Waltham-based Blue Fang Games has promoted technical art director Alex Chouls to the role of creative director at the studio, starting with newly -announced
World of Zoo, which will be published by THQ this holiday.
Blue Fang, whose Microsoft-published
Zoo Tycoon sold 7 million units in its lifetime,
announced in February 2008 that it would be partnering with THQ for this new IP, which will release on Wii, DS and PC. Chouls will now overlook the creative direction for not only
World of Zoo, but for all the studio's products going forward.
He'll also pick future projects for the studio by developing concepts for potential titles, work closely with the development team throughout pre-production to determine design direction, and provide input throughout the development process to maintain a consistent vision.
"To me, what is so unique about Alex is that he is a supremely talented and accomplished artist, can himself program when necessary, and above all has game design intuition and vision that is the equal of any in the industry today," says Blue Fang president Hank Howie.
Chouls has over a decade's experience in art and game development; as Blue Fang's technical director, he collaborated with internal teams to develop prototypes that set the creative direction for the company's games. Prior to that, he was a 3D artist with Looking Glass Studios, working on
Jane's Attack Squadron and
Flight Unlimited III.
"I am eager for our current project,
World of Zoo, to be released this Fall and I look forward to building and expanding on this work in future products," says Chouls.
