Billy Joe Cain

Developer BIO

Billy Cain has been making games for some time; he got his start at ORIGIN Systems, Inc. in 1992. The first day he went to work was the day that Electronic Arts bought Origin. There, he first worked on SNES titles (Ultima VII: The Black Gate, Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire, Wing Commander II), then went to Electronic Arts UK and helped complete the first EA Sports Rugby title Rugby World Cup 95 on the SEGA Genesis. Finally, Billy came back to ORIGIN to work on a few things including a stint as lead designer on Wing Commander: Prophecy. Billy commented "Origin was a lot of fun and a LOT of work. Great people were doing amazing things every day." It also allowed him to get a chance to see what the internal workings of EA were like. "I am still impressed by EA to this day," Billy concluded.

After ORIGIN, he got a job as a producer at Kinesoft Development. The game he was working on was Crimson Order which received great press attention, but the company shut down unexpectedly before the company had a chance to get it completed.

In 2001, he started at Kalisto Entertainment USA Inc.. In April 2002, the mother company Kalisto Entertainment SA went bankrupt. With four other people from the company, he co-founded the development studio BigSky Interactive, Inc. in May 2002 and completed a next-gen title for PS2 and GC: SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman as an external developer for THQ.

In early 2003, Billy co-founded a development studio and outsource company called Critical Mass Interactive in early 2003. They have done games for the United States Air Force and many others. He left Critical Mass Interactive in 2009 to co-found Sneaky Games.

Sneaky Games released Fantasy Kingdoms on Facebook in April of 2010. He was the executive producer and lead designer of Fantasy Kingdoms while he served as the CCO until August of 2011, when he left to join FastPath Learning, an educational software company serving Supplemental Education Services students across the United States.

Billy is almost always at E3, the Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco and in Austin either meeting with clients or making new friends. He frequently speaks at colleges and game conferences, and he sits on a few advisory boards that he is proud of.

He is currently the vice-chairman of the Austin IGDA. He believes that you should get involved with fixing the industry if you want to make it a better place.

Also Known As

• Billy Cain

Websites

• IGN Interview with Billy Cain (Dec. 20, 2000) -- Producer Billy Cain answers a few questions about Kinesoft Development's upcoming squad based strategy game, Crimson Order, which was never released.
• Facebook -- Friend him on Facebook!
• Developers Are From Jupiter, Marketers Are From Saturn -- Learn the Secret Codes for Working with a Marketing Team,' the GDC 2005 lecture featuring April Jones from Arctic Light and Billy Cain from Critical Mass Interactive, and focused on the crucial issue of developer/marketing interaction.
• Billy Cain's LinkedIn information -- Basically his online resume.

Games Credited

• The Outfit (2006), THQ Inc.
• The Hobbit (2003), Sierra Entertainment, Inc., Vivendi Universal Games, Inc.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman (2002), THQ Inc.
• Darklight Conflict (1997), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Wing Commander: Prophecy (1997), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Privateer 2: The Darkening (1996), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Abuse (1995), Crack dot Com
• Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire (1995), Pony Canyon, Inc.
• Metal Morph (1994), FCI
• Ultima: The Black Gate (1994), FCI, Pony Canyon, Inc.