My name is Geir Ove Alnes, and I am a senior game designer at Ubisoft Singapore (since 2023), where I’m currently working on Skull and Bones, with a focus on ship combat, seasonal metas, etc.
My professional journey in games started in 2008 as a designer for the Norwegian (at the time) game studio Funcom, where for the next five years I was involved in the development of the MMORPG titles Age of Conan and The Secret World as an Animation Systems/State-machine designer, particle-effect wizzard (with two ‘z’s), GFX asset management monkey and AI designer/scripter.
Incidentally, I chose one of my online monikers (yes, I have more than one!) – Xoduz – based on the title (Exodus) of an old Conan the Barbarian comic I read sometime early in 1997. I collected those comics for many years, and it was a happy coincidence that my entry into game development coincided with my interest in Conan!
My time at Funcom eventually came to an end, and I instead embarked on an indie adventure in Norway where I co-founded Way North Studios to work on The Tavern, a socially multiplayer online roguelike-like roleplaying game (or SMORRPG for short), which was unfortunately never released. Long story short: Fingers were burnt, lessons were learnt!
Following that I joined Mighty Bear Games in 2018, where I got to cut my teeth on mobile games design working on games like World of Legends, Butter Royale, Disney Melee Mania (Apple Arcade), Best Friends Cafe: Merge Dreams and Mighty Action Heroes.
About this Website
Anyhow, this weblog/website will contain my personal takes on subjects such as game design, gaming in general, tidbits about books I read, interesting going-ons in the world of massively multi-player online games, and more.
Game development-related projects I’ve worked on (in reverse chronological order):
- Skull and Bones – action-adventure game that revolves around themes of piracy and naval warfare, by Ubisoft Singapore
- Mighty Action Heroes – a web3-based battle royale game, by Mighty Bear Games
- Best Friends Cafe: Merge Dreams – a merge game for Android
- Disney Melee Mania – a 3v3 battle arena game with Disney and Pixar champions, by Mighty Bear Games
- Butter Royale – A non-violent, food-fight-based battle royale game on Apple Arcade, by Mighty Bear Games
- Mighty Pets & Puzzles – a match-3 RPG by Mighty Bear Games
- World of Legends – a free, casual MMORPG on mobile by Mighty Bear Games
- The Tavern – an online RPG by Way North Studios
- Age of Conan: The Secrets of Dragon’s Spine – an adventure pack for Age of Conan
- The Secret World – a Funcom-developed MMORPG in a modern-day setting, where every myth, conspiracy theory and urban legend is true
- Age of Conan: Unchained – ongoing Live version of Age of Conan
- Age of Conan: The Savage Coast of Turan – an adventure pack for the Age of Conan
- Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer – an expansion-pack to Age of Conan
- Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures – a fantasy-themed MMORPG set in the universe of Conan the Barbarian, by Funcom
- Norwegian Wood – an UOX3-based Ultima Online shard
- WorldBuilder – a GM/world-building tool for UOX
- UOX3 – an open-source Ultima Online server emulator
Game development-related job positions I’ve had (In reverse chronological order):
- Senior Game Designer at Ubisoft Singapore (S&B, 2023-)
- Game Designer at Mighty Bear Games (WoL, MPP, BR, DMM, BFC, MAH, 2018-2023)
- Creative Director/Game Designer at Way North Studios (The Tavern, 2013-2017)
- AI Designer at Funcom (Age of Conan, 2012-2013)
- Visual Effects Artist at Funcom (The Secret World, 2012)
- Animation Systems Designer at Funcom (Age of Conan, 2010-2012)
- BCC Designer at Funcom (Age of Conan, 2008-2010)
Disclaimer: Everything I post on this blog will be my personal thoughts and opinions, and nothing I write will necessarily represent any official views held by my former, current or future employers.
Contact info: xoduz [insert swirly thing here] xoduz [dot] org
WTB Norwegian Wood – an UOX-based Ultima Online shard =P
I randomly stumbled across this page and just had to post ^ =D wonder if you remember me from the long lost days
~Theos
Hey Theos! Of course I remember you! :) Why aren’t you on ICQ? :P
I don’t know if you remember me. I used to stay in #uox3 @ irc.freenode.com back when you stayed there, but now it seems no one is there.
By the way, why Xoduz and not Xuri anymore?
Do you still do UO server development?
Oh lol, just saw this in the “pending” section on comments management. *approves comment* XD
I remember you :) Xuri was my UO nickname (and by proxy, UOX3). Xoduz was my general gamer nickname before, during and after that.
I don’t do much UO server development anymore, though the page & forums (and a few users) are still around.
Wow, I found myself stumbling over this again some 6 years after I first found it and made some random comment on one of the posts here. A mere 2 years after I thought I would!
Congratulations on working in the industry you (presumably) love!
Four years ago you asked “where,” when I mentioned I’d gotten into the industry, haha! I worked at BioWare (Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Dragon Age: Origins) for 7 years and left a couple years ago to start my own indie project. It’s been an agonizing, stressful adventure but is nearing announcement.
Good luck on everything. Hope all is well! Still can’t log into Norwegian Wood for some reason… :3 I’ll probably stop by again in a few years. :)
Hey Tarinoc! Long time no see :)
Ah pretty cool to see other people end up in the game dev industry too! Played SWTOR for a long while. Fun game. Congrats :) And yeah, indie game development is hard work :X Best of luck to you with your project! Let me know when you announce something :)