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Interview with Howard Newmark   Games   Malkin | 5/6/2013  log in to like post

updated5/6/2013
An interview with Howard Newmark by HomeCreatures.

Howard Newmark
Full Name: Howard Margret Newmark(?)
Personal Quote: I'm small but perfectly formed.
Howard is the big cheese of CyberLife's Creatures dept. If something is going on chances are Howard knows about it and is doing it!


What is small but perfectly formed? Apart from a penguin, that is? No no, not a mouse. No the answer is not Pluto. It's Howard Newmark of course! What do you mean you didn't know? As well as being the general manager of Creatures Labs, Howard Newmark has worked in Marketing, Sales and as many other things- his only fault, he cant keep a Norn doll.

HC: Hello, what did you do before CyberLife?
Howard: I have been in the Computer Game Industry for about 15 years now, involved in aspects of Sales, Marketing, Publishing and Distribution - Immediately prior to joining, I was a self-employed consultant to various developers, trying to get their products ready take to market.

HC: So how did you get involved with them?
Howard: I was hired as a consultant to help with the launch of Creatures 2, to help Cyberlife relaunch their web activities, and other matters relating to Commercial issues.

HC: What was your first day at CyberLife like?
Howard: Erm. kind of strange. There was simply so much information to take in about the company, the unique technology, the special way we write our software, that I thought I really had bitten off more than I can chew. Fortunately, everyone is so approachable that I wasn't left hanging around looking dumb for long.

HC: Over the past year or so has your job changed much at CL?
Howard: Well, someone seems to think I've done a good job, as I have recently been elevated to the rank of 'General Manager, Creatures Labs'. This in effect means that the Producers and Managers report to me, and I get hung out of the window by my ankles if product is late or things go wrong... ( The river Cam looks particularly attractive when viewed upside-down... )

HC: Where do you see yourself in three years time, and where do you see CyberLife?
Howard: If I shut my eyes really tight and think for a while, I can see funny bright bits appearing in my field of vision. I can also see myself reclining on a SouthEast Asian beach somewhere, signing another email to Toby on my remote access miniature PDA and icecube maker, whilst chatting to my fellow Cyberlife Board Members via remote satellite link to Acapulco. Cyberlife will be seen as the benchmark for Artificial Life Applications in software, the Internet ( in whatever guise it will be by then ), and hopefully in a whole host of consumer products we haven't even thought of yet...

HC: Is there a member of the team who has a habit that really annoys you that you would like to get of your chest, just between you me and my 4 viewers of course ;-)
Howard: Don't start me off, you don't have the bandwidth to cope with the size of my reply - plus I'd be the likely target of a major spamming exercise. Truthfully, considering the tight deadlines we work to, and the high standards we set ourselves, we get on remarkably well. ( Very diplomatic, don't you think?).

HC: *grin* Very diplomatic indeed! Had you heard of or played Creatures or other A-Life game before you joined?
Howard: Actually, I first saw Creatures when it was a few pages of typing on a concept document several years ago. At the time I was Director of Acquisitions for a large American Publisher, and I really, really wanted to secure the Publishing Rights for us. The company eventually turned it down - a big mistake...

HC: Cool, on to a new topic, whats your lifes ambition?
Howard: I'm fairly simple in my ambitions, all I want from life is to be able to ferry my 2 kids to Eton in the McLaren, or the BellJet Ranger if it's raining, and go to work because I want to, not because I have to. Also, moving the offices nearer to London ( where I live ) would be a plus, but I can't see me getting that one through on expenses, somehow... Actually, I would just like to see Cyberlife succeeding in our endeavours and achieving the recognition we believe we will be entitled to.

HC: Using one sentence can you describe yourself?
Howard: Small but perfectly formed.

HC: See,, I told you. Do you have any interesting Norn stories.. as CyberLife asks the community all the time for them, I thought I'd ask a few there :-)
Howard: Only the fact that any norn doll that I put on my desk comes alive and runs away - because every time I put a new one on my desk, it's gone by the next day...

HC: If there was anywhere in Albia you could go where would it be, and why?
Howard: I think I'd like to be behind the waterfall - after all, I'm always being told what a right shower we all are!

HC: HOWARD NEWMARK JUSTIFY YOUR EXSISTANCE
Howard: Lordy. At CyberLife I consider myself to be the 'sanity checker'- there are hundreds of ideas bouncing through the office on a daily basis. My commercial background helps people to focus on the value of their ideas, the cost of getting the idea off the ground, and the associated risks and rewards. That doesn't mean that we're only in it for the money - far from it - but a company of this size can only achieve so much at a time, and I'm the guy who gets hung out of the window if we start trying too many wacky things... In life, I've done my bit already, having propagated the species with a son and a daughter, so I guess I'll just have to be a burden to society for the next 30-40 years...

- Thanks for the interview, Howard.

An interview with HomeCreatures.

 


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