Ellen Guon Beeman is an American fantasy and science fiction author,

television screenwriter Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, d ...

and

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

game designer/

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

. She has published four

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s and has worked on over 40 video games.

Career in the game industry

Ellen Beeman describes herself as "mom, videogame designer and producer, author, gadget geekette, Celtic fiddler, former TV writer and city commissioner, etc." In 1989, Beeman left a career in television writing and was hired by Sierra Online as a

project manager A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined f ...

. She worked as a writer and project manager at Origin Systems for several '' Wing Commander'' titles. In 2006, she was ranked in the top 100 most influential women in the game industry by Edge Online (formerly next-gen.biz). At the time, she was Lead Program Manager at Microsoft Casual Games, a producer role. Beeman has also been credited at Monolith Productions, Electronic Arts and Disney. She has lectured at many video game industry

conferences A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main pu ...

, including Game Developers Conference, LOGIN,

SXSW Interactive South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

, Microsoft Gamefest,

PAX Pax or PAX may refer to: Peace * Peace (Latin: ''pax'') ** Pax (goddess), the Roman goddess of peace ** Pax, a truce term * Pax (liturgy), a salutation in Catholic and Lutheran religious services * Pax (liturgical object), an object formerly kiss ...

and PAX Dev, and

Game Design Expo Game Design Expo is an annual event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for video game industry professionals and enthusiasts, hosted by Vancouver Film School's Game Design program. The inaugural event in 2007 was the first of its kind in Vanco ...

. She is one of the founders as well as formerly the Program Chair for Women in Games International. As of 2019, she is an independent video game developer and

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

Kirkland, Washington Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. A suburb east of Seattle, its population was 92,175 in the 2020 U.S. census which made it the sixth largest city in the county and the twelfth largest in the state. The city's downto ...

, and a Senior Lecturer at DigiPen Institute of Technology.

Television

*'' MoonDreamers'' (1986) *'' Jem'' (1986-1987) *''

Dinosaucers ''Dinosaucers'' is a 1987 animated television series co-produced in the United States and Canada, produced by DIC Animation City and distributed in syndication in the US by Coca-Cola Telecommunications. The show was created by producer Michael ...

'' (1987)

Books

*''Knight of Ghosts and Shadows'' (1990) with Mercedes Lackey *''Summoned to Tourney'' (1992) with Mercedes Lackey *'' Freedom Flight'' (1992) with Mercedes Lackey *''Bedlam Boyz'' (1993) *''Shahrezad and other stories'' (2011) *''The New Professional Programmer's Guide: Code Samples'' (2020)

Video games

*'' Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1'' (1989) (writer) *'' Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail'' (1990) (special thanks) *'' King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown'' (1990) (special thanks) *'' Wing Commander: The Secret Missions'' (1990) (writer) *'' Wing Commander: The Secret Missions 2 - Crusade'' (1991) (writer, director) *'' Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi'' (1991) (writer, assistant director) *'' Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi - Special Operations 1'' (1991) (writer) *'' Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi - Special Operations 2'' (1992) (writer, consulting director) *''

Pickle Wars Pickle Wars is an MS-DOS platform game created in 1993 by Karen Crowther through Redwood Games and published by MVP Software. A planet gets invaded by pickles. The player (alternating between playing a man and a woman) goes on a journey to find hi ...

'' (1994) (writer) *'' Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen'' (1995) (writer) *''This Means War!'' (1995) (project manager) *''

Contract J.A.C.K. ''Contract J.A.C.K.'' is a 2003 first-person shooter video game and the prequel to '' No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way''. It was developed by Monolith Productions and published by Vivendi Universal Games and its subsidiary Sierra En ...

'' (2003) (producer) *'' The Matrix Online'' (2005) (producer) *''

Hexic 2 Hexic 2 is the sequel to Alexey Pajitnov's puzzle game ''Hexic'', developed by Carbonated Games. It was released on August 15, 2007. Gameplay The board is one column longer than in the original game to allow for a more effective use of the boa ...

'' (2007) (executive producer) *'' Dash of Destruction'' (2008) (executive producer) *''

South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! ''South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!'' is a 2009 video game based on the American animated television series '' South Park'', released on the Xbox Live Arcade service for the Xbox 360 video game console. The game was developed by Doublesix i ...

'' (2009) (lead producer) *'' Toy Soldiers'' (2010) (producer) *''

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online ''Marvel Super Hero Squad Online'' was a massively multiplayer online game for younger audiences based on the ''Marvel Super Hero Squad'', developed by American video game companies The Amazing Society and Gazillion Entertainment. The open beta ...

'' (2011) (producer)

References

External links

Ellen Beeman
at

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