Jake Rodkin
{{short description|American video game designer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jake Rodkin
| image = Jake Rodkin Comic-Con 2007.jpg
| caption = Rodkin in 2007
| nationality =
| birth_place = Petaluma, California, U.S.
| occupation = Game designer, graphic designer
}}
Jake Rodkin is an American video game designer, writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. He was the co-project leader of Tales of Monkey Island and the co-project leader and co-writer of The Walking Dead,{{cite web |title=PAX East 2011: Telltale Talks Puzzle Agent 2 |url=http://www.insidegamingdaily.com/2011/03/15/pax-east-2011-telltale-talks-puzzle-agent-2/ |publisher=Inside Gaming Daily |access-date=December 11, 2011}} Poker Night at the Inventory, and Puzzle Agent 2.{{cite web |title=Puzzle Agent 2 hands-on archived preview |date=June 10, 2011 |url=http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,1327 |publisher=Adventure Gamers |access-date=November 30, 2011}} He was also the director of the fifth episode of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, and designer and writer of Firewatch.
Rodkin co-founded the video game developer Campo Santo with Sean Vanaman, Nels Anderson and Olly Moss, and joined Valve when Campo Santo was acquired by the company in 2018. Outside the video game industry, Rodkin also co-founded the Idle Thumbs podcast network and its flagship podcast, which he co-hosted alongside Chris Remo, Nick Breckon and Sean Vanaman.
Career
Jake Rodkin began his career writing for the gaming websites The International House of Mojo and Adventure Gamers, and co-founded Idle Thumbs.{{cite web |title=Adventure Gamers: Staff bio |url=http://www.adventuregamers.com/bio.php?id=48 |publisher=Adventure Gamers |access-date=November 29, 2011}} He joined Telltale Games as a graphic designer. He eventually became a game designer, director, writer, and project leader at Telltale. In September 2013, he and Sean Vanaman left Telltale and joined with Olly Moss and Mark of the Ninja lead designer Nels Anderson to found their own studio, Campo Santo.{{cite web |title=New studio formed by Walking Dead, Mark of the Ninja devs – Destructoid |date=September 19, 2013 |url=http://www.destructoid.com/new-studio-formed-by-walking-dead-mark-of-the-ninja-devs-262143.phtml |publisher=Destructoid |access-date=September 19, 2013 |archive-date=September 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921035857/http://www.destructoid.com/new-studio-formed-by-walking-dead-mark-of-the-ninja-devs-262143.phtml |url-status=dead }} In April 2018, Rodkin joined Valve when the company acquired Campo Santo.{{cite web |title=Interview: Campo Santo talk to us about moving to Valve |last=Walker |first=John |date=May 9, 2018 |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/05/09/exclusive-campo-santo-talk-to-us-about-moving-to-valve/ |publisher=Rock Paper Shotgun |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Rodkin is also part of Skunkape Games, a studio currently developing remasters of Telltale's Sam & Max games.{{cite web|last=Klepek|first=Patrick|title=Why a Group of Ex-Telltale Developers Are Bringing Back Sam & Max|date=November 9, 2020|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-a-group-of-ex-telltale-developers-are-bringing-back-sam-and-max/|access-date=November 9, 2020|publisher=Vice|archive-date=November 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110003140/https://www.vice.com/en/article/akdgke/why-a-group-of-ex-telltale-developers-are-bringing-back-sam-and-max|url-status=live}}
Recognition
The re-issue of the comic collection Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway, which Jake Rodkin co-designed with franchise creator Steve Purcell, was nominated for the Eisner Award for "Best Graphic Album-Reprint" in 2009.{{cite web |title=Surfin the Highway Nominated! |date=April 21, 2009 |url=http://spudvisionblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/surfin-highway-nominated.html |publisher=Steve Purcell |access-date=November 30, 2011}}
Tales of Monkey Island, for which Jake Rodkin was the season co-director, was nominated for "best artistic design" and won for the award for "biggest surprise" at IGN's Best of E3 2009 Awards.{{cite web|url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/992/992655p1.html|title=Best of PC E3 2009 Awards|publisher=IGN|date=June 11, 2009|access-date=December 5, 2011}} After release, it won the PC Gamer 2009 adventure game of the year,{{cite journal |title=PC Gamer Game of the Year Awards |journal=PC Gamer |date=January 2010}} was nominated for the IGN best adventure game of the year for PC and Wii,{{cite web|url=http://uk.bestof.ign.com/2009/wii/best-adventure-game.html|title=Wii Best Adventure Game 2009|publisher=IGN|year=2009|access-date=December 2, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229202025/http://uk.bestof.ign.com/2009/wii/best-adventure-game.html|archive-date=February 29, 2012|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://bestof.ign.com/2009/pc/best-adventure-game.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218171731/http://bestof.ign.com/2009/pc/best-adventure-game.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 18, 2009|title=PC Best Adventure Game 2009|publisher=IGN|year=2009|access-date=December 3, 2011}} won the Adventure Gamers Best Adventure of 2009,{{cite web|url=http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,1128/p,19|title=Best Adventure of 2009|publisher=Adventure Gamers|year=2009|access-date=December 2, 2011}} and was named the "Best Series Revival" by OC Weekly.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/video-games---humor/the-2009-game-of-the-year/index.php|title=Best and Worst Video Games of 2009|first=Peter|last=Mai|work=OC Weekly|publisher=Village Voice Media|date=December 22, 2009|access-date=January 11, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100112104230/http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/video-games---humor/the-2009-game-of-the-year/index.php|archive-date=January 12, 2010|df=mdy-all}}
Puzzle Agent 2, which was co-written by Jake Rodkin, was nominated for IGN's Best of E3 2011 Awards for "Best iPhone/iPad Game".{{cite web|url=http://games.ign.com/articles/116/1165247p1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609223824/http://games.ign.com/articles/116/1165247p1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 9, 2011|title=E3 2011: Best of E3 Awards|publisher=IGN|date=June 6, 2011|access-date=December 5, 2011}}
The 2012 episodic game series The Walking Dead, in which Jake Rodkin was the season co-designer, won over 80 game of the year awards.{{cite web |url=http://legacy.justadventure.com/news/1284/press-release-the-walking-dead-from-telltale-games-now-available-at-retail-in-the-uk |title=The Walking Dead from Telltale Games Now Available at Retail in the UK |date=May 10, 2013 |access-date=September 3, 2013 |publisher=Just Adventure |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130904021005/http://legacy.justadventure.com/news/1284/press-release-the-walking-dead-from-telltale-games-now-available-at-retail-in-the-uk |archive-date=September 4, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}
Rodkin won Writing in a Drama at the 2017 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards for his work on Firewatch.{{cite web|title=NAVGTR Awards (2016)|url=http://navgtr.org/winners/2016-awards/|website=National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers}}
Credited works
=Bibliography=
- 2009 Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway (reprint), graphic design (Telltale Games)
=Video games=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year !! style="width:40%"; | Title !! style="width:35%"; | Role !! Developer | |||
| rowspan=2 | 2006 | CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder | rowspan=7 | Graphic design | rowspan=14 | Telltale Games |
| Bone: The Great Cow Race | |||
| rowspan=2 | 2007 | Sam & Max Save the World | ||
| CSI: Hard Evidence | |||
| rowspan=2 | 2008 | Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space | ||
| Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People | |||
| rowspan=2 | 2009 | Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures | ||
| Tales of Monkey Island | Co-project leader | ||
| rowspan=2 | 2010 | Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent | Writer | |
| Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse | Graphic design, director of "The City that Dares Not Sleep" | ||
| rowspan=3 | 2011 | Hector: Badge of Carnage | Additional art | |
| Jurassic Park: The Game | Artist (user interface) | ||
| Puzzle Agent 2 | Co-writer, co-project leader | ||
| 2012 | The Walking Dead | Co-project leader | |
| 2016 | Firewatch | Director | Campo Santo |
| rowspan=2 | 2020 | Half-Life: Alyx | Unspecified role | Valve Corporation |
| Sam & Max Save the World Remastered | Interface design | Skunkape Games |
References
{{reflist|2}}
{{Commons category|Jake Rodkin}}
External links
- {{moby developer|id=176171|name=Jake Rodkin}}
- [http://www.telltalegames.com/ Telltale Games website]
{{Valve}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodkin, Jake}}
Category:American video game designers
Category:Valve Corporation people
Category:American video game directors