Jim Simmons
After degrees in photography and experimental animation at California Institute of the Arts and fiction screenwriting at Stanford University, Simmons' game career began as a Project Manager at a Nolan Bushnell electronic toy start-up, where he designed games to play with robotic cats and dogs. An R&D project at that company led to the creation of the NEMO interactive video system for Hasbro, where Simmons was Development Director.
Following these Silicon Valley start-up experiences, Simmons entered the young computer game industry, working as a producer at Walt Disney Computer Software, Electronic Arts, MGM Interactive and SouthPeak Interactive. From Simmons' earliest days in the business, he has been involved in bridging the gap between traditional software development and the techniques and aesthetics of the film and animation worlds. The creative and production processes of these two disciplines had very little in common in the 1980s, and the early days of collaboration between these two communities were very challenging. The growing use of computer special effects in feature films has represented new and interesting opportunities for these industries to learn from each other.
As a producer at Wellington-based Sidhe Interactive, Simmons is currently producing an Action Racing title based on a popular children's film license for Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Sidhe has adapted the Agile Methodology principles of Scrum-based software development to the game industry. Simmons will be sharing lessons learned by the Sidhe production teams, from using this fluid, communication-centred approach to planning and developing complex, constantly changing projects.
