Personnel

Tian Mu - Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer Since 2002, Tian has built a 3-person start-up into the development studio as we know it today. During this period, Tian assembled a team of top-notch game developers; secured numerous development, licensing, co-marketing, and distribution deals; and raised funding from private investors for the development of RoboBlitz. Prior to founding NSE, Tian consulted for various software start-ups, including PlanetLingo, MobiPower, and EnglishXchange, on business development, marketing, web development, and project design. Tian was educated in the U.S., China, and Japan, and has lived and worked in Asia, North America, and Europe. Tian holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and East Asian Studies from Wesleyan University.

 


Joshua Glazer - Co-founder, Chief Technology Officer Joshua spearheads the programming team at NSE. He is an expert on physical simulations, asset streaming, multithreading, graphics pipelines, UI toolset programming, object serialization and reflection systems, network engineering and optimization, scripting language development, state-based animation blending, web application server development, and low level Xbox 360, PS3, and iPhone service integration and optimization. Since programming his first shareware game at age 12 and first commercial game at 15, Joshua has been lead programmer for numerous projects, including those he ran at EnglishXchange, MobiPower, and Learnection. He received both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Computer Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in four years, and attributes all his greatness to his wife Lori and their cat Feets.

 


John Garcia-Shelton - Sr. Producer John is an industry veteran with over 12 years of experience. He started at DreamWorks Interactive on the PSX games: Small Soldiers, Tai Fu, Boombots, Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor Underground. At Electronic Arts Los Angeles, John transitioned to the next generation of consoles as a member of the top selling Medal of Honor Frontline team, which sold over 3 Million Units. A founding member at Spark, he was producer of Call of Duty Finest Hour and Legendary. During Legendary John instituted agile development and Scrum for the Legendary team. John brings his experience as a Producer on every console since the PSX and PC, to Naked Sky where he is helping complete its ongoing projects as the Senior Producer.

 


Tarik Soliman - Creative Director Tarik is a creator of innovative ideas and virtual worlds. He began working with NSE in 2003 as a story writer. Since 2005, he is the company's Creative Director, designing such games as the critically acclaimed RoboBlitz and the zen shooter Microbot. Most recently, Tarik served as lead designer on Twister Mania, Naked Sky's first retail disc title. Tarik is a lifelong gamer and cinephile, with a Masters degree in Film Production from the USC School of Cinema. He worked professionally in broadcast TV, journalism, and graphic design before transitioning to the games industry. In addition to working at NSE, he also teaches level design theory and development at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering.

 


Nathan Leland - Art Director Nathan has art directed Xbox 360, PS3, PC, online, and mobile games since 1998. In that time, he has served as the Art Director for Sony Picture Digital and SOE-LA, WagerWorks, Silicon Gaming, and a number of other companies. Nathan has defined the look and feel of, among other titles, Star Trek: DAC, God of War: Betrayal, The DaVinci Code, Spider-Man 2 & 3, and MGM Grand's Family Feud (awarded several patents for innovative game play). Following his boyhood dream, Nathan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the Pasadena Art Center College of Design.

 


Charles Morton - Lead Programmer Despite having worked at Naked Sky since 2007, Charles Morton remains a man of intrigue and mystery. Some say to know Charles is to truly understand the inner machinations of life. His eyes, to those lucky enough to catch a glimpse (because he sits with his face so close to the monitor), reflect the knowledge and sublime beauty of the universe. He also has a really sweet hair birthmark like that guy that used to host that show on E!

 

 


Jeremy Hibnick - Associate Producer Jeremy began his gaming life in 2nd grade, when his elementary school principal insisted that his parents purchase an NES system for fear that Jeremy would otherwise be socially stunted and unable to communicate with his peers. Thus began a downward spiral that led to his current Ass. Prod. position. After graduating with a BA in English from the University of Iowa, Jeremy's parents were convinced his life was finally on the right track, but his destiny in games called. Jeremy's career began in QA and standards testing at EA, Vivendi, Activision, and Treyarch. His first taste of production was as an intern on Scarface: The World is Yours. Since then, Jeremy has received production credits on Wanted: Weapons of Fate and Scott Pilgrim for Universal Studios as well as a number of social network titles for ASAP Games.

 


Justin Molinari - Engineer Justin joined the company over 2 years ago and he has contributed to a large variety of projects and tasks but finds those involving lunch the most satisfying. He likes programming and making video games but his primary duties at the office involve his continuous mastery of NBA Jam.

Graduating from Full Sail with a B.S. in Game Design and Development you could say he planned on getting this job, and you would be right. He moved to Los Angeles three years ago primarily for the sunshine, tacos and to meet the creators of Roboblitz. They just happened to be needing a programmer. He has been at home ever since.

 


Jonathan Stern - Engineer Jonathan is NSE's international undercover agent who may or may not be programming in one or more foreign countries at any given moment. Graduated from the DigiPen Institute of Technology, he was originally found by NSE at the Student Showcase of the Independent Games Festival some number of years ago in a cardboard box holding a sign that either read "will program 3D games for food" or maybe "I am the walrus." Amongst editor and tool development, integration with online services like XBLA and GameSpy, and half a million other odd tasks, he was responsible for making things not crash into walls (AI) in RoboBlitz and them making them crash into walls again (collision detection and response) in Star Trek: DAC. His primary duties outside the office involve wondering how many times he will be made to play through Metal Gear Solid 3 again before he has memorized all the dialogue. In Japanese.

 


Jaehun Chung - 3D Artist Jaehun Chung is the newest, and arguably most-talented, member of the Naked Sky team. Jae has an MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, interned at Pixar, and has a portfolio that would literally melt your face off...literally.

We will all be very sad when we have to sacrifice Jae to the Troll God that lives in the sewers for our own continued success and inspiration.