Warren Spector Shocks Industry by Returning for System Shock

Published: February 17, 2016 7:55 PM /

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Warren Spector Headshot

Famed developer and educator Warren Spector has returned to game development.

Today Spector, 60, announced on twitter that would be working with OtherSide Entertainment, a company formed by Paul Neurath in 2014, and the first game on the list for him will be System Shock 3.  Spector will be working as a Studio Director for the company where he will be creating a new studio for the company based in Austin, presumably to lead System Shock 3 development. Prior to this, Spector had worked with OtherSide Entertainment since its founding as a creative consultant.

"Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done in my career and it’s hard to describe how much I’m looking forward to sharing with players what SHODAN has been up to since the last game was released.” stated Spector on the company's facebook page

https://twitter.com/Warren_Spector/status/700064673836564481

OtherSide Entertainment is home to several veteran developers who were previously Looking Glass Studios, the team behind the Thief and System Shock series. This will be the first time Spector has worked on System Shock since the original game's release back in 1994. 

Besides Looking Glass Entertainment, Spector has worked with several PC studios throughout the years. He was the co-producer of Ultima VI and Wing Commander for Origin Systems, and would go on to produce multiple games in both the Ultima and Wing Commander series. Spector would also join Ion Storm in 1996, teaming up with developer John Romero. At Ion Storm, Spector would work on the Deus Ex series and Thief: Deadly Shadows, before leaving the company and forming Junction Point Studios, which would develop Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii. 

Since 2013, Spector has been working as an educator for the University of Texas in Austin, teaching post-graduate level courses on game  development. He was also hired to consult the University of Texas on building a curriculum for game development, and is instrumental in the foundation of the universities Denius-Sams Gaming Academy.

Spector mentioned that he will be working part-time for OtherSide until June of this year, when his current commitments at the University of Texas finish. 

System Shock 3 is not the only game announced by OtherSide Entertainment. The development team is planning to revive the Ultima: Underworld  series with Underworld: Ascendant. A successful kickstarter for Underworld: Ascendant concluded last year, netting $860,357 out of 13,987 backers. 

So what do you think of this news? Glad to see Warren Spector doing more game development? Leave your comments below. 

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| Staff Writer

A longtime player of games, creator of worlds, and teacher of minds. Robert has worked many positions over the years, from college professor to education… More about Robert