Bill Tiller
{{Short description|American computer game designer and writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Bill Tiller
|image =
|birth_date = November 1, 1967
|birth_place =
|death_date =
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|nationality =
|occupation = Game designer, writer, artist
}}
William Tiller is an American computer game designer, writer, and artist.{{cite web |title=William Tiller @billtiller |url=https://twitter.com/billtiller |website=Twitter |access-date=9 November 2023}} At LucasArts, he was the lead artist and art director of The Dig,{{cite web |url=http://mixnmojo.com/features/sitefeatures/LucasArts-Secret-History-The-Dig/6 |title=LucasArts Secret History: The Dig |publisher=The International House of Mojo |date=March 10, 2009 |accessdate=July 12, 2013}} the lead background artist on The Curse of Monkey Island,{{cite web |title=Bill Tiller at Autumn Moon Entertainment |url=http://mixnmojo.com/features/interviews/Bill-Tiller-at-Autumn-Moon-Entertainment-2010 |publisher=The International House of Mojo |accessdate=December 9, 2011}} and the lead artist on Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. He created the games A Vampyre Story and Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island for Autumn Moon Entertainment, a studio he co-founded with Mike Kirchoff in 2002. He worked as a game designer on the iOS title Perils of Man.
Career
Tiller was hired by LucasArts adventure games by Collette Michaud in 1992 as an animator for Brian Moriarty's version of The Dig. He stayed with the project through all of its incarnations, and was ultimately the lead artist and art director on the final version of the game. He was the lead background artist of The Curse of Monkey Island, and the lead artist of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. In 2001, he left LucasArts to work at ArenaNet.{{cite web |title=Bill Tiller leaves LEC |url=http://mixnmojo.com/news/Bill-Tiller-Leaves-LEC |publisher=The International House of Mojo |accessdate=December 9, 2011}}
In 2002,{{cite web |url=http://archive.adventuregamers.com/display.php?id=402 |title=Interview with Mike Kirchoff |publisher=Adventure Gamers |date=July 9, 2004 |accessdate=June 24, 2013}} co-founded Autumn Moon Entertainment to develop his own adventure games.{{cite web |title=Bill Tiller – A Vampyre Story interview |date=October 5, 2007 |url=http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,813 |publisher=Adventure Gamers |accessdate=December 9, 2011}} Their first release was A Vampyre Story in 2008, followed by Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island in 2009. Due to financial issues with the publisher of the Autumn Moon games, Crimson Cow, Tiller has maintained a freelance career in the industry. His royalty checks from his work on Snuggle Truck has allowed Tiller to keep working on his own adventure games. Before the success of Snuggle Truck, Tiller served as the art director for MunkyFun, which is itself a studio founded by a number of ex-LucasArts developers.{{cite web |url=http://herocomplex.latimes.com/games/lucusarts-vet-turns-to-kickstarter-to-revive-a-vampyre-story/ |date=June 21, 2013 |accessdate=June 23, 2013 |title=LucasArts vet turns to Kickstarter to revive a 'Vampyre Story' |work=Los Angeles Times |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623005511/http://herocomplex.latimes.com/games/lucusarts-vet-turns-to-kickstarter-to-revive-a-vampyre-story/ |archivedate=June 23, 2013}} In 2013, Tiller started a crowdfunding effort for an episodic, independent prequel to the A Vampyre Story saga called A Vampyre Story: Year One. The Kickstarter campaign was unsuccessful, however, the game remains in development.{{cite web |url=http://mixnmojo.com/news/Bill-shrugs-off-Kickstarter-outcome-sells-kidney-pushes-on |title=Bill shrugs off Kickstarter outcome, sells kidney, pushes on |publisher=The International House of Mojo |date=July 6, 2013 |accessdate=July 10, 2013}} In 2013, Tiller collaborated with IF Games in Switzerland as one of the game designers for the 3D adventure Perils of Man, which saw release in 2014. In August 2014, Bill Tiller began a Kickstarter campaign for a spin-off of Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island titled ''Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler!.{{cite web |url=http://www.adventuregamers.com/news/view/26907 |title=Bill Tiller's Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler! sets sail on Kickstarter |publisher=Adventure Gamers |date=August 8, 2014 |accessdate=2014-08-10}}
Games
- 1993: Star Wars: Rebel Assault, artist (LucasArts)
- 1994: Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, artist (LucasArts)
- 1994: Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures, artist (LucasArts)
- 1995: Full Throttle, artist (LucasArts)
- 1995: The Dig, lead artist, art director (LucasArts)
- 1997: Outlaws, artist (LucasArts)
- 1997: The Curse of Monkey Island, lead background artist (LucasArts)
- 1999: Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, lead artist (LucasArts)
- 2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, concept artist (Stormfront Studios)
- 2008: A Vampyre Story, project leader, artist, writer (Autumn Moon Entertainment)
- 2009: Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, project leader, artist, writer (Autumn Moon Entertainment)
- 2011: Bounty Bots, art director (Munky Fun)
- 2011: Snuggle Truck, artist (Owlchemy Labs)
- 2013: Jack Lumber, artist (Owlchemy Labs)
- 2014: Perils of Man, game designer (IF Games)
- 2015: Skylanders: Imaginators, senior concept artist (Activision)
- 2016: Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler!, project leader, artist, writer (Venture Moon Industries)
References
{{reflist|2}}
Further reading
- {{cite web |date=2013-06-02 |title=A Vampyre Story Year One on Kickstarter |url=http://www.justadventure.com/news/1349/a-vampyre-story-year-one-on-kickstarter |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628020516/http://www.justadventure.com/news/1349/a-vampyre-story-year-one-on-kickstarter |archive-date=2013-06-28 |accessdate=2013-06-02 |publisher=Just Adventure}}
- {{cite web |date=2004-07-09 |title=Interview with Mike Kirchoff |url=http://archive.adventuregamers.com/display.php?id=402 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130713031207/http://archive.adventuregamers.com/display.php?id=402 |archive-date=2013-07-13 |accessdate=2013-06-24 |publisher=Adventure Gamers}}
- {{cite web |date=2013-07-06 |title=Bill shrugs off Kickstarter outcome, sells kidney, pushes on |url=http://mixnmojo.com/news/Bill-shrugs-off-Kickstarter-outcome-sells-kidney-pushes-on |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211015337/https://mixnmojo.com/news/Bill-shrugs-off-Kickstarter-outcome-sells-kidney-pushes-on |archive-date=2018-12-11 |accessdate=2013-07-10 |publisher=The International House of Mojo}}
External links
- [https://www.billtillerart.com/ Official website]
- {{MobyGames developer|id=2924}}
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Category:American video game designers
Category:American video game directors