Jeffrey Steefel
Jeffrey Steefel | |
---|---|
San Francisco, California, USA | |
Occupation | Video game developer (Wizards of the Coast) |
Spouse | Carissa Channing-Steefel |
Jeffrey Steefel is a creator of
Acting career
As a young adult in the 1980s, Steefel left his native California for New York City to pursue an acting career. After having graduated from the Circle in the Square professional acting program, he performed and sang in off-Broadway productions.
Steefel helped found the Project III Ensemble Theater,[3] where he managed the 1986 production of Flood by Günter Grass, and appeared onstage in Molière's The Imaginary Invalid and the world premiere of Bliss by Mikhail Bulgakov.[4]
Steefel's most notable New York performance was at the
After several years in New York, Steefel headed back to California and became an ensemble member of the Colony Theater Company in Burbank.[4] While there, he performed in the plays Rags[7] and Working.[8] According to his 1995 biography at The Colony Theatre Company website, he also appeared in soap operas on television.[9]
Computer games career
Steefel's early experience in game development includes his time as Vice President of Production at
Steefel then moved to
In his next role, Steefel served as Vice President of Programming and Member Services for
In early 2004, Steefel joined Turbine, Inc. as Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online, having stated in an interview that he had long been a fan of the Tolkien classic and made the move to Turbine specifically to work on this project.[12] Turbine's The Lord of The Rings Online launched in 2007 and proved to be wildly popular among gamers and fans of Tolkien's book, as Steefel and his team strove to keep the environment of the game as faithful to the author's original writings as possible.[12][13][14][15][16]
Steefel joined Wizards of the Coast in January 2017, to lead the newly created Digital Games Studio, focused on game development. The studio's first game was Magic: The Gathering Arena, released in Beta form in November 2017, and followed by full releases for Microsoft Windows and macOS in 2019 and 2020, respectively.[17][18][19]
Games created by Jeffrey Steefel
- Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time (1994), 7th Level
- Battle Beast (1995), 7th Level, BMG Interactive
- Ace Ventura(1996), Bomico Entertainment Software
- Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1997), Panasonic Interactive Media
- Sierra On-Line
- Sports JEOPARDY! Online (1999), Sony Online Entertainment
- Trivial Pursuit Online (2000), Sony Online Entertainment
- There (2003), There, Inc.
- Turbine, Inc.
- The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (2007), Midway Games
- Turbine, Inc.
- Turbine, Inc.
- WB Games
- Magic: the Gathering Arena (2018), Wizards of the Coast
Personal life
Jeffrey Steefel is married and a father of twins. He and his wife, former writer and actress Carissa Channing-Steefel, reside in Burien, Washington.[20][21]
References
- ^ Jeffrey's public listing at LinkedIn log in to view Education
- ^ The MMO Gamer interview, Part Two, page 2 by Steven Crews
- ^ 1995 actor bio Colony Theatre Company
- ^ a b ibid.
- ^ Sonia Taitz (June 12, 1988). "Godspell Speaks to a New Generation: The vaudevillian version of the Gospel that charmed 70's audiences is back with the same message updated for a different era". New York Times. pp. H5, H25 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Stephen Holden (June 13, 1988). "Children Awaiting the Pied Piper. Review of Godspell". New York Times. p. C16 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Rags Colony Theatre Company
- ^ Working Colony Theatre Company
- ^ 1995 actor bio Colony Theatre Company
- ^ Developer Bio MobyGames
- ^ ibid.
- ^ a b Eurogamer.net interview by Rob Fahey
- ^ The MMO Gamer Interview, Part One by Steven Crews
- ^ The MMO Gamer Interview, Part Two by Steven Crews
- ^ MMORPG interview by Jon Wood
- ^ Play.tm interview Archived 2008-05-27 at the Wayback Machine by Luke Guttridge
- ^ "Making Moves". MAGIC: THE GATHERING. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ Purchase, Robert (September 26, 2019). "The free Magic: The Gathering game has just launched and it's quite good". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
- ^ Carter, Chris (June 23, 2020). "Magic: Arena is coming to Mac this week, everything will transfer". Destructoid. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ^ Birth announcement Variety, September 2, 1997
- ^ Milton Times Online October 12, 2006