About Me

Chances are, you happened upon this site via some interest in games I've worked on, so
I'll start with current events and then my background in games.

Current Events

I'm a Game Director in California. I co-manage the Luxoflux studio for Activision. We're
currently working on Kung Fu Panda - based on a forthcoming movie from DreamWorks.

Game Background

I got my first computer when I was 9 (1979/80). I started learning to program right away.
I was very interested in the engineering aspects, but even more, I wanted to make the
pixels into pretty pictures and make them move. Since there were no paint and animation
apps to buy yet I had to program my own.

As soon as I could wrangle the pixels, I concentrated on putting them under player control
- I started making games. Mostly I just tried to mimic the great games of the day - Missile
Command, Karate Champ, Xevious, etc. The results were terrible, but I learned a lot.

By the mid-eighties commercial games, paint and animation application were so advanced
that I couldn't keep up with them on my own. I gave up making my own games for a few
years, but I continued to do 2D & 3D work on my Amiga. By 1990 it finally dawned on
me that I might be able to get a job working in the game industry. Back then, no one I
knew had any clue how games were made and by whom. When I saw a local company's
ad for a 'game artist' it seemed like a calling to some strange cult.

Preproduction

If you're one of the sick few interested in my background before I soiled the games
industry, here's the section for you!

I launched from the womb into Burbank, California, USA in 1970, apparently conceived
around the time of the 1st Moon landing. My earliest memories involve stumbling around
in a diaper, mumbling and scratching myself. Yes, I was born a wino.

I have a lot of interests. As luck would have it, most of them can be comfortably pursued
on a computer - Hurray! I'm a bit of an artist, animator, programmer (more like scripting
really), musician (more like noise-making really), writer (not very good as is quite obvious
from all the parentheses around here) and so on and such like. I also enjoy conjuring
hair-brained ideas about Science, particularly physics.

I had drawn on the walls very early on, but my earliest vivid memories of drawing were
when I was about four. My dad was taking a drawing class. He bought all this big,
gorgeous paper and some chalks and things. I was very excited by all the gear. For
reasons I don't recall, he quit his class. I don't know if I asked for it or if he wanted to
keep the walls clean, but he gave me all the drawing gear! It was far better than any gift I
can remember, ever. If it weren't for my dad quitting that class, who knows what I would
have become. Perhaps I'd be robbing your house. What's your address?

Anyway, it was about that same time that I started writing little books, making
construction paper cities, studying science and taking an interest in tearing apart anything
with wires and batteries. I suppose my father's gift led to my imagination running wild. In
turn, that probably spurred a rampant curiosity that I still can't control. Or maybe it's
something else. Mom said there were a lot of musicians, teachers and artists on her side of
the family. Maybe my 'sick sense' is just in my blood.

Interviews

1)    http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xboxsolution/20040325.htm
Subject: Shrek2

2)    http://www.xgr.com/index.php?id=590
Subject: Personal Q&A

3)
http://gamesurf.tiscali.it/dynamic/articolo/CHIAVE/sacr0701081909100/TIPO_PAGINA/
speciale
Subject: Sacrifice

4)    http://www.strategyplanet.com/content/interviews/shiny20000913/
Subject: Sacrifice

5)      http://www.experiencegaming.com/content.php?gameID=3457&contentID=456
Subject: Shrek 2

6)      http://micro.info/chronique/chronique.php?Id=591
Subject: Sacrifice @ E3 2000

7)      http://www.dperry.com/articles/otero/
Subject: Personal Q&A

8)      http://archive.gamespy.com/legacy/interviews/sacrifice_a.shtm
Subject: Sacrifice

9)      http://archive.gamespy.com/interviews/september00/jobyotero/
Subject: On the Future of Gaming

10)
http://gamesurf.tiscali.it/dynamic/articolo/CHIAVE/sacr3801080111100/TIPO_PAGINA/
speciale
Subject: Sacrifice