Today was my last day at Treyarch / Activision. I'm leaving to pursue other opportunities.
No, I wasn't fired! I really am leaving to pursue other opportunities.
In the meantime, before any of those other opportunities kick in, I am available to do CONSULTING.
Here are some of the things I can do for your team:
* I can talk to you about your current organization and process, and make suggestions.
* I can give management training - either lectures to groups of people or more one-on-one stuff.
* I can talk engineering. If you'd like advice on any given engineering topic, I may or may not have the answer.
* I can write code. If you need something done and are having trouble finding the staff, you can borrow me. It won't be cheap, but if you're in dire straits, it's an option.
* I can critique gameplay or game mechanics. (Yeah, your team will love that, some guy coming in talking shit about the game. But it could still be valuable.)
Why would you want me to do any of these things?
I usually don't like blowing my own horn, but here goes:
I've been in the industry a long time with an impressive track record. The games I've worked on, altogether, have sold close to ten million units. During my time at Treyarch, I've instituted a number of processes that have made us more productive and improved quality. On the engineering side I've worked on just about everything: rendering, networking code, AI, special effects. On the design side my claim to fame is that I invented the critically acclaimed swinging system in Spider-Man 2. How's that for an accomplishment? Invented a whole new game mechanic, beloved by millions. (Not that it wasn't a team effort: guys like Eric Pavone and Andrei Pokrovsky improved greatly upon it. But I was the one who stayed late at work prototyping my crazy idea, and if it hadn't been for me, the swinging system would never have existed.)
Also, I've done some writing (the *Manager in A Strange Land* column on Gamasutra and post-mortems in *Game Developer*) and speaking (at the CGDC and NFT).
As far as price goes, I'm thinking first hour free, and if you think I'm worth a damn, we can negotiate the rest. I'll charge teams at big companies like EA more than small teams that are just starting out.
This is a limited time offer because at some point I'm going to be working at a job that needs my full attention again.
If you're interested, e-mail jdfristrom@gmail.com, or call 310.529.1593.
I suppose some people are wondering why I quit. It's not because I'm sick of Activision/ Treyarch or anything. Activision and Treyarch are both great companies. It's just because this other opportunity has come up, and while pursuing it I didn't feel like I could give my full attention to the current project I was working on. I felt a little like I was phoning it in, and needed to quit before the guilt overwhelmed me.
Anyhow, so here I am. Get it while it's hot.
Whatever the opportunity is, I hope it gives you professional fulfillment. Good luck pal.
Posted by: Jeffool | October 13, 2005 at 09:50 PM
wow... good luck Jamie!
Posted by: markus | October 14, 2005 at 12:28 AM
Intriguing! I wish you the best.
Oh, and knowing when to leave gracefully is an impressive bit of self awareness!
Posted by: Corvus | October 14, 2005 at 02:27 AM
Hmmm... this wouldn't have anything to do with reading all those "starting your own business" type books would it? Ha ha! Good luck on your new challenges.
Posted by: screwtheman | October 14, 2005 at 05:38 AM
good luck! don't stop the blog
Posted by: Fran | October 14, 2005 at 10:21 AM
Wow, I hope things go well for you in your new prospects; it's looks like (to my untrained eyes) Treyarch is starting to pick up some fairly serious steam (they did Ultimate Spiderman, right?), so that must've taken at least some serious internal discussion on your part...
Anyway, best of luck...and oh yeah, what the previous poster said: don't stop the blog. :)
Eric
P.S. Out of curiosity, is this in any way related to Manifesto Games?
Posted by: Eric Lulie | October 14, 2005 at 12:19 PM
Good luck on your new project, Jamie!
I thought something was up, considering your recent MBA-type reading material.
Posted by: Anne | October 14, 2005 at 03:11 PM
Good luck! Not like it was completely unexpected given the books you've been reading lately :-)
Posted by: Noel Llopis | October 14, 2005 at 08:46 PM
On the Manifesto Games thing, no, no relation, just a coincidence.
Posted by: Jamie | October 14, 2005 at 08:58 PM
Whoa! Good luck!
Posted by: NeARAZ | October 15, 2005 at 04:31 AM
Congratulations! What, did you get tired of making Spiderman games? Good luck on wherever fortune lands you next.
Posted by: Damion Schubert | October 21, 2005 at 10:24 AM