It’s all about me
Omar H. Khudari
CEO, Cecropia, Inc.
I discovered computers as a freshman at Stanford, where I wrote my first video game on Ernest Adams‘ Commodore Pet. I soon found myself staying up all night in the computer lab, sleeping during the day (which is when, for example, classes happen) and acting on stage in the evenings (Ram’s Head Theatrical Society at Stanford and Hasty Pudding Theatricals at Harvard). I ended up with an A.B. in Philosophy from Harvard, though I can’t quite remember how.
Luckily, after college, I landed a job at Tom Snyder Productions that paid me money to write educational computer games. At TSP, I was intrigued by Electronic Arts’ challenge, “can a computer make you cry?” In 1986, with the help of fellow TSP employee, David Kaemmer, I created my first storytelling game. The game was released with the stunningly catchy title, “The McGraw-Hill Mathematics Problem Solving Courseware.” Undaunted by the obvious marketing sabotage, we tried again with “Infocomics,” a game in which the player can watch a story from multiple points of view.
In 1987, Dave and I founded Papyrus Design Group. We agreed that I should be President, because I was greedier. This worked out well—I did my power trip, and Dave created hit auto-racing games that made lots of money. By 1995, Papyrus was getting a lot of attention, and the staff had been telling the press that I was the crazy janitor who thinks he is President. It was clearly time—so we sold the company to Sierra On-Line.
After Papyrus, I rode the boom and bust of the Internet as an angel investor. At the end of 1999, I complained to my friend, Ann-Marie Bland, of a wicked investing hangover. Ann-Marie suggested that I quit whining and start my own venture again. That was the impetus for founding Cecropia and reviving the old idea of a video game about characters in a story.
October 30, 2006 at 5:22 pm
Hey, cool blog. I’ve bookmarked it. And re Johnstone: You’re welcome.
November 7, 2006 at 4:45 am
I like your work! It’s fantastic!! “The Act” looks like a really cool game! can’t wai to play it!. but I am more interesting in the company it self, it looks very cool to work there and enjoy the company of the ex-disney/disney animators. I’m sure it would be awsome to meet/work with them.
I’m too after my dream to open up my own animation studio, write, animate and direct my own movies from my imagination. Though I’m doing it by my self (Since here animation isn’t that popular - Israel), I’m sure time will be on my side.
Your company looks amazing! I’m glad that you keep the spirit of the 2D Animation.
Keep Rocking!
Shany.
November 8, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Shany, thank you for your comment. And best wishes for achieving your dream. As Steve Jobs once said:
December 8, 2006 at 4:35 pm
[...] Schlog joins Technorati I’m still getting gradually indoctrinated into the world of the bloggers. My latest discovery is Technorati, which is a sort of metasite for blogs. I first discovered it as I was doing Google research about The Schlog and saw that a couple of my posts had wound up on the Technorati site without any intervention from me. Then my friend Omar Khudari mentioned Technorati to me after seeing my blog. So I signed up for a free membership, and I am using this post to “claim” my blog at their site. This is a link to my Technorati Profile. I’ll let you know if this turns out to be useful in any way, shape, or form. 8^) [...]
March 5, 2008 at 8:26 am
I love your Steve Jobs quote…..I think I’ll stick it on the fridge!
April 30, 2008 at 3:25 am
[...] es una empresa de videojuegos fundada por Omar Khudari, cuya característica principal es, que dota de personalidad a sus personajes, haciendo la [...]