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Veteran game designer Graeme Devine has joined Magic Leap as its vice president of games.
He'll be setting up a game studio in Santa Cruz, CA dedicated to making games for Magic Leap's mysterious Cinematic Reality project, widely believed to be a wearable computing / VR technology. Magic Leap was founded with help from Weta Workshop, a special effects studio best known for its work with Peter Jackson on The Lord of the Rings movies.
Devine was a founder of Trilobyte and wrote seminal puzzle adventure The 7th Guest. He has also worked in senior roles for the likes of Id, Ensemble and Apple. Most recently, he wrote hit mobile game Full Deck Solitaire, which has been downloaded 4 million times.
"Cinematic Reality is in stealth mode right now," Devine told Polygon. "Really, the best stealth mode I have ever seen." He said that he is now hiring developers to work on the project. "I want to build the best darned game studio in the world by the end of the year," he added.
Devine said that he first started talking to Magic Leap at the end of last year. "They invited me out to Florida and I just wasn't interested. But they kept asking so I went out there and had lunch with the CEO. He was drawing pictures of black holes and deep physics on the paper napkins. I thought, this has been a waste of my time.
"Then I went to the offices and I saw something that I did not think was possible. I like to think I know technology and I am not easily impressed. I worked at Apple, but when I saw what they were doing, I just said, immediately, 'how can I help?'"
"Graeme's extensive background in the development and understanding of video games, computer programming, user interfaces, and game design coupled with a highly creative mind make him the ideal person to lead our inner-space exploration of how interactive play is taking form in Cinematic Reality," said Magic Leap founder and CEO Rony Abovitz in an official statement. "When it comes to harnessing technology for the creative world, Graeme is a true wizard."
