Warren Spector

Early life

Spector grew up in Manhattan, which he described as a sometimes hostile environment where "short, pudgy, Jewish kids didn't fare well". He showed an intense devotion to whatever topic became his focus at any given time, from dinosaurs and airplanes as a small boy, to an interest in law by the sixth grade. At age 13, Spector had decided he wanted to be a film critic, and by high school, his interests expanded to include cars and basketball.

Spector and game designer Greg Costikyan were friends since high school.

Spector attended Northwestern University in Illinois, still intending to become a film critic, stating that he "knew more about movies than a lot of my teachers". Spector earned his BS in Communications at Northwestern, and went on to earn his MA in Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin in 1980. His thesis was a critical history of Warner Bros. cartoons.

All through college, Spector enjoyed gaming, and recalls that he "played Avalon Hill games mainly, and a lot of OGRE and G.E.V. games, and Rivets from Metagaming. It was all boardgames until I became friends with science-fiction writers who were into D&D games, so I gave the game a try. I was hooked." Spector taught several undergraduate classes at the University of Texas at Austin, on the history, theory, and criticism of film.

Tabletop role-playing games

In 1983, after a job at the Harry Ransom Center as an archivist in charge of the David O. Selznick collection ended after a few months, Spector recalls that he "was sitting around, wondering how I was going to pay the next month's rent, when I got a call from Chris Frink. He was a writer for a weekly entertainment magazine I used to edit in college. Anyway, he said that he was now editor of Space Gamer magazine and asked if I wanted a job. So, in the fall of 1983, I started as an editor." Within a short time, Spector became the editor-in-chief for all Steve Jackson Games products, the company that owned and published Space Gamer magazine. Spector began producing role-playing games for the company, stating, "I supervised game development, typesetting, and the art and graphic departments." Greg Costikyan developed Steve Jackson Games' first complete role-playing system, Toon (1984), based on an idea by Jeff Dee; Costikyan intended the game to be an article in Fantasy Gamer magazine, but Spector liked it enough that he expanded it into a full game. Spector wrote the Paranoia game supplement Send in the Clones (1985) with Allen Varney. Spector also worked on the GURPS role-playing game. In March 1987 he was hired by TSR, initially working on games such as Top Secret/S.I. and the Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game. He also worked on The Bullwinkle and Rocky Party Roleplaying Game, and the second edition AD&D rules set, as well as board games, choose-your-own-adventure books, and novels. Spector spent some time in TSR's R&D department, helping launch, among other things, Spelljammer.

Origin and Looking Glass

In 1989, Spector entered the computer game industry and joined Origin, where he co-produced Ultima VI and Wing Commander and produced Ultima Underworld and Ultima Underworld II, Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, System Shock, Wings of Glory, Bad Blood, Martian Dreams, and others. He later became general manager of Looking Glass Austin. He worked briefly on Dark Camelot, which later became Thief: The Dark Project. However, Spector left Looking Glass soon afterward, just before Thief shipped, to pursue other interests.

Ion Storm

In 1996, Spector was about to sign a contract with EA to do an unannounced project (which was revealed to be a "Command & Conquer Role-Playing Game") when he got a call from John Romero to join him at Ion Storm; Romero persuaded Spector by offering him the chance to make the game of his dreams with no creative interference and a big marketing budget. Spector later agreed. In 1997 he founded Ion Storm's Austin development studio, and his "dream project" later became the award-winning action/RPG called Deus Ex. As Ion Storm studio director, he oversaw development of Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003) and Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004). In 2004, Spector left Ion Storm to "pursue personal interests outside the company". Ion Storm was closed by owners Eidos Interactive in February 2005.

Disney

In 2005, it was announced that he had established a new studio Junction Point Studios. A job advertisement for the studio called for artists for a game that has "classic Hollywood cartoons" featuring "cartoon mice, cats and wabbits". On July 13, 2007, it was announced that Disney Interactive had acquired Junction Point Studios. His first project with Disney Interactive was a project involving classic Disney characters, titled Epic Mickey. The game is a Steampunk title and designed exclusively for the Wii; the game was released in 2010.

In January 2013, it was announced that Warren Spector had left Disney Interactive following the closure of Junction Point Studios.

University of Texas

After leaving Disney Interactive, Spector worked with the University of Texas at Austin to build a new post-baccalaureate game development program – the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy. He worked with UT staff to create a curriculum and plan out courses and labs.

OtherSide Entertainment

In February 2016, Spector announced he had joined OtherSide Entertainment, a studio formed by Paul Neurath in 2014 and includes several previous Looking Glass developers, as their Studio Director, after having been in an advisory role from its inception. He will be helping the studio with their current development of System Shock 3 and Underworld Ascendant, the spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld which both Spector and Neurath worked on in the early 1990s. Though Spector had completed two-and-a-half years of a three-year tenure at the University of Texas, he jumped at the chance to work on a System Shock when Neurath approached him with the offer. He also believed the opportunity would help garner good favor from players that had been disappointed by his choice to work on Epic Mickey, even though he states that game had still been based on his past design philosophy used in the development of System Shock and Deus Ex.

Personal life

Warren met Caroline Chase in 1984 at a comic book store in Austin, Texas, where she was employed. Caroline got a job at Steve Jackson Games shortly afterwards, and shortly after that, the two began a romance. Warren and Caroline were married on April 11, 1987. The couple sometimes worked together, such as on game supplements for the Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game.

The two reside in Austin, TX. Caroline is a fantasy writer.

Video games

Spector is usually credited as a producer, except for Deus Ex on which he is also credited as project director.

Role-playing games

Novels

Comics

Gamebooks