Jesse Schell

Jesse Schell
Born June 13, 1970 (age 44)
Nationality American
Fields Computer science
Entertainment Technology
Institutions Carnegie Mellon University
Schell Games
Alma mater Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Notable awards Top 10 Young Innovators [1]
Spouse Nyra Schell

Jesse N. Schell (Born on June 13, 1970) is an American video game designer, an acclaimed author, CEO of Schell Games[2] and a Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), a joint master's program between the College of Fine Arts and School of Computer Science in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Career

After graduating from the Information Networking Institute at CMU in 1994 with a Masters of Science in Computer Networking and Virtual Reality, Jesse Schell went on to work for Bell Labs. In 1995 he joined Walt Disney Imagineering, where he worked for seven years in capacity of programmer, manager, designer and Creative Director on several projects. These included rides for theme parks, DisneyQuest and the first Massively Multiplayer game for kids – Toontown Online. During his time at Disney, he met Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who was taking a sabbatical in Jesse's lab. When Randy founded the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, he invited Jesse to become a faculty member. He joined the faculty in 2002.

In 2002, Jesse founded Schell Games, a full-service game design and development company with a focus on developing Transformational Games.[3] The company is based in Pittsburgh, PA[4] and employs more than 100 people. Currently Jesse serves as CEO. [5]

In 2008, using the design methodologies developed during his time at the ETC, Schell published The Art of Game Design.[6] A second edition of this book was published in 2014.

He continues to teach Building Virtual Worlds and Game Design at the ETC.[7]

Jesse is well known for his many talks on game design, but best known for his DICE 2010 talk, "Beyond Facebook", which was adopted as a TED "Best of the Web" talk, and has had over a million views online.

In 2015, Jesse Schell was honored with a Carnegie Science Award in the Entrepreneur category. The program celebrates innovators who have distinguished themselves by making unparalleled contributions to science and technology in various disciplines.[8]

In addition to his other achievements, Jesse has also been a writer, director, performer, juggler, comedian, and circus artist for both Freihofer's Mime Circus and the Juggler's Guild.[9]

Games and rides

References

  1. ↑ "Jesse Schell". Young Innovators. MIT. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  2. ↑ Schell Games - Leadership
  3. ↑ Schell Games - History
  4. ↑ Schell Games - Contact
  5. ↑ Schell Games - Leadership
  6. ↑ Schell, Jesse. The Art of Game Design. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann, 2008. ISBN 978-0123694966
  7. ↑ ETC Faculty
  8. ↑ Pittsburgh Business Times
  9. ↑ Schell Games - Leadership

External links

General

Talks