BONFIRE STUDIOS - Key Persons
Billy has had a lifelong interest in gaming, art, technology, and helping others. Starting out as an animator at Electronic Arts, he quickly discovered his true calling as a technical artist. He then spent nearly 13 years working as a tech artist, game developer, and leader at Blizzard Entertainment before joining Bonfire. Still a hardcore gamer, here Billy is also heavily engaged in giving feedback to Design. He has a fascination for improving one's self and the inner game: the mental aspect of competitive sports and gaming.
Braden is a Los Angeles native who grew up surrounded by creativity. His parents instilled a love of music in Braden from an early age. After interning with local recording studios, he discovered game audio and honed his craft in his backyard shed with a laptop and a pair of headphones. Now, after almost a decade of professional experience and training from some of the world's most prolific game sound designers, Braden is an expert. When he's not working, he can be found playing video games, rock climbing, or playing with his two dogs. At Bonfire, Braden continues to put his audio skills to the test to bring our game to life in new and exciting ways.
Carlyn always loved drawing and exploring imaginary worlds - it was her way of fitting into and understanding the world. Games are a natural extension of that landscape, a beautiful space to let the kid within roam free and put complex emotions into manageable boxes. Fast forward 15 years into her career, she has created fantastical characters and creatures for companies including Blizzard, EA, Riot, Gearbox, ProbablyMonsters, and ArenaNet, where she was also the Lead Concept artist. Now at Bonfire, she looks forward to expanding new worlds with the amazing team!
Originating from small-town Missouri, video games & stories were Charlie's doorway to a wider world. Whether it was growing up playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego or coming up with an entirely unique backstory for each new character build in Diablo II, chasing a deeper narrative is where he finds the most fun. After his stint in advertising trying to get people to care about potato chips, cars, and online banking, Charlie found his way into the game industry where he shaped the stories that launched titles like Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Medal of Honor. Charlie joined Bonfire's team of talented and passionate nerds to help us tell an all-new story of our own.
Chris spent most of his early years trying to escape his small town in rural Kansas by grinding levels in MMOs and playing entirely too much CS 1.6. The in-game friendships were life changing - they ignited his curiosity around how players and developers forge communities and culture together. Since then, he's spent 10 years working on League of Legends and helped launch TFT, Legends of Runeterra, VALORANT, and more. When he's not locked in battle, Chris spends his time exploring the trails of Southern California with his trusty pug. Chris is hyped to be at Bonfire where he hopes to bring opportunities for players everywhere to build and connect together.
Christina's love for Super Smash Bros. N64 sparked her lifelong gaming passion. The magical feeling of finding her own close-knit gaming group inspired her mission to create spaces of belonging for others. After nine years at Supercell, where she built the Clash of Clans' brand, orchestrated its Super Bowl debut, established a storytelling team, and shaped new game IPs, Christina joined Bonfire to nurture a company culture where everyone feels seen and valued. When she's not steering our culture, you'll find Christina at a karaoke bar or lighting up the dance floor.
Growing up the youngest of four boys, Greg spent his formative years simultaneously falling in love with video games and trying his best to get a turn to play them. When he couldn't get his hands on a controller, he'd spend his time drawing out game ideas onto his trusty pad of grid paper. After taking "Intro to Computer Animation" in high school, he was hooked on turning those ideas into realities. Greg eventually landed his first industry gig at Sony working on God of War: Ascension. Since then he's bounced around LA working on projects big and small; from Respawn's Jedi Fallen Order to Giant Sparrow's What Remains of Edith Finch. He now happily finds himself at Bonfire, ready to bring more big ideas to life for players everywhere.
Originally from Guam, Izzy's family moved to the mainland US when she was seven years old. Throughout her childhood she played many games, but it was the Final Fantasy series that really hooked her and left an indelible impression. Inspired, she wrote her first program at 13 years old and from then on knew that making games was meant for her. Honing her skills on smaller game projects and competing in hackathons, Izzy would go on to work on such franchises as Call of Duty and Apex Legends. A builder at heart, she still finds time to build custom mechanical keyboards, construct Gundam model kits, and she's always in search of the perfect boba milk tea. She's excited to join Bonfire's small but mighty team and see what amazing things they can all create.
Jason's connection to business, food and games started early. He helped his immigrant parents build a successful life for the family - while enjoying their video rental store (free videogames!) and Baskin Robbins (Pralines 'n Cream is his fav). This is where he learned that money - when earned and used correctly - is a symbol of freedom and opportunity. He started his career working for Goldman Sachs and TPG Capital, then earned his degree at Harvard Business School. Finally he was able to apply his knowledge to his passion for food and games. He worked at Riot helping build the finance team, and at Butterfly Capital helping food companies with operations. Now he is at Bonfire starting a new adventure with a team of amazing human beings.
Jeremy started his career on the web, focused on graphic design and user experience. He fulfilled his lifelong dream of working in the games industry when he got a job on Battle.net working on front end social systems for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. He moved to the nascent Overwatch team as a game designer focused on UX, and then became a systems designer. He also loved working on branding, merchandise, and graphic design - even creating the Overwatch logo. At Bonfire, he's excited to go back to the small team environment of early Overwatch, and have a big impact on our game (and our merch).
Joe has been a concept artist in the games industry for about 20 years. In that time he's worked at multiple studios, including Blizzard Entertainment and contracted for the likes of Riot Games, Id Software, and Lightstorm Entertainment to name a few. While not expecting to join another company full-time, discovering and bonding with Bonfire changed his mind. He joined Bonfire to try and make games a new way, with more concern for teams and the people on them.
Whether tinkering with PC games with his friends or playing D&D and Magic the Gathering with his cousins, Kyle loved to share games with others. While completing his Software Engineering degree at the University of Alberta, Kyle landed an internship with Electronic Arts working on the not yet announced Skate game. As a casual skater himself, the experience got him hooked on a career in game development. He returned to EA after graduating and spent the next 14 years as a gameplay engineer on franchises including Skate, Need for Speed, and Plants vs Zombies. Having the opportunity to work with the small group of amazing folks at Bonfire was something Kyle couldn't turn down and he's stoked to help bring the creative ideas at Bonfire to life!
Megan has built her career on a desire to forge strong bonds with others and help them succeed. Her operational expertise was developed as the right hand of numerous dynamic and creative leaders in the games industry and Bonfire has honed her collaborative and creative problem solving in the strategy space with a lens for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She takes food and eating quite seriously, is a horror movie aficionado, a dedicated board game rule follower, and an amplifier of voices big, small, soft, hard and in between.
Job Titles:
- Operations / Recruiting / Wrangler
Michelle's first exposure to gaming was when she bartered her car washing and weed pulling skills in exchange for a SHARP 19SV111 television with a built in NES - it was worth every bee sting and sunburn, and unlocked her life-long passion for games. She bridged her love of video games into her role of helping others find their place in the industry, hiring at companies including Riot Games, Netflix, Microsoft and Phoenix Labs. Michelle is excited to now bring her people-first approach to building teams to Bonfire. As someone who doesn't have a college degree, she recognizes the challenges that come from navigating a "non-traditional" career path and is passionate about making space for those historically excluded from making games. When she isn't geeking out about all things hiring, you can find her fostering kittens, hiking, and eating popcorn.
Morgan grew up loving games, and was lucky enough to turn this interest into a 15 year career in the industry. She started out covering tech, but spent most of her career as a reviewer, journalist, and television producer covering the world of video games. She also hosted the long running television show X-Play, where she was able to learn about the industry from the developers themselves. She is excited to bring her production experience, her love of games, and her high-elf ranger to Bonfire Studios.
Growing up, Nick went to see Star Wars - and was immediately obsessed with the detailed worlds created by nothing but the human imagination. When he started at Blizzard at 20, he brought this love to the art, characters, and worlds of Warcraft III, StarCraft: Brood War, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Diablo III. As VP of Art and Cinematics, he moved his craft to the big screen in the World of Warcraft movie. At Bonfire Studios, he will help define our vision with the detailed worlds he's known for.
Born and raised in Orange County, Nick was yelled at a lot by teachers for always drawing in class. His love of drawing collided with his second love on a fateful day in 1985, when Christmas provided a Nintendo Entertainment System. Thus, the world of video games was revealed. Nick's first (and very humbling) career experience was at Quicksilver Software creating art for Master of Orion III. He learned a lot from that experience and was happy to find a much better one working with amazing humans on Diablo 3 and, his favorite experience, as Lead VFX Artist on Overwatch. When not brewing beer he is experimenting in the kitchen, woodworking, or hanging out with friends (as well as dog Sirius and cat Abbey).
Nick Reynolds' path into the gaming world has been a collaborative adventure. Fate played its part when a serendipitous encounter led him to a presentation on 3D animation at a local university, sparking his passion for digital art. Throughout his career, Nick has been a part of numerous projects, including God of War, Mercenaries, Ghost Recon - Advanced Warfighter, Darksiders, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, Ghostbusters, and early stages of Riot's Valorant and Project L, always with a focus on achieving the highest level of quality. Sharing knowledge and fostering learning were integral to his journey, and he spent several years teaching and creating instructional videos at the Gnomon School of VFX. Nick has now found a new creative haven at Bonfire, where he's eager to collaborate with a talented team in a close-knit environment.
When it came time to choose a career path, Rachel looked to the one consistent inspiration in her life, video games! Her career started in QA at Blizzard and quickly evolved to Technical Art and eventually VFX. Through her career, Rachel has had the privilege of working on such titles as Diablo III, Overwatch and Warcraft Rumble as a VFX artists. She then moved to Bonfire to be their founding VFX artist and has since grown her career and expanded into Production. Now, Rachel is excited to help the team realize their vision by helping to create amazing games with amazing people.
Rachelle fell in love with immersive entertainment experiences and transformative storytelling at the age of 2, when she'd force her parents to sit through full reenactments of The Wizard of Oz on the elevated fireplace "stage". Several twists, turns, and years of musical theatre performances later, she's found that same joy in creating worlds and player stories in games. Her first industry job was at Blizzard slinging cards and code on the Hearthstone team, where she learned that behind every truly great game is an even greater team of passionate people collaborating with one another. Rachelle is beyond excited to return to that small-team, close-knit group vibe at Bonfire to help craft incredible team and player experiences.
Rob's love of game design started when he was introduced to D&D with his elementary school friends. Designing campaigns for his friends showed him the power of games to bring people closer together. During his professional career, he led the design of Starcraft: Brood War, World of Warcraft and Warcraft III. As Chief Creative Officer at Blizzard, he served as the Executive Producer for Diablo III and Hearthstone. Bonfire is the next phase of his journey to deepen and enrich friendships through gameplay.
Roph was inspired to become a designer by the imaginative minds behind his favorite childhood heroes and villains. He adds color and energy whenever he can - in his work, his apparel, and in his home decor. Roph started his career in app design and UX on the east coast, but he soon moved to California to pursue his calling in game development. He spent 7+ years designing interface systems and visual styles for big franchises like Overwatch and VALORANT - but now Roph is thrilled to be a part of Bonfire, where he'll help create compelling player experiences for our brand new IP. Sam Christiansen Engineering Systems Fremen He was that kid who took everything apart to see how it worked, so it was inevitable that he would try to figure out how to make the video games he loved. When he took his first computer programming course, his career path was set. He has worked as a game, tools, and engine programmer at Insomniac Games, Blizzard Entertainment, and Riot Games on titles such as Ratchet & Clank and Diablo 3. Sam was also a co-founder of Booyah, creator of several top iOS and Facebook games.
While his first games were rendered in all the graphical glory ASCII could muster, his industry start was on Madden NFL 06 with a focus on real-time graphics. He worked on several EA titles before joining LucasArts to work on the graphics engine for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 1 and 2. When Szymon was ready for start-up life, he and three colleagues founded a company making a high-end game engine for mobile. They got acquired by Zynga and put out a game called Battlestone using their custom engine. He then became CTO of Telltale before finding his way to Bonfire Studios. SSwistun
Born and raised in London - where walking through Piccadilly Circus is slightly less preferable than walking through Mordor - Zahra switched grey clouds for sunshine and moved to California. She honed her operational experience by working with leading entertainment executives at Blizzard and Netflix, implementing ideas to make them a reality. When she is not taming the lions at work, Zahra enjoys binge watching horror movies and reality television, doing daily crossword puzzles, and reading. Zahra is excited to be at Bonfire Studios where she is able to support our teams.
The first time he wrote a multiplayer game in his school computer lab, he fell in love with making games. He started his career as a gameplay engineer on a series of open-world action games including The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Prototype. Zaven then worked on some of gaming's biggest multiplayer franchises - Destiny & Battlefield. As a Technical Director at EA, Zaven helped lead technology development on new IP projects. Now, his passion for games, technology, and team building have brought him from Vancouver to Bonfire to help create amazing games and build amazing teams.