David Wessman

Developer BIO

David Wessman entered the game industry in 1991 as a tester at Lucasfilm Games, (later known as LucasArts), where he worked on Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, LeChuck's Revenge ( Monkey Island 2), and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and its 4 add-on campaign disks. In 1992 and 1993 he was a contract tester for Spectrum Holobyte, (later renamed MicroProse) where he worked on patches and expansions for Falcon 3.0, Tetris Classic for Windows and Chessmeister 5 Billion and 1.

In 1992 he joined Larry Holland's independent development group to work on X-Wing where he led internal testing, wrote documentation and did mission design, eventually becoming the game play and story lead on TIE Fighter and all subsequent products in the series. Each of these games became a top seller and earned numerous awards, and TIE Fighter continues to earn recognition as one of the greatest computer games ever made.

From 2000 to 2002 he worked at Stormfront Studios, where he was the lead game designer on Blood Wake, a fast action boat combat game that was published by Microsoft as an Xbox launch title. It became a Platinum Series Hit.

In the summer of 03 he worked at Starbreeze Studios, where he contributed to the design of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, published by Vivendi-Universal for Xbox and PC. He is also credited with voice work on Knights of the Temple published by TDK Mediactive on PS2, Xbox, GameCube and PC.

From December 03 through April 05 he was a senior designer at Volition, Inc., where he worked on Saint's Row, an Xbox 360 title published by THQ, and did a small amount of voice over work for The Punisher.

From August 05 to August 06 he was a senior designer at Backbone Entertainment where he was one of the lead designers on Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil for the Sony PSP. He was also the uncredited audio lead on that project, (studio policy allowed only one credit.)

From January 07 to February 08 he was a senior game designer at the Raleigh, NC location of Destineer Studios where he is worked on a few unannounced next gen titles and a government training simulation.

David Wessman is currently a professor of game studies at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, AZ. In the past, he has been a guest lecturer at schools such as the UC Berkeley and E'xpressions College of New Media, and taught game design at the Art Institute in California - San Francisco, as well as consulted on game design curricula for several schools.

He has also been involved in the development of numerous board wargames including Wacht am Rhein, 2nd Ed., The Cossacks are Coming, 2nd Ed., When Dragons Fight: If China Invades Taiwan and War of 1812.

David Wessman is a founding member of the SF chapter of the IGDA, and has been a frequent speaker at industry conferences such as the GDC.

Also Known As

• Dave Wessman

Websites

• Gamasutra's Geek of the Week -- Q & A with David Wessman May 15, 1998
• Blood Wake Developer Diary -- Blood Wake's Lead Designer David Wessman speaks about his role in creating Stormfront's vehicular-combat game for the Xbox.
• LinkedIn -- David Wessman's profile

Games Credited

Death Jr. II: Root of Evil (2006), Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Saints Row (2006), THQ Inc.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004), Vivendi Universal Games, Inc.
Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade (2004), TDK Mediactive, Inc.
Blood Wake (2001), Microsoft Corporation
Star Wars: X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter + Balance of Power (2000), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance (1999), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: X-Wing Collector Series (1998), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter (1997), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter - Balance of Power Campaigns (1997), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: TIE Fighter (Collector's CD-ROM) (1995), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994), Softgold Computerspiele GmbH
Star Wars: TIE Fighter - Defender of the Empire (1994), LucasArts
Star Wars: X-Wing (Collector's CD-ROM) (1994), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1 (1993), Spectrum Holobyte, Inc.
Star Wars: X-Wing (1993), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: X-Wing - B-Wing (1993), LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
Star Wars: X-Wing - Imperial Pursuit (1993), LucasArts
Falcon 3.0: Operation: Fighting Tiger (1992), Spectrum Holobyte, Inc.
He 162 Volksjäger Tour of Duty (1992), LucasArts
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992), Lucasfilm Games
Falcon 3.0 (1991), Spectrum Holobyte, Inc.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (1991), Softgold Computerspiele GmbH
P-38 Lightning Tour of Duty (1991), LucasArts
P-80 Shooting Star Tour Of Duty (1991), LucasArts