Senior Advisor
Ben Smedstad
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“Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.” – Dorothy Parker
Skills
Creative Direction
Game Design
Strategical Thinking
Games vs Sunlight Ratio
Key achievements
- Worked on Baldur’s Gate, Homeworld, Call of Duty, Quake, Crisis
- Shipped 50+ titles
- Hundreds of millions of people have played his games
- Wrote a book on the games industry “Fun Factory” in 2017
On the lookout for
Innovation paired with articulation and understanding.
Backstory
Ben started as a game designer in the mid-90s and had the good fortune of his first game being Baldur’s Gate, which sold incredibly well and helped to revive a genre. After transitioning into production for the franchise, Ben went on to produce RTS, FPS, and other genres. After a few years, and constantly being put onto projects that had a crisis of direction to solve, he returned officially to the 'creative end' of things in 2004 as Creative Director. Since then, Ben has worked at developers, publishers, started his own studio, consulted in games, TV, tech, and wrote a book on the games industry. Some of the companies he has worked with include Bioware, Activision, Electronic Arts, Meta and Sega. He also owns several consultancy companies for games, AR/VR/MR think tanks and also serves as an advisor and mentor in the entertainment industry.
Ben believes deeply in collaboration as a working method, but also that articulated vision is key in a successful team endeavor. Keeping ego out of decision-making, working together to take any idea and improve on it is how you ensure the best outcomes. Creative Directors may 'steer the ship,' but you are a caretaker and your responsibility is that the best possible product is made.