Jeffrey Todd Coleman is an American

computer game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development#P ...

and businessman. He is known for ''

Shadowbane ''Shadowbane'' was a free-to-play fantasy role-playing video game (MMORPG) created by Wolfpack Studios and published on March 25, 2003 by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Originally commercial and subscription-driven, ''Shadow ...

,'' released in 2003, and ''

Wizard101 ''Wizard101'' is a 2008 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by KingsIsle Entertainment. Players take on the role of student wizards who must save the Spiral, the fictional universe in which the game is s ...

,'' released in 2008. He was a founder at

Wolfpack Studios Ubisoft is a French video game publisher headquartered in Montreuil, founded in March 1986 by the Guillemot brothers. Since its establishment, Ubisoft has become one of the largest video game publishers, and it has the largest in-house developme ...

, which was purchased by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', ...

. He also worked at the

KingsIsle Entertainment KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Round Rock, Texas. Founded in January 2005 by Elie Akilian, the company operates a development studio in Round Rock, Texas, which hosts the majority of its staff. Kings ...

in Austin, Texas. On February 1, 2013, Coleman resigned from KingsIsle Entertainment to pursue other interests. He is currently

Creative Director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

of the Kickstarter-backed MMORPG '' Crowfall''.

Biography

J. Todd Coleman was raised in

Westlake, Texas : Westlake is a town in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas and a suburb of Dallas/Ft Worth. The population is 1,623 as of the 2020 United States census. History The area known as Westlake was originally settled in 1847 by ...

. Coleman became involved in the virtual world industry in 1985, when he was selected to be a

Game Master A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

on a dial-up adventure game known as Scepter of Goth. In college, he and his friends (Josef Hall, James Nance, and Patrick Blanton) were pioneers in text mudding. Together, they created and ran ''ChaosMUD'', a

DikuMUD DikuMUD is a multiplayer text-based role-playing game, which is a type of multi-user domain ( MUD). It was written in 1990 and 1991 by Sebastian Hammer, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe, Michael Seifert, and Hans Henrik Stærfeldt at DIKU (''Datalogisk ...

derivative. Coleman's first commercial endeavor was a database tools and technology company called Reliant Data Systems, which was sold in 1999 to

Compuware Corporation Compuware Corporation was an American software company based in Detroit, Michigan. The company offers products aimed at the information technology (IT) departments of large businesses, and its services also include testing, development, automation ...

. Coleman, along with Josef Hall, James Nance, Patrick Blanton and Robert Marsa, created a

virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...

company called

, and created the game

. Wolfpack was sold in early 2003 to

, which assumed control of the Shadowbane game service and ran it until July 1, 2009. Coleman currently serves as the Vice President and Creative Director, and is the co-creator (with Hall) of ''

'', a

massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

for

. Coleman's in-depth knowledge of the online video game business, with additional expertise in sales, marketing and business development make him an outstanding and valued member of the KingsIsle Entertainment team. Coleman is not currently working with KingsIsle Entertainment, however. In addition, Coleman has a long history of entrepreneurial endeavors, with product innovation and strategic planning as his strengths. In May 2009, he was named the 6th most influential person in online gaming by Beckett Massive Gamer Magazine, a

Beckett Media Beckett Media is a media company that specializes in coverage of sports card and sports memorabilia markets. The company was founded in 1984 by James Beckett as Beckett Publications. History James Beckett was a statistics professor before launch ...

publication. In November 2009, he was named one of the Top 50 most influential game developers by

Game Developer Magazine ''Game Developer'' was a magazine for video game creators, originally started in March 1994 by Miller Freeman, Inc as quarterly, later bimonthly, and finally monthly. In each issue, industry leaders and experts shared technical solutions, reviewed ...

. In May 2010, he was named the 15th most influential person in online gaming by Beckett Massive Gamer Magazine, a

publication. In March 2011, he was named the #1 Most Influential person In the Massively Multiplayer Online game industry by Beckett Massive Gamer Magazine, a

publication. On April 25, 2012, Coleman announced KingsIsle Entertainment's new release, ''

Pirate101 ''Pirate101'' is a 2012 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by KingsIsle Entertainment. It is a sister game to ''Wizard101,'' set in the same fictional universe of the “Spiral”. The player assumes ...

'', a game made corresponding to Wizard101. On January 25, 2013, Coleman announced that he would be leaving KingsIsle Entertainment. On February 1, 2013, Coleman resigned from KingsIsle Entertainment. In January 2015, Coleman announced '' Crowfall'', an MMORPG, with ArtCraft Entertainment Inc. Its Kickstarter campaign raised $1,766,204 from 16,936 backers. The game released on July 6, 2021.

References

External links

''Shadowbane official site''

''Wizard101 official site''

interview with MMOsite

interview with Ten Ton Hamster

''Pirate101 Official site''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, J. Todd American businesspeople American video game designers MUD developers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)