John Has Left The Building - Mar 3rd, 2005

Well, yesterday was my last day at Krome Studios.

I'll miss a lot of the really cool and talented people that I got work with on a daily basis. I had a lot of fun and it was great to see the company grow.

To all of you Kromans reading this now, I'm very sorry that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye in person. Maybe we'll get the chance to work together again someday soon.

In the meantime, this press release pretty much says it all...

Brisbane, Australia - 2nd March, 2005 - John Passfield, founder and Design Director of Krome Studios, has left Krome to pursue other opportunities in the video game market.

Passfield says while he is proud of the work he has done during his time with Krome Studios, he sees his career taking a different direction to that of Krome.

“Making games is definitely part of the next phase of my career and there are a number of exciting opportunities on the horizon,” Passfield says.

Passfield, a founding director of Krome Studios and shareholder since 1999, is the creator and lead designer on the TY the Tasmanian Tiger game series which has sold close to two million copies since its release in 2002.

Passfield established and managed Krome’s design team, was actively involved in the creation of new intellectual property, and implemented and oversaw the company’s promotion during his tenure.

A seasoned industry veteran with more than 20 years professional experience, Passfield is also credited as a founding member of the Australian games development community. He helped establish some of the first development houses -- Interactive Binary Illusions in 1992 and Gee Whiz! Entertainment -- where he oversaw game design, script writing and story creation as well as conducting the original programming on several games. He was also responsible for business management, production and liaising with publishing partners.

A lifelong avid gamer, Passfield was seemingly destined to follow a path leading to the interactive entertainment industry. In high school, he designed, developed, and published his first two games, Chilly Willy and Halloween Harry. Halloween Harry celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and was also the world’s best selling shareware game when it was re-released in 1993. Passfield also established online sales for Zombie Wars, Spirit Board and Jaruu Tenk during the infancy of Internet-based sales. Several of his early games have been profiled in the prestigious Museum of Brisbane’s “Bite the Blue Sky: Brisbane Beginnings” exhibition.

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