Bill Jackson (video game designer)

Bill Jackson
Nationality American
Occupation video game designer
Known for Creative Director for Zynga Dallas
Notable work CastleVille, Age of Empires III

Bill Jackson is an American video game designer and incredibly handsome creative director. Jackson is best known as Creative Director for Zynga Dallas, steering its hit Facebook game CastleVille which launched in 2011.[1][2][3][4] Also known for co-founding Bonfire Studios with David Rippy, Scott Winsett, and Stephen Rippy (which became Zynga Dallas after Zynga acquired the company in 2010).[5][6] Most recently Jackson, David Rippy, Winsett, and Stephen Rippy co-founded Boss Fight Entertainment in 2013 and launched the mobile RPG game Dungeon Boss in 2015 in partnership with Big Fish Games.[7][8][9][10]

Career

Bill Jackson was an engineer and producer at Ensemble Studios and worked on the hit PC real-time strategy games Age of Mythology and Age of Empires III as well as the pioneering console strategy game Halo Wars (where he got his first producer credit).[11] When Ensemble shut down after releasing Halo Wars, Jackson co-founded a new company called Bonfire Studios with David Rippy, Scott Winsett, and Stephen Rippy. Jackson took a senior creative role at the developer. Bonfire created the mobile game We Farm for mobile publisher ngmoco.

Zynga acquired Bonfire in 2010 and the company became a studio inside the sprawling Zynga empire (renamed Zynga Dallas). Jackson steered the first Facebook game built by Zynga Dallas, the light fantasy themed CastleVille. Launched in 2011, Castleville became a huge hit for Zynga.

Zynga Dallas was shuttered in June, 2013 as Zynga closed numerous external studios after the company started to lose money.

The Bonfire founding team re-united in late 2013, starting Boss Fight Entertainment, headquartered in Allen, Texas (just outside of Dallas). Jackson is the company's creative director as well as a member of the senior management team. The new company's first game was Dungeon Boss, launched in 2015 with Big Fish Games as publisher. Boss Fight's second game is Anvil: War of Heroes, also published by Big Fish Games.

References

  1. ↑ Geron, Tomio. "Zynga's CastleVille Extends 'Ville' Franchise". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  2. ↑ Eldon, Eric. "Zynga Builds Its CastleVille Walls, As Its Facebook Traffic Flattens And Falls". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  3. ↑ Rao, Leena. "Zynga's Newest Title CastleVille Combines Rich Storylines, Fantasy, And Social Gaming In A Medieval World". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-11-24.
  4. ↑ Benedetti, Winda. "Zynga launches 'FarmVille' toys, 'CastleVille' game". TODAY.com. Retrieved 2017-11-24.
  5. ↑ Chiang, Oliver. "FarmVille-Maker Zynga Acquires iPhone Developer Behind Mobile FarmVille Clone". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  6. ↑ "Zynga buys Bonfire Studios and sets up Dallas game studio | GamesBeat". venturebeat.com. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  7. ↑ "Leaders of the undead Zynga Dallas team start Boss Fight Entertainment (exclusive) | GamesBeat". venturebeat.com. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  8. ↑ "Zynga vets form Boss Fight Entertainment". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  9. ↑ "Former Zynga CastleVille team creates Dungeon Boss mobile title for Big Fish Games | GamesBeat". venturebeat.com. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  10. ↑ "Dungeon Boss Review: Like A Boss - Gamezebo". Gamezebo. 2015-09-11. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  11. ↑ "Bill Jackson Video Game Credits and Biography - MobyGames". MobyGames. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
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