Michael Stout
Michael James Stout | |
---|---|
Video game designer |
Michael "Mike" Stout (born 1980) is an American
Education
Stout graduated from Loyola High School of Los Angeles in 1998. He went on to Holy Names University in Oakland, California, where he earned a BA in English, with a minor in Computer Science in 2001.[6]
Career
Stout got his start in the
In March 2007 Stout accepted the Lead Level Design position at
Almost four months after Bionic Games imploded in 2009, Mike accepted a position at Activision as a Design Specialist in their Central Design group, where he helped design several very successful Skylanders games.[5]
In 2013, Mike Stout left Activision to form his own company, Interactive Axis. According to the company website, he currently offers Design Consulting services to video game developers and publishers.[8]
In December 2016, Mike Stout joined the Interactive Media department of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, in Harrisburg PA, as the 'Game Designer in Residence'. During his time at HU, Mike will mentor students, collaborate with faculty members, work on client projects and co-teach game design courses.[9]
In June 2020, Mike announced in Twitter that he had worked on Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time,[10] as a Principal Designer.[11]
In June 2021, Mike started to work as a Principal Game Designer for Blizzard Entertainment.[12]
Uselessopinions
The humor site "Uselessopinions.com" was co-created by Michael Stout and Anthony Garcia in 2002.[13] The site focuses on joke articles and maintains a juvenile tone. The format mimics a piece of homework, with author, teacher's name, and date at the top. The teacher's name is always "Mr. Lew", a reference to Michael Lew, Stout and Garcia's high school Computer Science teacher. Later Uselessopinions grew to include a forum community and Stout's blog ("On Game Design"), but the humor articles became infrequent and as of August 14, 2007 the site is undergoing a redesign.[14]
On Uselessopinions, Stout wrote under the pseudonym, "Dodger". He has continued to use "Dodger" as an alias in his career at Insomniac Games and on various websites. The nickname is a reference to Artful Dodger from the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist.[15]
Credits
- Ratchet & Clank series
- Ratchet & Clank (2002) - QA Lead / Junior Designer
- Going Commando (2003) - Junior Designer
- Up Your Arsenal (2004) - Designer
- Deadlocked (2005) - Senior Designer
- Into the Nexus (2013) [17]
- Resistance: Fall of Man (2006) - Lead Multiplayer Designer
- Resistance 2 (2008)
- Aliens: Crucible (Cancelled)
- Spyborgs (2009) - Creative Director
- Transformers: War for Cybertron (2010)
- Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (2011)
- Skylanders: Giants (2012)
- Skylanders: Swap Force (2013)
- Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (2020)
References
- ^ Dunham, Jeremy (2006-11-10). "The Chimera has won… and so have we". IGN. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
But above all else, it's the multiplayer elements that truly ascend this one to the next level.
- ^ Wharmby, Martin (2007-06-07). "Has Sony managed to finally conjure up a killer FPS?". Jolt Online Gaming. Archived from the original on 2007-11-10. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
At least Resistance's multiplayer kicks arse.
- ^ Schiesel, Seth (2006-11-20). "A Weekend Full of Quality Time With PlayStation 3". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
The multi-player battles in Resistance: Fall of Man are excellent.
- ^ McElroy, Justin (2008-06-03). "Capcom announces Wii exclusive 'Spyborgs'". Joystiq. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- ^ a b Stout, Michael (2009-10-13). "New Job!". Blog. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
- ^ a b Stout, Michael. "Michael Stout's Profile at LinkedIn". Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- ^ Hatfield, Daemon (2008-04-30). "Bionic Start-Up Developing for Wii". IGN. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- ^ "Interactive Axis". 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
- ^ "Harrisburg University". 2016-12-27. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
- ^ @MikeDodgerStout (June 22, 2020). "So excited! I'm glad to be able to talk about what I'm working on. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's about time. It's soooooo about time. :D" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dodger [self-published source]
- ^ Mike, Stout (June 2021). "Experience". Linkedin. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
- ^ "Wayback Machine's Records for Uselessopinions.com". Archived from the original on 2002-08-09. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
- ^ Stout, Michael. "Redesign". Retrieved 2007-09-28.
- ^ Stout, Michael. "Nickname". Video. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
- ^ "We actually both worked on the PS4 game. We did some level and boss designs. So we're both excited about it". YouTube. 2015-03-13. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
- ^ "I contracted a bit on Ratchet: Nexus, and then when they moved on to RC PS4 they had both Tony and me come back to do designs." YouTube. 2015-03-13. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
External links
- "Interactive Axis LLC" - Michael Stout's game design consulting company
- "On Game Design" - Michael Stout's Blog
- Uselessopinions.com - Michael Stout's humor site
- Michael Stout profile at MobyGames
- Interview with All Games Interactive