Video game development veteran of nearly 3 decades, with a career spanning some of the biggest franchises in the industry...
Christopher L. Stone Game Director - Animation & Creative Director
BIOGRAPHY
Creativity isn't the way I think, It's the way I live....
The video game industry has transformed in the last three decades. From simple pixelated screens to rich, immersive interactive experiences, games have become the pinnacle of entertainment. For nearly 30 years, Chris has been at the heart of this evolution, witnessing shifts that were once deemed inconceivable.
In 1995, Chris earned his BFA in Computer Animation from Ringling College of Art and Design, complemented by a minor in photography. He began his career animating for TV commercials, but soon, the emerging world of video games beckoned him with its promise of unlimited creativity. With that decision he quickly moved into a relatively new medium that seemed to be primed for growth and exploration, videogames. It was the early 90's and gaming was still somewhat in their infancy as far as media, let along an industry. It was a decade of transition from sprite-based graphics to full-fledged 3D graphics giving rise to several genres of video games including the first-person shooter.
Chris's first game gig fell into that category and ended up being beyond memorable. The first project he became attached to was an industry groundbreaker titled "Duke Nukem." Little did he know that it would help set the bar for first person shooters for decades to come. In the years following, his career moved him California, working first for Crystal Dynamics as Animation Lead.
In 2000 he joined Electronic Arts "Visceral Studio." There he served the studio for eight years as the Animation Director. During this time Chris became an integral part of nearly every project that Visceral shipped during his tenure. The pinnacle of his experience there was being one of the original creators of "Dead Space," 2008's action game of the year.
In August 2009 he was hired by Activision's "Sledgehammer Games" and brought in as the second employee to help found and build the studio from the ground up. For nearly ten years he held the position of Supervising Director of Animation on what has become the most successful gaming franchise of all time, Call of Duty. While working on these projects for Activision brought him some of the greatest experiences and opportunities of his career, he constantly longed for the storytelling and character-building experiences of a 3rd person narrative driven game.
2018 brought him a new opportunity as he was sought out by Sony Interactive Entertainment. With his hiring they established the role of (Sr) Supervising Director of Animation for him in their Bend Oregon studio. There he joined the “Days Gone” team where he worked diligently to edit and refine all work done prior to his arrival to assure a strong story, compelling main character and a solid ship date in 2019.
One year later, Chris was recruited by KRAFTON to help found and build “Striking Distance Studios,” their flagship North American studio. There I held the role of Chief Creative Officer for nearly 5 years. As such, I was responsible for supervising and coordinating the studio’s creative leaders. Including leading the team in the development of the artistic aspects of all departments within the studio, including the studio’s image and values which I worked to uphold on a day to day basis.
Currently I hold the role of Studio GM at Void Interactive. There I oversee the studio's daily operations and collaborate closely with the executive team to maintain quality and drive innovation across all ongoing projects. My role involves establishing the vision for new initiatives, setting short- and long-term strategic goals, and managing timelines to achieve successful commercial outcomes. Additionally, I prioritize company projects, and assist in managing studio budgets, while working to make strategic decisions to ensure the studio's overall health and success.
Known For:
Transformers|Callisto Protocol|Shotgun Wedding|COD:WW2
"Chris is a great director. He understands characters relationships and emotions better than most with which I've worked. He knows how to "run a set" and gives direction that's clear and concise. I love working with him and consider him one of the best directors I've had the pleasure to work with."
-Josh Duhamel
Known For:
Star Wars|Days Gone|Being Human|Callisto Protocol|The Mist
“ I love Chris. He's prepared, knows exactly what he wants, and yet remains extremely open to new ideas. His collaborative attitude keeps the work unpredictable and surprising, while his enthusiasm and humor keeps the days rolling by quickly. His set is a happy one. I dig making cool stuff with this dude."
-Sam Witwer
Known For:
The Boys|Suicide Squad|Callisto Protocol|Bullet Train
"Chris creates a safe space for us to play and collaborate on the mocap stage. He brings humility and professionalism to set every single day and I feel lucky to have worked with him on my first video game, and hope for more to come!"
-Karen Fukuhara
Known For:
Iron Man|COD:Advanced Warfare|Spider-Man|COD:WW2
"As a Director, Stone, like his name suggests, is a rock. Solid. Dependable. His passion for his work is infectious and he instinctively helps you live in the world you're creating. He is a team builder, a creative force that connects the dots of many moving pieces to deliver an amazing production."
-Russell Richardson
Known For:
Avengers|COD:WW2|Callisto Protocol|Resident Evil Village
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Chris across multiple projects. He navigates each one with knowledge and confidence that invariably bleeds into his actors. He supports the creative process, and is beyond proficient, prepared and passionate. I would follow Chris on any project…no questions asked.”
-Jeff Schine
PROJECTS
(2022) The Callisto Protocol
(2022) The Callisto Protocol
(2022) The Callisto Protocol
KRAFTON - Striking Distance Studios
TITLE: Chief Creative Officer
Supervised and provided game direction to all creative teams over the course of the 3+ year development of the project. Including Narrative, Gameplay, Concept art, Character art, Animation, Cinematics, lighting and VFX. Chris met with these teams weekly to help guide the design process and uphold the artistic standards of project. Chris also conceptualized and directed all gameplay animation as well all the cinematic work within the game, working closely on stage with talent such as “Transformers" Josh Duhamel, "The Boys" Karen Fukuhara, and Sam Witwer. Additionally as CCO, Chris's focus included the studio’s image and the narrative that "Striking Distance Studios" as a company wanted to tell and the values which were upheld on a day-to-day basis.
(2019) Days Gone
(2022) The Callisto Protocol
(2022) The Callisto Protocol
SONY - Bend Studio
TITLE: Senior Animation Director
Hired during the later stages of the production cycle to get the game re-focused and shipped on time. Provided game direction and feedback to the cinematics and gameplay teams. Directed rework for all combat and core movement and mechanics for the main character and enemies to improve the overall gameplay experience. Edited and refined the existing cinematic work to ensure a compelling story and a captivating main character. Introduced new processes and practices to streamline development pipelines.
(2017) Call of Duty: WWII
(2022) The Callisto Protocol
(2014) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
ACTIVISION - Sledgehammer Games
TITLE: Supervising Animation Director
Extensive work experience on COD: WW2 including game direction, design feedback, gameplay and combat mechanics and choreographing and directing all on stage performance and motion capture sessions. Working with top Hollywood talent such as “Transformers" Josh Duhamel and some of the industry's best stunt talent to execute best in class cinematic and action sequences in what became the top campaign produced within the Call of Duty franchise.
When not on set, Chris supervised and directed a team of upwards of 20-30 animators and artists building an exciting and dynamic gameplay and cinematic experience unlike any other, all while working with design and narrative to deliver on what can only be a AAA Call of Duty franchise game.
(2014) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
(2014) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
(2014) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
ACTIVISION - Sledgehammer Games
TITLE: Supervising Animation Director
Extensive experience across multiple departments on COD: AW. Chris was instrumental in the development of all of the newly designed “exo gameplay mechanics“ for Advanced Warfare. He provided creative direction to many of the teams and choreographed and oversaw all on stage performance and motion capture sessions. Directing top Hollywood talent such as “Last of Us” Troy Baker, "The Walking Dead" Khary Payton and Academy award winner Kevin Spacey, as well as the industry's top stunt talent to execute best in class cinematic and action sequences.
When not on set, Chris supervised and directed a team of upwards of 20-30 animators and artists building an exciting and dynamic gameplay and cinematic experience unlike any other, all while assisting with design and narrative to deliver on what can only be a AAA Call of Duty franchise game.
(2011) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
(2014) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
(2011) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
ACTIVISION - Sledgehammer Games
TITLE: Animation Director
Working as the Anmation Director on MW3 required a lot of cross team direction. Chris's animation group was paired with a team at Infinity Ward to ship has been described as the "most highly anticipated game sequel of all time." Chris supervised and directed all mocap shoots as well as a team of upwards of 15 internal animators and artists while simultaneously providing feedback for IW's external groups, on ten of thousands of new gameplay animations and sequences. Additionally, Chris was responsible for conceptualizing, directing and personally hand authoring, many of the epic action scenes for which the game became known. Other resposibilities included aiding in direction of talent such as Idris Elba, Timothy Olyphant, William Fichter and Bruce Greenwood.
(2011) Dead Space 2
(2014) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
(2011) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
ELECTRONIC ARTS - Visceral Studio
TITLE: Animation Director
As one of the original Creators of the “Dead Space” franchise and Senior Animation Director, Chris moved immediately onto the Sequel to build on the original product in new and innovative ways. Chris began to conceptualize and author new enemies such as "the Pack" and new “Isaac Death” animations. Chris also dawned the mocap suit to perform and capture new and improved Isaac locomotion and combat animations prior to the projects ship date and his departure from EA. Additionally responsibilities included supervising his team of animators on site to maintain quality and continuity.
(2009) The Godfather II Game
(2009) The Godfather II Game
(2009) The Godfather II Game
ELECTRONIC ARTS - Visceral Studio
TITLE: Animation Director
Chris was brought on late to this project as it was deemed "at risk" by studio Leadership. In the 6 months Chris worked on GF2, he completely overhauled the combat and paired kill system, in addition to elevating the games overall quality through refinements within the animation content and systems. The game ultimately shipped on time with with better-than-expected reviews.
(2008) Dead Space
(2009) The Godfather II Game
(2009) The Godfather II Game
ELECTRONIC ARTS - Visceral Studio
TITLE: Animation Director
Chris was one of the original Creators of the “Dead Space” franchise on which he was the Senior Animation Director, directing and supervising all motion capture and performance capture sessions in addition to supervising a team of animators and artists on site to maintain quality and continuity. Furthermore, he served as the hand key animator for all of the “paired kill” and “Isaac Death” animations for which the game became well known. Chris was nominated for an ANNIE award for this work, and won a NAVGTR award for “best in game cinematography.”
(2007) The Simpsons Game
(2009) The Godfather II Game
(2006) The Godfather Game
ELECTRONIC ARTS - Visceral Studio
TITLE: Animation Director
Simpsons was another project within the "Visceral Studio" considered "at risk" when Chris was brought onboard. It was one of the the first times "Gracie Films" had allowed full 3D versions of their characters to be authored and used within a game. Chris was tasked in helping re-author ALL CINEMATIC cutscenes by hand to adhere to new criteria set forth by "Gracie" to maintain character likenesses. In little more than 6 months, he was able to help produce dozens of scenes to help get the game on the shelves, on time.
(2006) The Godfather Game
(2003) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King the Game
(2006) The Godfather Game
ELECTRONIC ARTS - Visceral Studio
TITLE: Animation Director
As Animation Director for "Godfather the game," Chris had the daunting task of helping produce a game based on a cultural Icon of a film. Chris was instrumental in concepting and developing all of the inovative gameplay mechanics such as the "black hand" and interrogation tactics on top of directing all gameplay animation and cinematics. Chris played a large role in the capture of all performances for many of the film's stars including James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Marlon Brando.
(2003) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King the Game
(2003) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King the Game
(2003) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King the Game
ELECTRONIC ARTS - Visceral Studio
TITLE: Animation Director
In his first "Directorial" role, Chris worked diligently with his team to recreate "Return of the King" in "game form" Including directing on stage the original stunt team from the film franchise. Paying close attention to the details that made each character unique, Chris directed, captured and created accururate, movement, combat and mechincs that looked and felt true to the film. On top of recreating all the heros and villians in interactive form, Chris also directed and created a multitude of "Match Move" shots that seamlessly blended from film footage to computer generated game cinematics, creating a true interactive Lord of the Rings Experience.
(2002) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers the Game
(2003) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King the Game
(2003) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King the Game
ELECTRONIC ARTS - Visceral Studio
TITLE: Animation Lead
Chris was initially hired as the "Animation Lead" for "Knockout Kings," a popular boxing game under the "EA Sports" brand. However once he was under the wing of EA, it was quickly deemed more important for him to help take the reins of "LOTR The Two Towers" which at the time was in production by an external studio. The movie was then deep into filming with Peter Jackson at the helm, and this "companion game" was in dire need of assistance to assure its concurrent shipping date. Chris relocated to the external studio and worked tirelessly to rework all the characters and their animation sets, as well as boss encounters to ensure EA shipped a hit to correspond to Jacksons masterpiece. Ultimately this all paid off, shipping a highly scored product that out performed all sales expectations.
(2002) Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
(2002) Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
(2002) Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
EIDOS INTERACTIVE - Crystal Dynamics
TITLE: Animation Lead
Chris was brought onto the project with 6 months left in production. At that time, the game had hit a serious issue with its cinematics where none of what had been produced during 2 years of development was deemed "shippable." In that final 6 months, Chris conceptualized, and along with 2 other more junior animators, hand authored, and finaled over 2 hours of cinematic shots allowing the game to ship on schedule.
(2001) Mad Dash Racing
(2002) Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
(2002) Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
EIDOS INTERACTIVE - Crystal Dynamics
TITLE: Animation Lead
Mad Dash Racing was an "Original“ XBOX launch title in 2001. It was innovative for the time, choosing to be the only "on foot" racing game on the market. It was highly stylized with unique personalities tied to each of the selectable game characters. As "Animation Lead" one of Chris's responsibilities was defining the personalities for the bulk of these characters. Once that task was compete, Chris then modeled, textured, rigged, and hand animated each of these characters, nearly single handedly producing all playable assets for the game.
(2000) Nicktoons Racing
(2002) Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
(2000) Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour
THQ - Contract Work
TITLE: 3D Artist
In 2000 Chris was contacted by an art director with THQ. The request was for some contract work to be done, Modeling, Texturing and Rigging the playable characters for “Nicktoons Racing." In less than 4 weeks Chris completed the contract producing half of all characters in the shipping game.
(2000) Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour
(2000) Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour
(2000) Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour
EIDOS INTERACTIVE - Crystal Dynamics
TITLE: Animation Lead
"Disney Racing" was Chris's first experience heading a team and guiding a project in a leadership role. Chris lead the character and animation team from the start on what initially was just an "unspecific cart racer." He built and animated a multitude of cart types and characters just to prototype the game. Once Disney got on board he worked diligently with their concept and character team to assure both the "named" and "unnamed" Disney characters fit the game and lived up to the expectations of the Disney production team. Once all approved, he lead the development of each of the characters and their animations as well as tuned them to make what many consider to be a "highly underated cart racer"
(1999) Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko
(2000) Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour
(1999) Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko
EIDOS INTERACTIVE - Crystal Dynamics
TITLE: Senior Animator
Chris was one of a team of 3 character artists/animators on "Gex3." His primary responsibility was to model, texture, rig, and animate all enemies within the game. However because of the speed at which he produced and "finaled" his assets, he ended up owning a significant portion of all of the animated characters within the game, including a multitude of unique "gex character skins" and numerous motions on the main character. When all was said and done, Chris had single handedly produced nearly 70% of the new character and animation content for the game.
(1998) Akuji the Heartless
(2000) Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour
(1999) Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko
EIDOS INTERACTIVE - Crystal Dynamics
TITLE: Senior Animator
"Akuji" was another project that Chris joined late in production, however due to Chris's abilities in more than one field, he was able to help final the game in a variety of areas. On top of jumping in to help complete many enemies animation sets and models, Chris also was heavily utilized by the marketing team to create a multitude of print and advertising images used throughout the publicity campaign for the project. This included magazine covers, posters and print articles featuring the game.
(1998) Gex 2: Enter the Gecko
(1998) Rugrats: The Search for Reptar
(1998) Rugrats: The Search for Reptar
EIDOS INTERACTIVE - Crystal Dynamics
TITLE: Senior Animator
In 1997 Chris Joined Crystal Dynamics to help wrap up the "Gex 2" project. The production was well underway but Chris was able to step in without missing a beat and help finish the game through his extremely expedient skillset. He was able to adapt to the new studio processes and bring some of his own knowledge to the table, influencing a shift in the studio towards a 3DS Max pipeline which sped the development along significantly. Additionally he stood up a tremendous amount of animation content in a short time across multiple characters to help deliver the game on time, to very positive reviews.
(1998) Rugrats: The Search for Reptar
(1998) Rugrats: The Search for Reptar
(1998) Rugrats: The Search for Reptar
GT INTERACTIVE - N-Space
TITLE: Animator
After finishing his work on "Duke Nukem TTK," Chris had made a name for himself by the speed at which he was able to produce very high-quality characters and animation. Because of which he was quickly brought onboard "Rugrats" to help them author and bring to final, many of the primary characters in the game. The game was behind in production, and in a matter of weeks Chris had managed to help bring the project back on schedule and ship on time.
(1998) Duke Nukem: Time to Kill
(1998) Rugrats: The Search for Reptar
(1997) Bugriders: The Race of Kings
GT INTERACTIVE - N-Space
TITLE: Animator
"Duke Nukem TTK" was the highly anticipated first sequel to the hit game "Duke Nukem 3D' Ironically it was also the first all "3D" game made in the franchise. Despite Chris's lack of seniority at the time, he still garnered the responsibility of modeling, texturing, rigging and animating the games namesake. Additionally, he was responsible for animating many of the more well-known enemy characters such as the "Pigcop" and "Octabrain"
(1997) Bugriders: The Race of Kings
(1997) Bugriders: The Race of Kings
(1997) Bugriders: The Race of Kings
GT INTERACTIVE - N-Space
TITLE: 3D Artist
"Bugriders" was nearly complete as a shippable game prior to Chris joining the project. However, what was not complete, were all the cinematic shots and marketing materials still required prior to delivery. Chris worked diligently modeling texturing and rigging many high-resolution characters and assets. Over the course of those final months of production, Chris was able to aid in completing all the cinematics as well as numerous magazine covers and advertisements for the game.
(1997) Tigershark
(1997) Bugriders: The Race of Kings
(1996) Duke Nukem 3D
GT INTERACTIVE - N-Space
TITLE: 3D Artist
Tigershark was a "Playstation 1" launch title. There was very little known about game development on a console at that point so much of this game was figuring things out from scratch. Though Cris had very little game development experience, what he did have was a knack for building assets very quickly and efficiently. Chris came on board and produced a tremendous amout of 3d models, from underwater bases, to attack boats, to helicopters. Chris also assisted in the production of all the cinematic sequences throughout the course of the game.
(1996) Duke Nukem 3D
(1997) Bugriders: The Race of Kings
(1996) Duke Nukem 3D
GT INTERACTIVE - N-Space/3D Realms
TITLE: 3D Artist
As one of Chris’s first experiences in the game indusrty, “Duke Nukem 3d” set a high bar for all the projects to come in the future of his career. “DN3D” to the day is considered to be one of the earliest titles responsible for popularizing first-person shooters, and was released to major acclaim. Chris’s experience was fairly limited on the project given his lack of seniority but he was involved in helping create many of the character animations across the game while working at N-Space as a collaborative studio. These assets were then provided back to 3d Realms to render down into the “2d sprites” which appeared within the game.
PRESS INTERVIEWS
(2022) Krafton Interview on the production of "The Callisto Protocol""
(2022) Karen Fukuhara & Chris Stone Interview: The Callisto Protocol's Dani Nakamura
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(2022) The Callisto Protocol interview: "there are no rules" with horror
(2022) The Callisto Protocol Could Carry the Spirit of Dead Space: Interview Chris Stone CCO
(2022) “I cannot unsee the things that I've seen to make this game.”
(2017) Animating the faces of fear and courage in Call of Duty: WWII
VIDEO INTERVIEWS
(2022) Episode 1: Creating Survival Horror Like No Other [The Callisto Protocol Interview Series]
(2022) Episode 1: Creating Survival Horror Like No Other [The Callisto Protocol Interview Series]
(2022) Episode 1: Creating Survival Horror Like No Other [The Callisto Protocol Interview Series]
(2022) Episode 5: Creating Survival Horror Like No Other [The Callisto Protocol Interview Series]
(2022) Episode 1: Creating Survival Horror Like No Other [The Callisto Protocol Interview Series]
(2022) Episode 1: Creating Survival Horror Like No Other [The Callisto Protocol Interview Series]
(2017) The Making of: Call of Duty WWII
(2022) Episode 1: Creating Survival Horror Like No Other [The Callisto Protocol Interview Series]
(2017) Call of Duty: WW2 - Animation Director Christopher Stone Talks Multiplayer
(2017) Call of Duty: WW2 - Animation Director Christopher Stone Talks Multiplayer
(2014) Official Call of Duty® Advanced Warfare - Animation & Art Direction BTS Video
(2017) Call of Duty: WW2 - Animation Director Christopher Stone Talks Multiplayer
(2014) Official Call of Duty® Advanced Warfare - Animation & Art Direction BTS Video
(2014) Official Call of Duty® Advanced Warfare - Animation & Art Direction BTS Video
(2014) Official Call of Duty® Advanced Warfare - Animation & Art Direction BTS Video
(2014) BTS Call of Duty | Ep. 11 | HardWired 2.0 w/ Ijustine
(2014) Official Call of Duty® Advanced Warfare - Animation & Art Direction BTS Video
(2014) Official Call of Duty® Advanced Warfare - Animation & Art Direction BTS Video
(2014) BTS Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Production
(2014) BTS Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Production
(2014) BTS Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Production
(2008) Developer Diary: Dead Space Animation
(2014) BTS Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Production
(2014) BTS Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Production
(2006) Behind the Scenes: The Godfather Gameplay
(2014) BTS Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Production
(2006) Behind the Scenes: The Godfather Gameplay
CONTACT
