Craig Hubbard
Craig Hubbard (aka Croweater) is a former employee of Monolith Productions. He had been with the studio since its early days, having been hired by Monolith in August 1996. He was one of the last of the older employees to be with the company following the various departures of the likes of Nick Newhard, James Wilson III, Brian Goble and Jason Hall. He served as a level designer, cut scene writer, and a web developer for Blood and also designed levels for its Plasma Pak expansion. He continued his roles as level designer and writer for Blood II: The Chosen, though he is not credited for work on The Nightmare Levels.
He project lead and designed Shogo: Mobile Armour Division, a rocky experience that shaped his later design efforts in terms of scale and pre-planning. He was then lead designer for the No One Lives Forever games and most famously the F.E.A.R. series. Alongside Frank Rooke of Tron 2.0 and Condemned fame, he was one the main designers at Monolith. His last game for the company was Gotham City Impostors. He has mostly been succeeded by Mike de Plater on the Middle-earth games.
In August 2013 he left Monolith to help found Blackpowder Games and work on their game Betrayer alongside five other former employees of Monolith (including Blood II and Shogo veterans Brad Pendleton and C. Wes Saulsberry III). Betrayer was made available as a free game on GOG.com on July 10, 2023. Since October 2019 he has been the game director for Sharkmob in Malmö, Sweden.
He is noted for his diverse areas of interests and skills, focusing in diversity rather than specialization. This gives him various roles in the development of the games he is involved in such as creative and technical writing, storytelling, film making, sound and graphics design, game balance, management, and the visual arts. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Mexico with a a BA in English - Professional Writing and a minor in Psychology (which probably has contributed to his psychological horror games).
Video Games[edit]
- Betrayer (2014), Blackpowder Games
- Gotham City Impostors (2012), Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Inc.
- F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (2009), Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Inc.
- F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate (2007), Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
- F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon - Director's Edition (2005), Vivendi Universal Games, Inc.
- F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon (2005), Vivendi Universal Games, Inc.
- Contract J.A.C.K. (2003), Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
- Tron 2.0 (2003), Buena Vista Interactive
- No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way (2002), Fox Interactive, Inc., Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
- Aliens Versus Predator 2 (2001), Fox Interactive, Inc., Sierra On-Line, Inc.
- No One Lives Forever - Game of the Year Edition (2001), Fox Interactive, Inc.
- The Operative: No One Lives Forever (2000), Fox Interactive, Inc.
- Blood II: The Chosen (1998), GT Interactive Software Corp.
- Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (1998), MC2-Microïds
- Blood - Plasma Pak (1997), GT Interactive Software Corp.
- Blood (1997), GT Interactive Software Corp.
See Also[edit]
- Eric Kohler (also joined Monolith in 1996)
External Links[edit]
"James gives Blood its arcade effect -- his levels tend to be more direct and action-based. His lighting is much more soft and his architecture far bolder. Craig's maps are more pensive and surreal at times with, as you pointed out, a lot of steady variations in lighting and sometimes nonsensical lighting altogether. The dead give-away, however, is Craig's architecture style, which is highly rectangular and frequently brave with its large scales and high ceilings and doors. Who's better of the two? Heavens, no! It is the balancing act between them that is Blood's pride. James is Blood's heart -- without it, the game would feel inactive, adventure-based and lifeless, while Craig is its soul -- in skipping it, Blood would be confined to a largely simple shooter with horror tones and be largely confined to mundane earth and reality. It is in this dichotomy that Blood's immortality is found -- this balance of elements is that which makes it excel. One must never forget this lesson that Blood teaches so masterfully. All this, in tandem, allows Blood to perform its marvellous tight-rope walk with head bowed and shoulders wide, always on the brink of madness, but never faltering or straying too far." — Matthew "Daedalus" Kallis
- Craig Hubbard on MobyGames
- Craig Hubbard - Linkedin
- PCGaming.Com Interview (September 16, 1997)
- Interview with Craig Hubbard (September 29, 1997) - Voodoo Extreme
- Interview with Craig Hubbard and John Jack - Games Planet (1997)
- The LithTech Engine Interview (May 15, 1998)
- Interview with Craig Hubbard and Mike Dussault (1997) - PC Gamer
- Planet Quake interview (1997)
- Ex-Monolith devs form Blackpowder - Gameindustry.biz
- How F.E.A.R. and No One Lives Forever are shaping Betrayer - PC Gamer
- 'Betrayer' interview with Blackpowder Games co-founder Craig Hubbard - Digital Trends
- Monomania: Shades Of Old In Blackpowder’s Betrayer - Rock Paper Shotgun
- Dark Signal: The Origins Of FEAR - Rock Paper Shotgun
- James 'Shade' Wilson or Craig 'Croweater' Hubbard? - The Postmortem