an American video game art director and filmmaker best known as Art Director on Gears of War from Epic Games and as the Director attached to the Warner Bros. feature film "Thundercats". He co-authored the book Destroyed Beauty: An Inside Look at Gears of War.

Career

O'Flaherty began in the game industry at sixteen years old . By age twenty-four he was part owner of video game developer KoP Media and sold it to Seventh Level two years later. He was one of the original owners and founders of game company Ion Storm. In 2003, O'Flaherty was named Studio Art Director of Epic Games, handling the direction of Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3. He worked on the Command & Conquer series while employed at the groundbreaking but now defunct Westwood Studios in Las Vegas, later absorbed into EA Los Angeles. In the summer of 2007 O'Flaherty moved to California and signed on to direct the Warner Bros. feature film Thundercats.^[1]

Personal life

O'Flaherty was born in Irving a suburb of Dallas, Texas, and is the fourth of ten children. His father, James A. O'Flaherty, was an immigrant from Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland.

Awards

• Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
  • Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction 2007 "Gears of War"
  • Outstanding Achievement in Animation 2007 "Gears of War"
• Game Developers Conference Choice Awards - Visual Arts Award 2007 "Gears of War"

Other games credited

• Gears of War (Limited Collector's Edition) (2006), Microsoft Game Studios
• Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict (2005), Midway Home Entertainment, Inc.
• Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition (2004), Atari, Inc.
• Command & Conquer: Renegade (2002), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Earth & Beyond (2002), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat (2002), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Anachronox (2001), Eidos Interactive, Inc.
• John Romero's Daikatana (2000), Eidos, Inc.
• Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 (1998), Eidos Interactive, Inc.
• Raymond E. Feist's Return to Krondor (1998), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
• G-Nome (1997), 7th Level, Inc.
• Eight Ball Deluxe (1993), Amtex
• Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1993), ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
• Maelstrom (1992), Don Bluth Multimedia, Inc., Merit Studios, Inc.
• Aunt Arctic Adventure (1988), Mindware

Interviews

• 360 Stylecast : From Gears of War to Thundercats the Movie Exclusive Director Interview
• Xbox - Interview with Epic's Mark Rein and Jerry O'Flaherty
• Now Toronto Interview

References

External links

• "Stormy weather" by Christine Biederman
• PRN Newswire
• MobyGames