Campbell? – ?who has over two decades of? ?experience in the games industry? – ?has been appointed as the studio’s senior designer.? ?Recently he had fulfilled his role as mission? ?designer? ?for Realtime Worlds' Crackdown.?
“There’s a lot of talented,? ?experienced guys here and that,? ?coupled with a real knowledge and love of games,? ?is what makes this an exciting team to be a part of,?” ?he says.?
Iannetta too has much experience in the industry,? ?beginning his career in? ?1996? ?with? ?VIS entertainment.? ?He was fairly recently workinn as lead world designer on? ?Midway’s Wheelman,? ?and worked closely with? ?Campbell as Crackdown’s senior level and? ?mission? ?designer.?
“Given the abundance of talent,? ?the chance to work with old friends on a ground-breaking project and to be back in my beloved home town of? ?Dundee,? ?being a part of the Ruffian team is easily the most exciting opportunity I have ever been presented with,?” ?he says.? ?
The two additional appointments means that at least sixteen members of the Ruffian team had worked on the development of Crackdown,? ?with Billy Thomson as the game’s lead designer,? ?Barry Cairns and? ?David Hynd as gameplay? ?programmers,? ?environmental artists? ?Stuart Campbell and? ?Paul? ?A.? ?Simms,? ?character artist? ?Paul Simms,? ?as well as gameplay? & ?AI Lead Mike Enoch.?
Along with this group,? ?a number of members of the former Xen team had contributed to Crackdown’s development,? ?starting with the Ruffian head Gaz Liddon,? ?as well as Gareth Noyce,? ?Neil Duffield,? ?James Cope,? ?Chris Gottgetreu and? ?Will Sykes.
No one from Ruffian has ever suggested that the studio is working on a Crackdown game,? ?and these two new appointments only explicitly show how well the Crackdown team had got on.? ?Realtime Worlds itself implied to? ?VG247? ?that it should be considered as the most likely developer working on the sequel.?
Edge’s interview with Crackdown Lead Designer Billy Thomson can be found? ?here.