JR: It was very difficult. To tell the truth, it never even dawned on me to get into games. When I was working toward my MBA, I was an avid game player. Truly addicted to them…even during finals. After I got out of business school, I came to this great realization: I enjoy playing games so I should look into making games. I sent my resume to EVERY game company in the country. All of them turned me down. All but Activision, a company that saw the possibilities of looking outside the traditional industry for new talent. They hired Architects, District Attorneys and even MBAs like me. I served as an Associate Producer for a short period before being made Producer on Mechwarrior 2. It had been a stormy project to that point and several producers had already come and gone before me. At first, I actually thought this was a demotion and went so far as to ask if I had done something wrong. We were ultimately able to reinvigorate the design and the technology, however, and release a great game.

JR: The Army approached Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPI). An old business school friend who happens to work there mentioned their partnership to me at a time when Pandemic was shopping for a new project. I was immediately intrigued with the possibilities and challenges. SPI is an art house that works on films. They had never made a game before, and wanted to learn how to produce art for different media. Making art for games was very interesting to SPI because it would give them the opportunity to enhance their skills in creating online art and art for television. SPI loved the idea of collaborating with us and we loved the idea of working with an art house capable of turning out movie quality art. There’s a bit of a cultural gap between the two companies, but we have bridged it very well. The Army is thrilled thus far with what we’ve delivered.

We see this as only the beginning. The Army has been using games as training tools for over 200 years; from roleplaying, to board games, to the PC, and now we’re taking technical innovation a step further by developing a console-based training system. This is the first time the Army has commissioned a game to be developed specifically to match their needs, and it is the first time a tool of this type will be made on a console platform. In the very near future, I see recruits being issued fatigues and a copy of our game C-Force. The game will not replace live training, but will greatly supplement the Army’s current training program. Console-based training is far more portable, affordable, flexible and effective than other supplemental training option s currently being used by the Army. C-Force will teach infantrymen and their commanders how to go into harm’s way with a greater degree of effectiveness and safety than ever before.

The new situation in which our country finds itself has led to a far greater consideration of defense and homeland security. The notion of embracing game software as part of our military training is more acceptable than ever given the new circumstances under which we face national defense challenges.

JR: I know this may sound corny, but I really do. I think it is so great that we can help fulfill a need of the US Army. I genuinely believe that we will have a significant impact on how they train their troops. The Army will use C-Force to confirm that using game-based sims does, in fact, increase the preparedness of our armed forces.

JR: Long story. The original Dark Reign was a joint development effort between Activision and an Australian studio. After it was over, we (Activision) hired some of the Australian game developers. When I broke off and formed Pandemic, some of the Australians came with me. After completing Dark Reign 2, several of them had grown quite homesick. I didn’t want to stop working with them. So it made sense to let them go back home and form the core of a second studio operation (It also helped that at the time I knew of several other game talents down there looking for new opportunities). It also didn’t hurt that my wife is Australian. She’s actually from Brisbane where we set up the office, so I had a personal connection to the area. It may seem risky to set up a studio halfway around the world, but since we knew the group so well, it seemed like a move that could allow us to hang onto terrific talent and continue to develop our core technology. That talent is building Pandemic into a key game development house in Australia.

JR: Very. We keep in constant contact via email and conference calls. Also, Pandemic US makes a couple visits per year and Pandemic Australia comes to the US at least once annually. We know each other well enough not to lose sight of the ball. Although they operate independently from us, we are here to provide them with technology, production support or other resources, as they need them.

JR: We live it. We love it. Actually, we are only 2 blocks from the beach in sunny Santa Monica. We typically eat lunch along the beach at one of the many great restaurants. There is a weekly Pandemic soccer game held on a grassy field by the beach. And yes, we wear shorts for it. We also used to play volleyball weekly. The weather is fabulous so we make the most of it. Not a lot of surfers at this studio, but we definitely appreciate being right by the beach…where we proudly wear our Pandemic t-shirts.

JR: It’s more of a wish than a prediction. It’s something that needs to happen. Developers need to organize. I’m not talking about a union. Developers rarely coordinate or share information. Sure, you may have lunch with someone you know from another company but that’s about it. We should take the opportunity to work more closely together, to share information. I know that some industry trade associations are trying to bring us together, but it just feels like there’s not a lot being done to dramatically improve the flow of information. There is a lot of synergy that could greatly enhance game development as a whole but it’s not yet being utilized.

JR: First, and this is the big one: open communication. I know it sounds cheesy, but I run my company this way. We’re very ‘open book’ when it comes to our relationships with publishers, other developers, and our staff. Because of this open communication, every person at Pandemic feels invested in the company. There is nothing going on behind the curtain. I think this makes for a better relationship with all parties involved and, consequently, the projects run more smoothly.

Second: fiscal discretion. We work to keep overhead down. I feel that we have made smart decisions with the money coming in. Long term, a new developer can get into a lot of trouble if they aren’t wise with their spending.

Third: taking risks. Pandemic has grown from 2 PC projects in 1 studio with 1 publisher to 5 teams working on 5 console projects in 2 studios in 2 different countries with 5 publishers. In hindsight, we can attribute this to taking risks. Had things gone the other way, well, then I might have had a different answer for you. The Australian studio was definitely a risk as was taking on 5 projects but it’s the only way you can grow.