 Describe your "typical"
workday. When do you get up? What do you do during the day? When do you go home?
 I get up at 6:00 and
workout for an hour or so. I get my three kids ready for school and make them breakfast.
My eldest son, Tony (7) and I discuss his previous day and often talk about some game he
is hooked on. My wife and I help each other out every morning and she usually gets our
twins, Samantha and James (4) dressed.
I take the kids to school and get to the office by 8:00. Most of my day is spent in
meetings discussing everything from art, to production to finance. Between meetings, I
check email and try to keep on top of the paperwork.
Lunchtime and dinner are special times reserved for just being with my team members or the
art staff. We talk about out projects or our personal lives. Everything is very casual at
Westwood.
I usually catch up on email, telephone messages and paperwork each night. I try to leave
the office between 8 and 10.
I get up, and do it again the next day. I spend weekends with my family and travel as
often as possible.
You certainly have developed a diverse line of products, from titles such as
the Lion King for Disney, the Lands of Lore series, and the recently released Blade
Runner. Do you enjoy working on licensed properties more than original works?
No, I think they
are equal to me. I don't prefer a game genre either. I have programmed a flight simulator,
designed a side action platform game, programmed the AI for Monopoly, and the product I'm
working on now is more like a strategy game. If anything, I love the variety my job offers
me. It keeps my artistic impulses flowing.
Louis Castle (Left) and Brett Sperry (Right) talk to
Westwood employees at last year's Christmas party in Las Vegas
|
Although you and Brett [Sperry, CEO of
Westwood] work together at Westwood, you produce different titles. How involved are you in
the Command and Conquer line of games? Are you and Brett relatively competitive?
Brett and I are, as
always, cooperative. He is my worst critic and best supporter and I feel I'm the same to
him. I'm involved in some brainstorming sessions and look over the art but I am more or
less hands off for C&C.
Editor's Note: Geoff Keighley interviewed Brett Sperry in January, 1997. There
is a link at the end of this article to that interview. |
