Christian Bliss

At Curve I was responsible for assessing and managing the incoming flow of of prospective games and then marshalling the subsequent Greenlight and acquisition process. This role includes: - Sifting and funnelling game submissions via multiple sources for viability and then overseeing the progressive stages of the Curve initial commercial and costings assessments and due diligence processes. - Communicating with developers directly whilst also co-ordinating inputs from various departments within Curve in the creation of comprehensive greenlight materials. - Chairing and leading internal pitch and playtest group sessions for prospective candidate titles. - Evaluating in-production game designs and builds at any point in the development process for quality and execution. - Performing cold prospecting and outreach for unsigned games and potential titles of interest. - Creating internal and external-facing documentation & carrying out post-launch analyses. - Attending offsite conferences globally & nurturing ongoing relationships with developers, agents and others in equivalent roles from across the industry.

As a result of my preceding freelance work I was offered a permanent role at Digerati Publishing that has spanned a number of functions as the company has expanded rapidly. These have included: - Overseeing the development process for internally-developed titles, spanning between concept development, deep feedback whilst in-progress down to final polish. The zenith of this role was working closely with the developer of indie shooter Valfaris from pre-concept to post-release, culminating in a Metacritic score of 86% on PC. - Managing and tending to the relationship between publisher and developers, monitoring milestones and schedule-related matters plus general facilitation of the process. - Prospecting for new products and assessing titles that were submitted for consideration as publisher. - Working closely with affiliate porting houses for numerous PC-to-console titles, ensuring these were re-tuned as necessary to suit the differing audience, control sets and screen characteristics. - Closely monitoring these ports during the build phase for quality and fidelity, culminating in detailed ‘fit and finish’ checks as the ultimate gatekeeper before submission to platform holders. - Liaising with outsourcing providers of developer and creative services. - Using project management tools (Basecamp and Trello) to ensure visibility, accountability and control over multiple complex concurrent projects. - Exhibiting at trade shows such as GamesCom and EGX, including both demoing behind closed doors to the specialist press and platform holders plus ‘manning the stand’ and interacting with the general gaming public. - Writing press releases and other items of public-facing text as required.

After leaving Sony Europe I went independent, offering a gameplay, design and content consultancy service to indie developers. I aimed to utilize the many skills I’d refined whilst at SCEE to aid small teams who would not normally have used an external evaluation and feedback provider. The website for this venture (including testimonials) is here: https://devilblissgamescon.wixsite.com/website My key achievement of this period was to steer and oversee the remaster of the failed PC title ‘Slain!’, helping to take it from a 40% Metacritic score to 75% after its relaunch as ‘Slain: Back From Hell’ (during which I also co-wrote the revamped script). https://www.facebook.com/DevilBlissGamesConsultancy/ https://twitter.com/Devil_Bliss

In my previous role I was responsible for: - Analysing and evaluating products from third party PlayStation format developers and publishers for gameplay quality, technical proficiency and aesthetic value, spanning from the preproduction concept phase through to final pre-QA readiness and assisting them through the SCEE submission process. - Highlighting precisely where any problems within a game may potentially lie during the creation process and providing effective practical solutions for their remedy, with a particular emphasis on assessing critical feature sets at the early design stage and accordingly judging eventual product feasibility in the market. - Providing creative suggestions for improvement relevant to each point of the ongoing dev cycle in the form of face-to-face on-site developer visits and comprehensive written feedback reports. This can span every aspect of a title’s being from the most fundamental mechanical gameplay aspects through to the overarching scenario, narrative and characterization. - Identifying and then gauging the commercial viability and PlayStation brand-boosting potential of third party titles for NPPD Special Projects, the Sony Europe Marketing Support program and PS Plus promotion. - Writing detailed executive reports on cross-platform titles from international trade show attendance and wider media sources, plus providing opinion on future trends and tendencies across the entire spectrum of videogaming. - Closely assisting inexperienced teams from emerging territories throughout the process with their first and ongoing forays into console development, both remotely and in person. The wide breadth and copious number of games I have worked with during my time at SCEE has ensured that my instincts in assessing a title's current and potential quality, depth in knowledge of the industry and its audience plus degree of insight into the videogame continuum as a whole have all been thoroughly honed.

During this period my responsibilities centered primarily upon creating and gathering content for the Dreamcast’s internet portal, DreamArena. This experience granted me insight into the specific needs and workings of web-ready games plus a greater understanding of the psyche of the ‘hardcore’ gamer. In addition working at Sega also provided useful experience in functioning within the Japanese corporate philosophy.

Whilst working for a broad range of PlayStation publications across the country my role predominantly comprised of: - Playing, rating and creating in-depth copy for hundreds of PlayStation titles and feature pieces - Leading a team of writers and overseeing general magazine content and work scheduling leaving the editor free to acquire coverdisc content. In this time I learned the fundamental workings of the consumer end of the videogames industry, specifically regarding the sensibilities and desires of the typical mainstream end user plus what piques and holds the interest of the specialist press. In addition functioning within this high-pressure environment ensured I am well accustomed to project-working towards tight deadlines and with extremely restricted creative budgets.

English Literature