Michael Sellers - CEO and Chief Alchemist

Mike has worked in the games industry since 1994. He has co-founded two other successful game companies, Archetype Interactive (acquired by 3DO in 1996) and The Big Network (acquired by eUniverse in 1999). Mike was the lead designer of Meridian 59, the first 3D massively multiplayer game, and has led other design efforts such as MyPlace (family community and social networking software), SimCity Online, The Sims 2, and Ultima Online 2.0. Mike has spoken multiple times at the Game Developer's Conference, E3, the Austin Game Conference, and other industry conferences (slides for his GDC 2006 presentation on "The Lifecycle of a Small Successful Game Studio" are available here). He is the author of several articles on user-centered development and game design, including "Creating Effective Groups and Group Roles in MMP Games," published on Gamasutra. He has also written a chapter entitled "The Stages of Game Development" for the book "Secrets of the Game Business," published in 2003, and a chapter for the book "Playing Video Games: Motives, Responses, and Consquences" entitled "Designing the Experience of Interactive Play." Mike lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, three dogs, a cat, and three sugar gliders.

Craig Fryar - VP Business Development, Producer

Craig has been involved in video game design, development and production since 1992. As Apple Computer’s original "Games Technology Evangelist" he seeded the game developer industry with technology and design guidelines that resulting in large-scale growth in MacOS consumer markets. During his time at Apple he also launched Peninsula Gameworks and co-developed the award winning multiplayer title "Spectre" which sold and licensed 500,000+ units on the Mac, PC and SNES. In the mid-90’s at Interplay Productions he led a design team creating specialty versions of hits like Descent targeted at OEM computer markets. He has since produced various software and hardware, including an award winning 3Dfx graphics accelerator card.

Samantha LeCraft - Game Designer, Sorcerer's Apprentice

Samantha has a long history in the massively multiplayer game industry, having worked in customer service for Meridian 59, SimCity, The Sims, and Ultima Online. Before becoming a Designer, she helped produce Online Alchemy's puzzle games Food Chain and Chrysanthemum. Samantha is an excellent players’ advocate and understands well the importance of fostering a positive player community from the project’s inception.