Difference between revisions of "About/Me"

< About

(New page: === Bio === '''Chris Hecker'''<br> ''Technology Fellow, [http://www.maxis.com Maxis/Electronic Arts]'' Chris focuses on solving hard game design and technical problems found at the inte...)
 
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<blockquote style="color:#f00;">
'''''Very important:  The material on this website represents my personal opinion, not that of my employer, my family, my friends, my coworkers, or anybody else.  Please do not represent me as anybody but "Chris Hecker" if you're going to quote from these pages.  Thank you.'''''
</blockquote>


=== Bio ===
===Contact Info===
{|align=right
|__TOC__
|}
<blockquote>
'''Chris Hecker'''<br>
http://chrishecker.com<br>
checker 'at' d6.com
</blockquote>
 
I get a lot of email.  I try to read it all and respond, but it takes time, and it seems I'm increasingly short of time.  Sorry about that.
 
===Professional Bio===
Here's the bio I use for [[:Category:Lectures|lectures]], [[:Category:Articles|articles]], conferences, and whatnot:


'''Chris Hecker'''<br>
'''Chris Hecker'''<br>
''Technology Fellow, [http://www.maxis.com Maxis/Electronic Arts]''
'''''[http://www.d6.com definition six, inc.]'''''
 
Chris focuses on solving hard problems at the intersection of gameplay, aesthetics, and technology.  He is an outspoken advocate for pushing the current boundaries of design and interactivity, in the hope that games will eventually reach their full potential as a medium.  To this end he helped organize the [http://www.indiegamejam.org Indie Game Jam], the [http://www.experimental-gameplay.org Experimental Gameplay Workshop], and [[The Depth Jam]], and his recent work on [[My Liner Notes for Spore|Spore]] centered on using proceduralism and artificial intelligence to enhance player creativity and agency.  Chris has been on the advisory board for the [[Game Developers Conference]] for many years and is a regular speaker at the GDC, Siggraph, and other conferences.  A frequent contributor to Game Developer magazine, Chris was the technical columnist for the magazine for two years and the Editor-at-Large for three, and was on the editorial board of the computer graphics research publication, [http://jgt.akpeters.com The Journal of Graphics Tools].  He has worked at both ends of the development spectrum, as a one-man indie game developer with his company [http://www.d6.com definition six, inc.] and on a hundred-person team at [http://www.maxis.com Maxis/Electronic Arts].  His professional goal is to help games become the preeminent art and entertainment form of the 21st century.  His current project is [http://spyparty.com SpyParty], an indie game about subtle human behavior and deception.
 
=== Headshots ===
<center>
{|width=200px
|align=center|
[[Image:Checker-gdc10.jpg|Chris Hecker|200px]]
 
<small>Here's one from the [http://www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc/4425421495/ Official GDC 2010 Flickr set].  I like this one, please use it.</small>
|}
 
{|width=200px
|align=center|
[[Image:Checker-headshot-closed.png|Chris Hecker|100px]]
 
<small>Here's the boring and goofy headshot I used to use.</small>
|}
 
{|width=200px
|align=center|
[[Image:Checker-migs.jpg|Chris Hecker|200px]]
 
<small>Here's an ''action shot'' of me lecturing in Montreal in 2007.</small>
|}
 
{|width=200px
|align=center|
[[Image:Checker-old-headshot.png|Chris Hecker|100px]]
 
<small>I kinda like this really old one.  It's less boring than the first headshot, but perhaps even more goofy, since I was hiking near Crested Butte, CO.</small>
|}
</center>
 
=== Personal ===
 
I'll write some more general stuff about me here at some point.  For now, you get my bio and headshot.
 
[[Elvis Has Left The Building|Until recently]], I was a ''Technology Fellow'' at [http://www.maxis.com Maxis/Electronic Arts].  I'm not sure what the title meant either.  A friend once quipped I was higher ranked than a ''Technology Chap'', but lower ranked than a ''Technology Gentleman''.
 
Here's my old "About Me" blurb from my original webpage, '''which is out of date''' (i.e. do not use it as my bio, see [[#Professional Bio|above]]), but has the rough outline of my life in it (Parsons -> Microsoft -> d6 -> Maxis):
 
<blockquote><i>
I'm Technical and Art Director of definition six, inc., the small startup game company three friends and I founded in 1995. The Technical Director side of me worked at Microsoft for three years doing various game and graphics programming. The Art Director side went to Parson's School of Design in NYC to be an illustrator. I realized that, while the school has a great reputation, in my opinion it was severely lacking on the education front. I dropped out during sophomore year and studied independently with some of the professors there, sitting in on their life drawing classes and whatnot. One day I made the mistake of buying a computer magazine and it got me interested in programming. The best thing about the game industry is it mixes totally different disciplines, like art and programming, so it gives me a chance to exercise both sides of my brain equally! There's no other industry like it.
</i></blockquote>
 
=== PGP Public Key ===
Also available at [https://keyserver.ubuntu.com/pks/lookup?search=checker%40d6.com&fingerprint=on&op=index Ubuntu's PGP keyserver] and it's Key ID 0xD8DE7218.
<blockquote><pre class="small">
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Chris focuses on solving hard game design and technical problems found at the intersection of gameplay, aesthetics, and engineering.  He is an outspoken advocate for pushing the current boundaries of design and interactivity, in the hope that games will achieve their full potential as an art and entertainment form.  To this end he helps organize the yearly Indie Game Jam and the Experimental Gameplay Workshop, and his recent work at Maxis has centered around using advanced proceduralism to enhance player creativity and agency.  Chris has been on the advisory board for the Game Developers Conference for many years and is a regular speaker at the GDC, Siggraph, and other conferences.  A frequent contributor to Game Developer magazine, Chris was the technical columnist for the magazine for two years and the Editor-at-Large for three.  Before joining Maxis he was an indie game developer for 8 years with his company definition six, inc.  He is also on the editorial board of the computer graphics research publication, The Journal of Graphics Tools.
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</pre></blockquote>

Latest revision as of 20:22, 21 September 2021

Very important: The material on this website represents my personal opinion, not that of my employer, my family, my friends, my coworkers, or anybody else. Please do not represent me as anybody but "Chris Hecker" if you're going to quote from these pages. Thank you.

Contact Info

Chris Hecker
http://chrishecker.com
checker 'at' d6.com

I get a lot of email. I try to read it all and respond, but it takes time, and it seems I'm increasingly short of time. Sorry about that.

Professional Bio

Here's the bio I use for lectures, articles, conferences, and whatnot:

Chris Hecker
definition six, inc.

Chris focuses on solving hard problems at the intersection of gameplay, aesthetics, and technology. He is an outspoken advocate for pushing the current boundaries of design and interactivity, in the hope that games will eventually reach their full potential as a medium. To this end he helped organize the Indie Game Jam, the Experimental Gameplay Workshop, and The Depth Jam, and his recent work on Spore centered on using proceduralism and artificial intelligence to enhance player creativity and agency. Chris has been on the advisory board for the Game Developers Conference for many years and is a regular speaker at the GDC, Siggraph, and other conferences. A frequent contributor to Game Developer magazine, Chris was the technical columnist for the magazine for two years and the Editor-at-Large for three, and was on the editorial board of the computer graphics research publication, The Journal of Graphics Tools. He has worked at both ends of the development spectrum, as a one-man indie game developer with his company definition six, inc. and on a hundred-person team at Maxis/Electronic Arts. His professional goal is to help games become the preeminent art and entertainment form of the 21st century. His current project is SpyParty, an indie game about subtle human behavior and deception.

Headshots

Chris Hecker

Here's one from the Official GDC 2010 Flickr set. I like this one, please use it.

Chris Hecker

Here's the boring and goofy headshot I used to use.

Chris Hecker

Here's an action shot of me lecturing in Montreal in 2007.

Chris Hecker

I kinda like this really old one. It's less boring than the first headshot, but perhaps even more goofy, since I was hiking near Crested Butte, CO.

Personal

I'll write some more general stuff about me here at some point. For now, you get my bio and headshot.

Until recently, I was a Technology Fellow at Maxis/Electronic Arts. I'm not sure what the title meant either. A friend once quipped I was higher ranked than a Technology Chap, but lower ranked than a Technology Gentleman.

Here's my old "About Me" blurb from my original webpage, which is out of date (i.e. do not use it as my bio, see above), but has the rough outline of my life in it (Parsons -> Microsoft -> d6 -> Maxis):

I'm Technical and Art Director of definition six, inc., the small startup game company three friends and I founded in 1995. The Technical Director side of me worked at Microsoft for three years doing various game and graphics programming. The Art Director side went to Parson's School of Design in NYC to be an illustrator. I realized that, while the school has a great reputation, in my opinion it was severely lacking on the education front. I dropped out during sophomore year and studied independently with some of the professors there, sitting in on their life drawing classes and whatnot. One day I made the mistake of buying a computer magazine and it got me interested in programming. The best thing about the game industry is it mixes totally different disciplines, like art and programming, so it gives me a chance to exercise both sides of my brain equally! There's no other industry like it.

PGP Public Key

Also available at Ubuntu's PGP keyserver and it's Key ID 0xD8DE7218. 

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This page was last edited on 21 September 2021, at 20:22.