Tom Hall
 |
Tom Hall | |
|---|---|
| File:Tom Hall (cropped).jpg Tom Hall in 1999 | |
| Born | September 2, 1964 Wisconsin, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Game designer, game programmer |
| Employer | PlayFirst |
| Spouse | Terri Hall |
| Website | tomtomtom |
Tom A. Hall (born September 2, 1964) is a game designer born in Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science.
Career
In 1987, Hall worked at Softdisk Inc., where he was both a programmer and the editor of Softdisk, a software bundle delivered monthly. Along with some of his co-workers, John Carmack, John Romero and Adrian Carmack, he founded id Software. He served as creative director and designer there, working upon games such as the Commander Keen series, Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, and Doom.[1]
After some disputes with John Carmack about the design for Doom,[1] Tom left id Software in August 1993 to join Apogee/3D Realms. He was the game designer for Rise of the Triad, produced Terminal Velocity, and helped in varying degrees on Duke Nukem II and Duke Nukem 3D as well. He also worked on the Prey engine until August 12, 1996, when he left Apogee.
Hall co-founded Ion Storm with John Romero, where he produced Anachronox. The company also produced the 2000 Game of the Year, Deus Ex,[2] in which Hall voiced one of the characters. He and Romero then founded Monkeystone Games, a company with the goal of producing mobile games in the then new mobile industry.[3] He designed, and Romero programmed, Hyperspace Delivery Boy!, which was released on December 23, 2001.
He and Romero joined Midway Games in 2003,[4] and Monkeystone closed in January 2005. Hall also left Midway early that year and did independent game consultation work out of Austin, Texas until in February he joined a startup company called KingsIsle Entertainment based in the same area.
Hall left Kingsisle and joined Loot Drop on January 1, 2011.[5] Along with Loot Drop he unsuccessfully tried to crowdfund a game called Shaker on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter during October 2012.[6] Hall later tried to crowdfund another game on Kickstarter, Worlds of Wander, which was also unsuccessful in reaching its goal.[7]
In March 2013, Hall joined PlayFirst as Principal Designer.[8]
Dopefish
Hall is also the creator of the Dopefish, a large, green, buck-toothed, belching, dimwitted fish whose thought process is restricted to "Swim, swim, hungry". The Dopefish first appeared in Commander Keen episode IV, and references to it have appeared in many other video games since.[9]
Voice work
Hall provided the following voices for the computer role-playing game Deus Ex: Morpheus, a sentient AI; Howard Strong, a ruthless and cruel MJ12 operative; and Walton Simons, the nano-augmented Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He also voiced the project director in Deus Ex: Invisible War's opening cutscene, and PAL-18, Councilman Willis, Dr. Hush-Hush and Eddie the Chew in Anachronox. He was also the voice and likeness of the main antagonist of Rise of the Triad, El Oscuro, and also voiced the Death Monk enemies from the game.[10]
Stroke
Hall suffered a stroke on Tuesday, April 13, 2010. He was in rehabilitation until April 21, when he was released.[11]
Works
| Year | Title | Developer | Publisher | Credited for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Catacomb | Softdisk | Softdisk | Creative director (MS-DOS), Levels |
| 1990 | Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons | Ideas from the Deep | Apogee Software | |
| 1991 | Slordax: The Unknown Enemy | Softdisk | Softdisk | Creative director |
| 1991 | Hovertank 3D | Softdisk | Softdisk | Game designer |
| 1991 | Catacomb II | Softdisk | Softdisk | Creative director |
| 1991 | Catacomb 3-D | id Software | Softdisk | Creative director |
| 1991 | Shadow Knights | id Software | Softdisk | Creative consultant, level design, sound |
| 1991 | Rescue Rover | id Software | Softdisk | Game designer |
| 1991 | Rescue Rover 2 | id Software | Softdisk | Creative director |
| 1991 | Commander Keen in Keen Dreams | id Software | Softdisk | Creative director |
| 1991 | Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter | id Software | FormGen | Creative director |
| 1992 | Wolfenstein 3D | id Software | Apogee Software | Creative director |
| 1993 | Doom | id Software | GT Interactive | Uncredited creative director |
| 1994 | Rise of the Triad | Apogee Software | Apogee Software | Creative director |
| 2001 | Anachronox | Ion Storm | Eidos Interactive | Project leader, game designer |
| 2002 | Hyperspace Delivery Boy! | Monkeystone Games | Monkeystone Games | Game designer |
| 2003 | Red Faction | Monkeystone Games | THQ | Creative commando |
| 2003 | Jewels and Jim | Monkeystone Games | THQ | Game designer, lead programmer |
| 2003 | Dig It! | Monkeystone Games | THQ | Game designer, lead programmer |
| 2003 | Congo Cube | Monkeystone Games | THQ | Game designer, lead programmer |
| 2005 | Narc | VIS Entertainment | Midway Games | Creative director |
| 2005 | Area 51 | Midway Austin | Midway Games | Additional writing and design |
| 2012 | Pettington Park | Loot Drop | Zynga | Creative director and lead designer |
| 2016 | Gordon Ramsay: Dash | PlayFirst | Glu Mobile | Lead game designer |
References
- ^ a b Gestalt (November 4, 1999). "Tom Hall of Ion Storm". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "2000 Game of the Year". GameSpy. 2001. Archived from the original on August 12, 2012.
- ^ Wright, Chris (2008). "A Brief History of Mobile Games: 2001 - A Mobile Odyssey".
- ^ Tom Bramwell (October 24, 2003). "Midway CEO Speaks". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Loot Drop banks on talented game designers as it takes on social gaming's giants (exclusive)".
- ^ "SHAKER: An RPG by Brenda Brathwaite & Tom Hall (Canceled)".
- ^ "WORLDS OF WANDER plus "Secret Spaceship Club" Game!".
- ^ "New Job: Principal Designer at PlayFirst!".
- ^ Siegler, Joe. "The Dopefish".
- ^ Bowen, Kevin (1997). "ROTT in Hell - Part II".
- ^ Callaham, John (April 15, 2010). "id Software co-founder Tom Hall recovering from stroke". Archived from the original on May 21, 2015.
External links
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