1. Charles Cecil was born on 11 August 1962 and is a British video game designer and co-founder of Revolution Software.
35 Facts About Charles Cecil
1. 2.
Charles Cecil's family lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when he was still very young, but was evacuated two years after Mobutu Sese Seko's coup d'etat.
3.
In 1990, Cecil founded Revolution along with Tony Warriner, David Sykes and Noirin Carmody.
4.
Charles Cecil then became Revolution's managing director and focused on writing and design.
5.
Charles Cecil worked on various adventure games outside Revolution, including The Da Vinci Code and Doctor Who: The Adventure Games.
6.
Charles Cecil co-founded Game Republic in 2003 and has been a director on the board.
7.
Charles Cecil is a member of the advisory committee for the renewed Game Republic, and has been on the advisory panel of the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival.
8.
Charles Cecil is member of the advisory panel of the Evolve and Develop Conference, a board member of Screen Yorkshire, and a member of Skillset's Computer Games Skills Council.
9.
Charles Cecil was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to the video game industry.
10.
When Charles Cecil was two and his mother Veronica was about to give birth to his sister, they were evacuated after Mobutu Sese Seko's coup d'etat.
11.
Charles Cecil was then educated at Bedales School in Hampshire, England.
12.
Charles Cecil decided to take up on the invitation, for like all students, he needed beer money.
13.
In 1989, when Charles Cecil was still working at Activison, he decided to set up his own development studio.
14.
Charles Cecil contacted Tony Warriner, who had worked with him at Artic Computing and Paragon Programming, and Warriner brought in a fellow programmer, David Sykes.
15.
Charles Cecil was originally located in Hull, but moved to York in 1994.
16.
Besides becoming Revolution's managing director, Charles Cecil would focus from the start on writing and design.
17.
For Revolution's first title, Charles Cecil conceived with others an innovative game engine, called Virtual Theatre, and the engine itself was designed by Tony Warriner.
18.
Charles Cecil had met Gibbons when he was still at Activision, and he admired Gibbons's work on Watchmen.
19.
Charles Cecil started to hire external talent from the TV and film trades for the big-budget production Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars.
20.
Charles Cecil had had no choice to adopt 3D though, for when they needed funding in the beginning of 2000, publishers had become obsessed with the idea that everything was going to be 3D.
21.
Charles Cecil could have said that as a marketing genius he planned it, but as he stated a few years later, that would have been a dreadful lie.
22.
In May 2004 Charles Cecil announced that Revolution would go "back to basics," which meant that Revolution, that had set itself up as both designer and producer of video games, would focus more closely on design.
23.
Revolution could now start to self-publish and the relation with the audience, a relation that Charles Cecil had always valued, could be restored.
24.
Charles Cecil was a consultant for The Collective's The Da Vinci Code.
25.
Charles Cecil regularly talks at events and to the press about creative and commercial aspects of the video games industry, and is an ambassador for the Yorkshire and UK games industry in general and of course Revolution in particular.
26.
Charles Cecil teaches, gives masterclasses, acts as judge on game proposals and mentors young game designers.
27.
Charles Cecil was a founder of Yorkshire games network Game Republic in 2003, and has been a director on the board.
28.
Charles Cecil is a member of the advisory committee for the renewed Game Republic.
29.
Charles Cecil has been a member of the steering group and member on the advisory board of Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival, and is on the advisory panel of the Evolve and Develop Conferences.
30.
Charles Cecil is board member of Screen Yorkshire, member of Skillset's Computer Games Skills Council, and a former member of the BFI Board of Governors.
31.
In 2006 Charles Cecil was awarded the status of Development Legend by Develop, Europe's leading development magazine.
32.
In 2010 Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, asked Charles Cecil to be part of an independent review to assess which university courses best prepare graduates with the skills to succeed in the games industry.
33.
Charles Cecil was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to the computer games industry.
34.
Charles Cecil loves history and physics-based science, but enjoys physical activity, like rowing, competing in regattas, football, and tennis.
35.
Charles Cecil believes that game design involves a different creative process as compared to traditional writing.