Traveller’s Tales – Biography of a developer
Formed in 1989, Travellers Tales have offices in both Knutsford and Oxford and employ a total of 85 people. They currently have a total of 4 teams, each working on separate projects and also a strong technology and research department that is currently developing a PSP engine, as well as restructuring and expanding their current technology to embrace the new generation of console hardware.
Traveller’s Tales has always designed its games around a portable API, which allows ports of the games to be up to date on each console in under a day. Each individual console team is encouraged to push the limits of their hardware renderer and any enhancements are re-integrated into the engine to benefit all products.
The Oxford team have just finished developing Crash 6: Twinsanity for PS2 and XBOX and the Knutsford team, who I met, have just finished Lego: Star Wars for PS2, XBOX and PC and are now working on The Chronicles of Narnia as well as developing Formula 1/World Rally Championship for Sony PSP using Assets from the PS2 versions. Time, I think, for a roll call of who’s who, so stand up and take a bow, Traveller’s Tales.
Director – Jon Burton
Jon has been the owner and director of Traveller’s Tales since it was started in 1989. Since then he has directed, designed or programmed on each of the companies 19 published games to date. Eight of these games have sold over a million units, with five of those selling over two million units, and Traveller’s Tales running total is over 23,000,000 games sold to date. The company is dedicated to producing games with no adult content, and specialises in licensed action games for kids and teens.
Producer – Paul Flanagan
Paul started in the industry within Ocean Software’s QA Department as Games Tester in 1991. He was promoted to Lead Tester in 1994 and to Assistant Producer within the Infogrames Sports Studio in 1999 working on Ronaldo. He became a full Producer in 2000 within same studio producing UEFA Manager 2000 and Premier Manager 2001 before moving to Warthog in February 2001 as Producer and completed Quiz Show and Rally Championship, Wolverine & Harry Potter & the Philosophers Stone before moving on to Traveller’s Tales in May 2004.
Associate Producer/Designer – Andy Burrows
Andy joined the industry in 1999 as a designer at Jester Interactive. Since then he has worked for Rebellion, Warthog and moved to Traveller's Tales in 2004. During this time he has worked on several titles including Manic Miner, Rainbow Six: Lone Wolf, Battlestar Galactica, Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter and Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Andy will be overseeing the production of the NGC & PSP versions of Narnia.
Company Head & Lead Programmer – Dave Dootson
Dave started within the industry at Traveller’s Tales back in 1991. During his time at Traveller’s Tales, he has worked in various programming roles but now holds the position of Head Programmer for the entire company. Dave has worked on a huge range of titles such as Leander, Mickey Mania, Rascal, Toy Story 1 & 2, Haven, Finding Nemo and Lego Star Wars.
Lead Artist – Leon Warren
Leon started working in the industry in 1994 at Sensory Deception and in 1997, moved to Traveller’s Tales. During his time at Traveller’s Tales, he has worked in a lead artist capacity on Haven: Call of the King, WRC, F1 and has also worked on Rascal, Toy Story 2, Toy Story Racer, Finding Nemo, A bugs Life & Crash Bandicoot.
Lead Animator – Antony Whiteley
Antony started in the industry with ATD in 1996 as a character modeller. In 2001 he moved to Traveller’s Tales and has worked as an animator on Crash Bandicoot, Finding Nemo and Haven amongst other games.
Lead Cut-Scene Animator – Bill Martin
Bill started in industry in 1998 at Warthog Games. Previous to this, he worked freelance for 15 years being involved in TV/Video/Exhibition work for a number of companies including Cosgrove Hall & Yorkshire Television. While at Warthog, Bill worked on numerous projects as Animator and Lead Animator and more recently as Lead Cut-Scene Animator on Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. He moved to Traveller’s Tales in 2004.
Audio Engineer – David Whittaker
Now a legend in the audio department, David started in the industry in 1982 as a freelance computer programmer (including music, graphics and sound effects design) for most commercially available formats. During his time he has worked on pretty much every format ranging from the Commodore Vic20 to the Sony PS2. Prior to joining Traveller’s Tales in 2004, David has worked for several high profile companies including holding the position of Audio Specialist/Director at Electronic Arts, USA and has worked on a huge range of games including Medal of Honor, John Madden Football, James Bond (The World Is Not Enough & Tomorrow Never Dies) & Lego Star Wars.
Character Artist – Guy Avery
Guy started in the industry in 1995 with General Simulations Incorporated before moving on to Videosystems, Genepool Software, and Acclaim Studios before joining Traveller’s Tales as Character Modeller in late 2004. Guy has worked on titles such as Wings of Destiny, F1 Championship, Wolverine and ATV3.
Cut-Scene Animator – Richard Drumm
Richard started in the industry with Cosgrove Hall as animator in 2000 working on Vice City before moving to Warthog in 2002 to work on Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. He moved to Traveller’s Tales in 2004 and was involved in the animation of the cut scenes for Star Wars Lego.
In-Game/Technical Animator – Ed Cates
Ed started in the industry as an animator with Core Design in 2002, working on an unreleased product named Fighting Force 3. He then moved to Travellers Tales in 2003 Started at Traveller’s Tales as animator and was involved in the animation of the cut scenes for Star Wars Lego.
Lead Engine Programmer - Alistair Crowe
Alistair began his career between 1990-1993 as a research scientist at the British Aerospace Sowerby Research Centre, investigating applications of computer vision and intelligent control techniques in the Aerospace industry. He left to pursue a PhD in the Dept. Psychology, University of Sheffield 1993-1996, researching approaches to human movement modeling using AI and inverse kinematics techniques. He first foray into the games industry was with Argonaut Technologies, 1996-1997, working on the BRender API and developing device drivers for in house rasterisation hardware. After this he joined the core rendering team at LightWork Design Ltd, 1997-1999, working on high-end software renderers for the CAD industry. He joined Traveller's Tales as an engine programmer in 1999, playing a significant role in the development of the engine, Maya exporter and converter tool chain, ultimately taking up the Lead on engine development. He has contributed engine and tools programming for the titles Crash Bandicoot Wrath of Cortex, Haven: Call of the King, Finding Nemo and Lego Star Wars.
Background Artist – Jonathan Shaller
Jonathan joined Travelers Tales as Junior Artist in early 2004, this being his first job within the games industry.
In-Game Animator – Steve Thomas
Steve joined Software Creations in 1991 and worked on titles such as Spiderman, Tinstar, Cut Throat Island and Water World before moving to Psygnosis in 1998. After completing Brainless, he moved to Zed Two in 1999 to work on Taz Express, Pillage & ET. He then joined Genepool on 2001 working on Wolverine and then Blade Interactive in 2003 before moving to Traveller’s Tales in 2004.
