ABOUT US
Escape Velocity is a veteran team of game developers guided by a unified vision to create unique, one-of-a-kind gaming experiences that are accessible to everyone at every level.
We believe that the best games are built by studios that value inclusion, transparency, autonomy, and play.
A fully-remote studio, our development philosophy is founded on respect for the time, energy, and talent that everyone across the studio brings to the game.
OUR TEAM
Rashed Al Metrami
3D Enthusiast
“Tea Addict”
Rashed is a 3D artist who discovered his passion for 3D art at the age of 13, when he was captivated by a TV program on game development. Since then, he has relentlessly pursued his passion, continuously striving to improve his skills and knowledge of 3D art and tech-art. Over many years, he has made his mark in both the games and film industries. Rashed’s passion for 3D art remains stronger than ever, and he is more driven and committed than ever before.
Theyab Al Tamimi
Player Advocate
A gamer since he could hold one of those boulder sized joysticks from the 80s, Theyab crossed the world and back again to learn his craft. Kuwaiti born, US-educated, and a proud resident of beautiful Barcelona with his wife and two kids, Theyab owns user experience at EVE.
Ju Alvarado
Producer
“Cat loving City Goth”
During her teen years, Ju decided to cross the ocean to study game specific art and after a few years, began her industry journey as a 2d Artist. Several years later, Ju’s need and desire for organization became her next great ambition, and she transitioned from art, to production where she leads EVE’s art focused pods.
Reiss Archibald
Sr. Tech Artist
“Cinema Wizard”
Bedroom game developer and jack of all trades, Reiss graduated from Staffordshire University and got his big break with RARE on Sea of Thieves. At this point, he basically lives in Unreal Engine, whether he’s crafting horror games, sailing the seas, or shooting for the stars… it’s all part of his journey to create amazing stories, games, and cinematic experiences.
Chris Bailey
Production
“Pod Raid Leader”
Having spent most of his time at Blizzard Entertainment managing strategy and live operations before eventually moving to production, Bailey came to Escape Velocity to help create new worlds and bring his history in player advocacy to game development directly. He wants to help create worlds that we all can believe in and feel a part of.
Andrew Baker
Designer
“Would Rather Be Outside”
All things, Comic Books, Arcades, TTRPGs, Art, Skateboarding and Loud Music
Jiri Bicik
Technical Artist
“Dancer”
Jiri learned his craft while working on the Mafia franchise for many years. Now he’s doing his best to make the lives and work of other artist’s easier and more productive.
Haden Blackman
CEO
“Utility Player”
Haden has spent his entire adult life building teams and studios, telling stories, and making games. He believes that there is no greater medium for story-telling than games, and no greater story than the player story.
Steve Braman
Design
“Skateboarder”
Originally from the east coast, Steve’s passion for video games brought him from Philadelphia out to San Francisco to pursue a career in the video game industry. Since landing his first job at LucasArts in 2004, he has had the pleasure of working with incredible teams as a designer contributing to such titles and properties as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Portal 2, Mafia, and Marvel’s Avengers.
Cassie Brubaker
Lead UI Artist
“Water Lover”
Full of warmth and passion, Cassie loves diving into challenges that let her use her artistic and creative talents to foster a more joyful and connected world.
Tracy Bush
Audio Director
“Hoarder of guitars”
Tracy has been making audio for games for a good long while now. He likes to play music and build Legos in his spare time.
Sean Butterworth
Code Viking
“Beer Connoisseur”
Sean is a senior software engineer that enjoys figuring out what makes things tick and solving problems with software.
Dave Cerra
People, Product, and Production Nerd
“Seeker of Balance & Beer”
Dave is a game studio and product leader who’s been building and supporting cross-functional teams for almost 20 years, with a focus on the unique needs of live service games. A storyteller at heart and a servant-leader in practice, Dave gets excited empowering teams who know how to deliver what their players want, while ensuring that the devs and the studio get what they need.
Justin Conway
Senior Concept Artist
“Senior Concept Artist “Pickleball King”
Justin is a stylized environment focused concept artist that builds networks of thoughtful designs to bring together worlds with meaning. Outside of art he likes to travel, spend time on the ocean, fish, and binge read books.
Alex J Clarke
Recruiting Director
“Husband, Father & Car Fanatic”
Alex’s eyes as a child were opened to the world of video games though the NES and playing Doom on his first Windows 3.1 PC. He is truly passionate about helping people take that next step in their career and building teams. As a leader, Alex believes in leading from within and empowering others to be the best versions of themselves. He’s living his dream of working in this awesome industry, alongside truly talented individuals.
Rich Davis
Systems Designer
“Excel Wrangler”
Rich’s first foray into game design was using the level builder in the most excellent Mister Robot and his Robot Factory in 1984 on an Atari 800XL. He also immersed himself in the RPGs of the era, and fell in love with the numbers side of game design. Things have come full circle now, as Rich finds himself playing more and more factory sims in his free time (the Factory must grow!)
Brandon Dorris
Senior UI Engineer
“Hockey, guitars, and cats…”
Whether it was playing games on the family’s Commodore 64, helping his father mod Microsoft Flight Simulator 4.0 late into the night, or programming his own games in Quick BASIC using books he checked out from the local library,
Brandon began his dream of being a game engineer at the distinguished age of 5. Since then, games have helped build his most cherished relationships, which has inspired his dedication to building world class experiences that bring people together.
David Ford
Design Director
“Husband, Father of Three”
Marking 20 years in this industry this year, David has worked all over the US and beyond, at a variety of studios. He’s been an encounter designer, worked on MMO raids, balanced systems, and led teams at (almost) more places and with more teams than he can count, and he’s still finding more joy every day working making games.
Adam Fort
Software Engineer
“Ale-gorithm Expert”
Born in the middle of nowhere in the Czech Republic, Adam pursued his passion for video games by studying BSc Games Technology at the University of the West of England, where he honed his skills in programming and game design. Following his time at Hangar 13, he is currently working at Escape Velocity, utilizing his expertise to continue crafting exciting, unique and stable (99.9% of the time) experiences.
Ed Fowler
Narrative Director
“Airstream Junkie & Lore Lover”
Ed is a storyteller and worldbuilder with a deep passion for authentic representation and reflecting the beautifully diverse world around us within the fictional worlds we play in. He also likes cake even when it’s a lie.
Mark Friesen
Production
“Dad Mode Activated”
As an impressionable kid, Mark experienced the revolution of the NES onto the world and has been playing games ever since. He attended CSU Chico, did a short stint writing game reviews for a local magazine, and then dove into development as soon as possible. He began his career as a superfan making Star Wars games, was front and center for the Facebook and mobile games explosion, and has continued his passion for organizing and optimizing the way teams work.
Miguel Angel Gomez
3D Environment Artist
“Space Scavenger”
Miguel Ángel is an environment artist from Córdoba, a small city in the south of Spain, where he studied art and game design. His studies helped him to enter the industry starting at indie studios, and later ventured into even more ambitious projects, going through AAA development until reaching Escape Velocity.
Christian Gumacal
Senior Gameplay Designer
“Designer Of Worlds”
From Minecraft Minigames to The Last of Us Part 2, Christian is building the realities in his head for everyone to experience.
Pete Hobson
Lead Backend Engineer
“Full-Stack Game Coder”
Raised on the ZX Spectrum, graduating from Basic to Z80 via Poke listings in Crash Magazine. Next came Atari ST; fell in love with a processor for the first time ever. 68K. What a chip! After uni enjoyed fame in my first phone line tech support job for writing the ‘per second pay calculator’ everyone had running in the corner of their screens. Was there at the start of e-commerce – discovered Flash – made crazy games with millions of users. AAA at Creative Assembly and Hangar 13. Chomping at the bit to make Playing EVE games a slick multiuser joy 🙂
Jiri Holba
Game AI engineer
“Safety first”
Jiri has been fascinated by AI and simulations since he first saw the implementation of Conway’s Game of Life in Basic several decades ago. He is amazed by the elegance of complex systems that emerge from a set of simple rules, and believes that the universe itself is generated by simple rules. Besides his deep interest in programming, Jiri loves his family, the beauty of nature, and computer games.
Gael Huber
Programmer
“General Purpose Nerd”
Hailing from a country he never lived in, Gael spent most of his youth growing up in the US and the UK. Wanting to make video games from an early age, that dream became a profession and Gael now gets to spend his time doing just that. Gael’s passion is enabling those more wacky creative types to manifest whatever neat ideas live in their heads. In his spare time Gael enjoys a swath of nerdy things, such playing video games, reading, exercising, starting side projects that inevitably get abandoned, and appreciating the nature around us.
Bryony Jones
Recruiting Executive Assistant
“Bionic Woman“
Bryony’s professional journey began with a stint in Advertising as a Creative, which was followed by a transition to policing the challenging streets of London. It wasn’t until later that she discovered her knack for operational and administrative roles, recognizing that her love for puzzles, problem-solving, and inherent organizational skills could thrive in such environments. Bryony considers herself very lucky to have found an industry that ignites her creativity and a role that enables her to leverage her natural talents.
Elizabeth Kachanova
Associate Concept Artist
“Adventurer & Local Menace“
Growing up in south Florida, Elizabeth has always been passionate and curious about the wildlife and world around her. She also had a strong interest in art and design, leading to her attending the College for Creative Studies to study Concept Design. Working as a concept artist in the entertainment industry allows her to marry her love of both the outdoors and design. When not working, she can likely be found catching small animals outside.
Kate Kelly
Sound Designer
“Serial Hobbyist”
After earning a BA in Theater Arts at UC Santa Cruz, Kate continued her education at City College of San Francisco and found a passion for sound design. She began freelancing and went on to work as a dialogue editor and sound designer with Jackbox Games on Jackbox Party Pack 5 and Double Fine Productions on Psychonauts 2. Kate is thrilled to be a part of the Escape Velocity team!
Kitt Khosla
Character Rigger & Deformation
“Bay Hiker”
Kitt is a Principal Character Rigger who has worked on highly acclaimed films including Shrek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Jurassic World. Her work since has been rigging digital humans that look and feel real, so that players can experience the game world as if they are there. She has a passion for creating visually stunning characters to bridge the gap between art and technology.
Jan Kratochvil
CTO
“The doer of stuff”
After graduating from university with a degree in theoretical informatics, Jan started his career at Illusion Softworks as an engineer where he learned the ropes and gained experience in the industry. Over time he moved up the ranks to become Technical Director working on Mafia II, Mafia III, and Mafia Definitive Edition, as well as a few unannounced/cancelled projects.
Lubos Kresta
Systems guy
“Aspiring gardener”
Lobo is a systems engineer because he likes making things work reliably, efficiently, and on their own…and because he’s not particularly good at drawing. Building things incrementally and iterating on them is a particular passion for Lobo.
Rob Liden
QA Lead
“Casual Try-Hard“
Rob spent too long in software QA before he decided to put years of gaming experience to work for him at places like Zynga and DeNA. Born in Chicago, he dreamed of being a musician, writer, and voice actor, but his penchant for breaking things and overanalyzing made quality a lifelong career. When he isn’t playing with his son and wife in California, he’s clicking heads and complaining that no one is on the point in the metal leagues. One time he won a voice over contest at Blizzcon.
Mark Kreitler
Technical Designer
“Cruiserweight Boardgamer“
Mark love games. All kinds. Always has. He believes that they’re fun, that they help us learn, that they connect us. Mark is grateful to make a living building them and for all the wonderful team members and fellow players he has met along the way.
Tomas Madr
Art Director
“Magic Seeker”
Ever since his first graduation game project, Tomas has been enamored with the process of creating games and the art that brings them to life. Despite his varied interests in statistics, cg arts and playing games, he managed to find a perfect intersection between all three fields. Tomas is particularly passionate about crafting unforgettable dynamic character visuals that capture the essence of their backstories and delivers an immersive gaming experience.
Erik Morgansen
Character Animator
“Samurai Dad”
After nearly two decades working on feature films at Disney and Lucasfilm, Erik was looking for a new opportunity that allowed him to practice the craft of animation, but focus more on technical problem solving. Game development has proven to be the perfect environment for him. He’s found that there is nothing more creatively satisfying than achieving responsive and well blended movement that also allows a character’s unique personality to shine through.
Nikita Nanako
Concept Art.
“Moba and Roguelike nerd”
Nikita is a self-taught artist who initially ventured into the world of concept art and illustration for indie projects. Over time, his passion for game art grew, leading him to transition into the role of a character artist. He honed his skills further in this position during his three-year tenure at Hangar 13, and eventually came back to concept art at EVE games with a deeper knowledge of how concept art can be applied better.
An-Tim Nguyen
VFX Lead
“Rabbit Hole Spelunker”
Third-culture kid from Hong Kong, Saigon, Paris, Los Angeles and Seattle. An-Tim’s superpowers include tremendous amounts of luck and heavy amounts of improvisation. Working from low-ranking indie to critically acclaimed AAA, some of his achievements include working on Halo and Destiny in a variety of roles. Frequently humbled, but always hungry for insight and wisdom.
Thai Nguyen
Animation Art Director
Thai fell in love with animation and games at a young age, watching Saturday morning cartoons and playing classics on his NES. He later discovered computer graphics and started a new hobby on his Pentium computer. Eventually, he studied it in Montreal and pursued animation as a career. After working in film, Thai wanted to expand his skillset and games were a natural next step. Working with a team to create immersive experiences for players is his passion, as games offer a unique way to engage audiences like no other medium.
Hugh Norfolk
Lead Meta Design
“Ex Pro Gamer“
Hugh has been an avid gamer since 3 years old, starting with Mario/Duck Hunt. He specializes in working on GaaS (Games as a Service) titles with a passion for game systems, retention mechanics, game balance, and validating design from data. Hugh had enjoyed playing fighting games competitively for over 15 years.
Mark Norris
Co-Founder
“Video Games are LIFE”
Mark’s responsible for the creative vision for Escape Velocity’s titles, yet secretly yearns to just spend some time building behavior trees and character abilities. A veteran of the gaming industry, Mark has worked at EA, Sony (twice), Riot, Capcom, and 2K before co-founding Escape Velocity,
Jan Novotny
Character Artist
“Freedom enthusiast”
At the age of 23, Jan decided to embark on a journey to become a concept artist for games. Along the way, he discovered the world of 3D software, such as Blender and Zbrush, and became so immersed in this world that he remains passionate about it to this day.
Florent Perrin
Trainer of 3D characters
“Wisher of 72 hours days”
Florent has over 23 years of experience in animation, working across a wide range of creative medium that includes video games, visual effects, and work on television series and documentaries. He’s interested in workflow and efficiency, and truly loves the poetry of movement.
Matt Puls
Lead Gameplay Engineer
“Off-work, on-the-links”
With a rich history of engineering on industry-leading projects at game studios like LucasArts, Microsoft, & WB Games, Matt brings over two decades of professional experience on top of his lifelong passion for game development that he started as an unwavering career journey from an early age. Matt strives to empower teams by providing game system architecture and leadership that unlocks the raw talent of teams to deliver top-tier experiences that stand out from the rest.
Justin Quan
Game Designer
“Corgi Parent”
Justin has always been passionate about game design ever since the first game he played, Pokémon Red, when he was nine years old. His fascination with the process of making and analyzing games through the lens of a game designer has led him to pursue a Game Design major career at UC Santa Cruz. After that, he landed a job at EVE and is so excited to bring EVE’s games to the world.
David Riegel
Associate Design Director
“Fighter, Lover, Taffer”
David’s work on old school Thief mods landed him a job in the games industry more than 20 years ago. Since then, he’s worked on games of many styles and genres, including franchise entries in Thief, Duke Nukem, Borderlands, and Mafia. He spends his exiguous free time in immersive sims, horror books, and mastering pizza dough.
Ben Rivera
Associate Gameplay Designer
“Games are Life”
Growing up, video games have always been a part of Ben’s life as a distraction from outside things. They have also been a part of his daily joy and studies. He is ready to create the same type of games that have influenced him in the past and present, and influence the audience of today.
Jiri Stempin
Perfection is standard, not an option. Rendering beauty in a performant way.
“Family, Nature, a Healthy Lifestyle, and Good Beer”
In the early Czech Republic freedom days, a 1993 shareware version of a game called Doom planted a seed in Jiri’s 10-year-old head, a seed that one day drove him to want to know how these amazing images are being generated on computer screens. 30 years later, here he is, at the peak of his games industry career as a Lead Rendering Engineer.
Matt Urban
COO
“Janitor”
“The man in the shadows” that keeps everything at Escape Velocity operating smoothly.
From HR to Accounting, from Legal to Recruiting, Matt ensures the development team at Escape Velocity has everything it needs to stay focused on finding the fun during development.
Chris Vance
Lead Gameplay Designer
“Cool”
Chris loves to make games and bring smiles to peoples faces.
He’s a full time father, husband and gamer.
Petr Zavesky
Art Director
“The Architect”
Artist since childhood, former architect, designer, with passion for games. There is freedom, beauty, and challenge in building virtual worlds, without real-world codes and restrictions.
Spent a decade building cities and worlds for the Mafia franchise and a few unannounced/canceled projects.
Likes action and fast sports cars in videogames & real life.
“It’s in the doing that the idea comes”
Tom Zhao
Lead Concept Artist, Worldbuilder
“Coffee Enthusiast”
Tom’s love for worldbuilding stems from his childhood on the East Coast where he would flip over rocks to discover hidden microcosms and find arrowheads by the creek. It felt like everything had a deep history to tell, and each thing was a glimpse into a much larger interconnected universe.
He hopes to share that same joy of discovery and exploration in games by treating every design as an opportunity to tell the story of a connected and intriguing world that players can delve into.
