Evans, Cunningham, Morris Promoted/ Cromer, Murray, Kim, Fetterman Hired
Hunt Valley, MD, March 23, 2000 - FIRAXIS Games today announced several exciting promotions and new hires as they
continue their aggressive growth strategy. Three veteran Firaxians received well deserved promotions: Dave Evans is
now the Director of Software Development, Greg Cunningham has taken over as Lead Artist on the Dinosaur project and
Jeff Morris is now the Quality Assurance Manager. The company has also hired Mark Cromer, a veteran sound designer,
two new artists - Ryan Murray and Alex Kim, and Michael Fetterman as a Production Assistant.
Dave Evans, Director of Software Development, is an original member of FIRAXIS and has an extensive background in
computer game programming. He is the programming guru behind the sound engines in all of FIRAXIS' games, including
the award winning interactive sound and music engine in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Prior to joining FIRAXIS in 1996,
Evans was with MicroProse Software, where he programmed the sound engines for classics such as Pirates! Gold,
Sid Meier's Colonization, Civilization II and Magic: The Gathering. Evans will now oversee FIRAXIS' software
development and continue to lead Firaxis in the implementation of cutting edge AI, sound and graphic technologies.
He has studied Classical Guitar and Music Education at the Peabody Conservatory and Computer Science at the University
of Baltimore. In his spare time, he conducts the Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra.
Greg Cunningham, Lead Artist, has been part of the talented Dinosaur art team since the inception of the project. He
began his career in the computer-gaming industry 5 years ago at DreamForge Intertainment ®, working on several titles
including, Ravenloft: Stone Prophet, Anvil of Dawn, War Wind and Sanitarium.
Jeff Morris, Quality Assurance Manager,
was a Development Assistant on Sid Meier's Gettysburg! and Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire. Having many years of customer
service and quality assurance experience, he's also worked at Origin Systems on ATF®, Nato Fighters®, USNF® '97 and ATF
Gold®.
FIRAXIS has doubled the number of employees in the last year and is in the process of expanding the size of their Hunt
Valley offices as they continue to grow to meet the needs of the production teams dedicated to each of their projects.
"We currently have an extremely talented group on board - a great blend of veteran game developers and new talent, and
we're looking to ramp up these teams as we move forward with the development of our games", said Jeff Briggs, President
and CEO of FIRAXIS. He added, "FIRAXIS and Sid Meier have a long history of developing immersive, fun computer games
and we are committed to raising the bar to the next level for both Civilization III and Sid's Dinosaur game."
FIRAXIS has recently hired a number of talented artisans from the gaming industry. Mark Cromer, one of the most
experienced sound designers in the business, joins the company as the Lead Sound Engineer. Mark, a master classical guitarist and co-founder of the "Swing Central Band", has designed sound for many games including Magic: The Gathering, all of the Civilization II add-on packs, MecWarrior III and Falcon IV. Ryan Murray, a 1995 graduate of the Maryland Institute of Art, has been added to the team of artists dedicated to making the Dinosaur game one of the most visually stunning games ever created. He's spent the past three years in the computer gaming industry working on such games as X-Com Interceptor, The Simpson's Monopoly, and Atari's Combat. Alex Kim, a graduate of the Corcoran School of Art, is the newest member of the Civilization III art team. With his expertise in drawing and painting the human figure, Alex will help bring to life the many diverse characters found throughout Civilization III. Prior to joining FIRAXIS, Alex worked for MicroProse Software in their Chapel Hill, North Carolina studio on X-Com Interceptor and Civilization II Gold. Michael Fetterman has been hired as a Production Assistant on both the Dinosaur and Civilization III projects. With a background in the study of Integrative Arts, he comes to us from Penn State where he was Computer Center Specialist for their User Services Department.
FIRAXIS Games creates fun, intelligent computer games that live in the imaginations of people the world over. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, FIRAXIS has created such critically acclaimed games as Sid Meier's Gettysburg!, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire (both games published by Electronic Arts) and Sid Meier's Antietam! which is available for purchase exclusively through the Firaxis website at http://www.firaxis.com. The company is currently in production on two of the most highly anticipated games in the industry: Sid Meier's Civilization III and Sid Meier's Dinosaur strategy game.
