Matt Omernick

Matt Omernick is a video game developer who served in various art-related roles at LucasArts from 2002 to 2011. He most recently was the studio's Executive Art Director from April 2010 to April 2011, and was responsible for overseeing all art produced for LucasArts both internally and externally. He first started working at LucasArts full-time in his role as Studio External Art Director from January to October 2003, working on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Battlefront, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Star Wars: Battlefront II, and Star Wars: Empire at War. From October 2003 to April 2010, Omernick was Franchise Art Director at the studio and most notably worked as Art Director for the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed multimedia project. After leaving LucasArts in April 2011, Omernick continued to develop Star Wars games in his role of Executive Creative Director for Cinematics at Microsoft Studios, where he directed the cinematics for Kinect Star Wars.

Biography

In 1999, Omernick earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Animation from Ringling College of Art & Design. While pursuing his education, he began professional work in January 1997 as a video editor with the Tampa-based Island Media Group. In May 1998, he formally entered the games industry as an environment artist and animator at the Chicago-based Day 1 Studios, working on several games including MechAssault, which was published by Microsoft Game Studios as an Xbox exclusive. While at Day 1 Studios, Omernick simultaneously worked at a company by the name of Atomic Imaging/Golen Entertainment, doing animation, rendering, and compositing for feature films. After earning his degree in 1999, Matt worked four years at DreamWorks Interactive (which was acquired by Electronic Arts in March 2000) as the Senior Artist on Medal of Honor: Underground and Medal of Honor: Frontline. While at Dreamworks Interactive, Omernick would also teach computer graphics programs at various universities in California including Cal State Fullerton, Academy of Art University, and the San Francisco Art Institute.

Omernick began working with LucasArts as Senior Artist in July 2002, and was Senior Environment Artist for the PlayStation 2 title RTX Red Rock. In January 2003, he signed on with the company full-time as External Art Director, now responsible for maintaining art quality between LucasArts and all of its external partners; he worked hands on with each studio to establish and manage art direction during game development. In this role, Omernick worked on and was credited for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (both developed by BioWare), Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II (both developed by Pandemic Studios), and Star Wars: Empire at War (developed by Petroglyph). He also worked on the non-Star Wars LucasArts games Secret Weapons Over Normandy (developed by Totally Games) and Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (developed by Pandemic Studios).

Matt Omernick was crucial to the development of and its .

Matt Omernick was crucial to the development of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its multimedia project.

In October 2003 Omernick took on the role of Franchise Art Director, and would primarily work on the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed multimedia project, including as Art Director for the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game and its sequel. He was involved with every step of the development process for both games, including working with Industrial Light & Magic and Lucasfilm Animation Singapore to put together teams of talent and develop technology, including LucasArts's proprietary "Ronin" game engine. In April 2010, he was promoted to Executive Art Director at LucasArts, overseeing the studio's art pipelines both internally and externally. He was the Art Director for Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, developed by Sony Online Entertainment. Omernick left his position in April 2011 and became the Executive Creative Director of Cinematics at Microsoft Studios, where he directed the cinematics for Kinect Star Wars.[1]

Works

Gameography

Year Title Contribution Notes
2003 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic External Art Director[1] Uncredited[2]
2004 Star Wars: Battlefront External Art Director[3]
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords External Art Director[1] Credited as "Artists"[4]
2006 Star Wars: Empire at War External Art Director[1] Credited as "Special Thanks"[5]
2008 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Art Director[6]
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels Unknown[7] Credited as "Special Thanks"[7]
2009 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition Art Director[8]
2010 Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Art Director[9]
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Art Director[10]
2012 Kinect Star Wars Cinematics Director[11]

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 LinkedIn-Logo Matt Omernick on LinkedIn (backup link)
  2. ↑ Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  3. ↑ Star Wars: Battlefront
  4. ↑ Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
  5. ↑ Star Wars: Empire at War
  6. ↑ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
  8. ↑ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition
  9. ↑ Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
  10. ↑ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
  11. ↑ Kinect Star Wars

External links