Chris Wren
Producer | AAA Games | XR
Experienced Producer with decades in AAA game development (14+ shipped titles) and XR technologies, understands the business of software product development, works fluidly with communication and operations teams, proven track record in leading big and small, internal and external teams to deliver beloved software products in immersive environments.
email: chris@wrenar.com
Video Game Instruction and Design
Almost a decade spent in Virginia building the computer game design degree program at George Mason University. From nothing, this became the fastest growing program at the University with over 700 majors before I departed for the tech industry. In addition to instructing courses, managing industry outreach, internships, speakers, and student game expos, I also earned my Master's degree and started my own XR company during this time.
Teaching at Mason
The degree program was designed to be "learn by doing" with hands-on project work in every class. There was plenty of theory and history, but it needed to be applied. My goal was to produce year-one capable game developers.
Todd Howard
Being in the Washington D.C. area afforded us access to local developers like Bethesda and Mythic. Here's a talk Todd gave to our students in 2009.
Nolan Bushnell
Nolan Bushnell joined our program after a few years as an industry expert who would give talks and guest lectures during the academic year. Here he is giving a lecture to my class about some of the early days at Atari.
Senior Game Expo
One of my favorite events we organized was the "Senior Game Expo" where students would show off their senior projects. It was a great way for the students to take stock in all that they had learned over their college career and show it off to the world.
Alumni Achievments
Here's just a small sample of the students who have graduated from George Mason Game Design and gone on to achieve some amazing things in the game industry.
Little Arms Studio
After graduation, this group of former students built the successful serious gaming studio Little Arms. They began with IVIS, a multi-user firefighting training simulator, and then created a realistic drone simulator/trainer ZEPHYR. They have been going strong for over 10 years!
Kayla Harris - Big Huge Games
Meet Kayla Harris, Mason Game Design Graduate and Game Designer at Big Huge Games in Maryland, makers of Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends and now DomiNations, an online RTS with over 10 million players!!
Lauren McLemore - Giant Skull
Lauren McLemore is the only student to ever score a 100% on my impossible game history final. She has made a successful career as a producer working on The Sims, Fortnite, League of Legends, Everquest and now Giant Skull!
Alec Fisher-Lasky - EPIC
Alec was one of the first graduates from Mason's game degree program. He is a designer who has gone on work at Mythic on Ultima Forever, Sims 4, and now is Lead Designer on Lego Fortnite!