Interview with Heatwave Interactive’s Anthony Castoro

Heatwave Interactive was formed in February this year by industry veteran Anthony “SunSword” Castoro and entrepreneur Donn Clendenon. Anthony Castoro most recently led  Codemasters Online Gaming.

 

The MMO Gamer: Alright. First of all, thank you for taking the time to do this interview live. Could you start by telling us a little about yourself and what you have done prior to forming Heatwave Interactive, please?

Anthony Castoro: Well let’s see, where to start… Prior to Heatwave, I’ve worked for about 14 years as a game developer/publisher in the corporate world. When I was in High School, I loved video games, but never really thought about them as a career possibility. When I began attending the University of Texas at Austin, I spent a lot of time hanging out in the computer lab, and through IRC met a lot of other people who loved games and were far more technically proficient than I was. Through them, I found the motivation to teach myself a lot about computers and programming. Eventually, I met a brilliant C++ programmer who I convinced to leave school and start a game company. Since then I’ve worked in all kinds of roles in the industry, from QA to Division Director, with a lot of work on Massively Multiplayer Online games like Ultima OnlineUltima Online reviews.

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The MMO Gamer: What did you study at the University of Texas? Did it prepare you for work in the games industry or did you have to learn that on your own?

Anthony Castoro: I started out in the School of Communications as a “radio, TV & film” major, but it never felt like a “real degree” to me. I also loved the natural sciences, and that’s where I was getting my best grades, so during my freshman year, I switched to the School of Natural Sciences as a Molecular Biology Major.

I wouldn’t say either one directly prepared me for what I did in the game industry. Most of game development skills were a combination of a highly educated upbringing in general (my father is a chemist and my mother a professional author). In college my car was totaled in a head on collision and I used the insurance money to buy my first PC. That’s where I learned most of my direct skills.

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TMMOG: From molecular biology to developing games, quite an interesting step to take.

AC: Gotta mix it up with the Arts and Sciences…

TMMOG: On to Heatwave, you have mentioned Donn Clendenon as your co-founder of Heatwave and a quick background check shows that he has a lot of experience in the business side of computer software and the games industry. Would it be fair to assume that Donn will be developing the business that is Heatwave Interactive while you develop its games?

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AC: In general, yes. However, Donn and I are both intimately involved in the business. With Donn’s business acumen and my knowledge of the publishing business and what it takes to build a project, we make a very strong team in that regard. The reason we went into business together is that after months of talking on the phone about the possibilities, it was clear we fundamentally agree on a lot topics about how a business should be run and what the possibilities are in the game industry.

TMMOG: Will you be taking on official responsibilities of running the company? Or is that Donn’s area?

AC: We’ve split up the responsibilities like this: Donn is Heatwave’s Chief Executive Officer, and his primary role includes strategic business planning, business development and corporate governance.

I am Heatwave’s President and Chief Creative Officer. I oversee the day-to-day operations of the development team and hold the “vision” for our projects. I’m also heavily involved in business development and corporate governance.

We make a good team. Even though we only met in person for the first time this year, the first thing people usually ask us is “How long have you two been best friends?”

TMMOG: Have you worked together with Donn previously? How did you come to start a new company with him?

AC: Well, this is a good story the illustrates the power of the Internet and what a small world we live in. For most of last year, I lived in England, working as Director of Codemasters Online Gaming. During that time, a mutual friend introduced me to Donn via email. Donn had some great ideas about an online game and wanted to pick my brain. I suppose this was back in the summer of 2005.

After a little more than six months of talking on the phone and chatting on IM and through email, Heatwave Interactive was born. We met for the first time early this year in Manhattan. Y’know, it was 3 months before both of us realized that we’re both minorities? Not only that, we’re both a mix of African American and Italian American!

That’s why the Internet rocks. It’s also why MMOGs rock. They bring people together in ways that just didn’t happen before.

TMMOG: That is an interesting coincidence. I would not be surprised however, with the Internet the first thing most people notice is how someone types or behaves rather their ethnic background.

AC: Exactly. There’s no prejudice based on physical appearance, unless I suppose you’re checking someone out on MySpace, heh.

TMMOG: If we go back talking about the formation of Heatwave Interactive. You and Donn are the founders, but are you two the only owners of the company? How are you planning to fund your future projects, specifically your first project?

AC: Well, we were originally planning on pure “bootstrapping” based on a project we’ve landed for a big media company. I can’t talk more about that project yet, but our plan was to use that project as a launching point to move on to our own projects.

However, since then, there’s been a great deal of interest from the financial community about our organization, and the opportunity to accelerate our plans with a capital infusion has become pretty appealing. So now, while I spend most of my time working with our client, Donn is focused on finding the right way to make sure we can achieve our primary objective, which is to create original games.

As for ownership, Donn and I own much of the company, but our employees and future employees also have a stake in the business. We both believe very strongly in an empowered team. I’ve worked for enough big companies to know how un-motivating it is when you have a huge impact on the business but are only indirectly benefited by it.

TMMOG: Which brings us to a related question… How many developers are there in the company, how many people does Heatwave Interactive employ in total?

AC: We’re still very small at the moment, but we’re growing. Beyond the two of us, we currently employ four engineers. We’re in the process of hiring a system architect, an art director, as well as a few community management folks. On top of that, we have two silent members who actively work with us and will join us when the time is right.

Ultimately, Heatwave’s Central Studio team will be about 20 people, so we’re about halfway there.

TMMOG: You have moved around a lot in your career and now you are back in Austin, Texas. What is it about this region that attracts so many game developers, particularly MMO developers and publishers such as NCSoft, BioWare and SOE?

AC: It’s a combination of factors. It doesn’t hurt that one of the early stars of the games business, Origin Systems, was located here. In addition, Austin’s a great city for technology companies because of its highly educated work force. There are dozens of colleges and universities here in addition to the massive University of Texas at Austin. It’s also a pretty liberal town, which is a good thing for creative types. Finally, it’s a just a great place to live. Great food, great sunny weather, lots of outdoor activities, and a pretty low cost of living, especially compared to the West Coast.

I suppose when you mix lots of college geeks with tequila, you’re bound to end up with some game companies.

TMMOG: We’re nearing the end of this interview and I only have a few more questions to ask. When can we expect an announcement about your first title? And is there something about your first title you could tell us? You’ve mentioned that it’s not a licensed property, so that doesn’t count.

AC: Hmm… What secrets to give away about our secret. We’ve actually got four or five different ideas in pre-production right now. Of them, two are what people would call traditional MMOGs. The others are hybrid online games. Lots of persistence and connected gaming, but also plenty of narrative and solo play.

The only thing I can give away about the MMOs is that they are in contemporary settings, rather than made up planets or distant past/future.

Of course at this point, we’re taking our time on the concepts. We’re building a community site for the Heatwave Interactive website so that people can participate with us in the design.

TMMOG: That seems to be a new popular theme, the contemporary setting; you have SOE’s spy-themed MMO claiming the same and Funcom’s The Secret World also.

AC: Well, there are probably two strong motivations for that. A) The fantasy/historical setting is pretty played out. Hell it was played out BEFORE WoW. b) There are some pretty cool opportunities to connect with people’s everyday lives in interesting ways. I still believe the fantasy has to be there, however. No one wants to play a game that feels like real life, y’know?

TMMOG: Such as grinding at a day job inside the game?

AC: Heheh, exactly. Screw that.

Anthony Castoro is going to do paperwork until he’s level 23 so he can take the stapling bonus! (En emote. – Editor’s note)

TMMOG: Very well. This has been a very interesting interview and I’d like to again thank you for taking the time. Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers about yourself, the company or your future projects?

AC: I know I don’t have to say, but my recommendation to fans and future players out there is “be vocal!” tell us what you think and what you want at info@heatwaveinteractive.com. We read every email we get and respond to most, and believe me, that’s a lot. (Not including the spam. Of which there’s a lot as well.)