Amy Hennig

Amy Hennig (born August 19, 1964)[1][2] is an American video game director and script writer, formerly for the video game company Naughty Dog. She began her work in the industry on the Nintendo Entertainment System, with her design debut on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City. She later went to work for Crystal Dynamics, working primarily on the Legacy of Kain series (which she considers her greatest achievement).[3] With Naughty Dog, she worked primarily on the Jak and Daxter and Uncharted series.

Amy Hennig
Hennig in 2019
Born (1964-08-19) August 19, 1964
United States
OccupationVideo game writer, video game director
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
Notable worksLegacy of Kain series
Jak and Daxter series
Uncharted series
Notable awardsWriters Guild of America Video Game Writing Award nomination
Special BAFTA Games Award
Game Developers Choice Awards Lifetime Achievement

Hennig believes that the creative direction of a script holds more importance than the graphics of the game. She has been called one of the most influential women in the video game industry by Edge magazine.

Life

Hennig graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor's degree in English literature.[1] She went on to the film school at San Francisco State University, when she was hired as an artist for an Atari game called ElectroCop.[1] Her work on the game made her realize that the video game industry interested her more than the film industry; she dropped out of film school soon after.[1] Hennig has said that her literature degree and film studies have helped her work: "Everything I learned as an undergraduate with English literature and in film school about editing and shots and the language of film has come into play, but in a way I couldn't possibly have planned."[1]

Career

Hennig has worked in the video game industry since the late 1980s.[4] Most of her early jobs involved games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, where she was primarily employed as an artist and animator.[5] Her first job was as a freelance artist for Electrocop, an unreleased Atari 7800 game, based on the Atari Lynx launch title.[1] Afterwards she joined Electronic Arts as an animator and artist, doing work on an unreleased title, Bard's Tale 4, and Desert Strike. She later moved to designing and directing video games.[6]

Two years after being hired at Electronic Arts, Hennig worked as an artist on Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City.[4] However, when the lead designer quit, Hennig landed the job.[1] In the late 1990s, she moved to Crystal Dynamics,[7] where she assisted Silicon Knights in the development of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Later, she acted as the director, producer, and writer for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.[8][9] She also directed and wrote Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance.[10]

Hennig departed Crystal Dynamics to act as the creative director for Naughty Dog.[7] She contributed to the Jak and Daxter series before working as the game director for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune,[11] and as head writer and creative director for the Uncharted series. With Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Hennig led the 150-person team who created the game, as well as acting as writer.[1] After directing and writing for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and beginning work on Uncharted 4: A Thief's End for the PlayStation 4, Hennig left Naughty Dog in 2014.[12]

On April 3, 2014, Hennig joined Visceral Games with Todd Stashwick to work on Project Ragtag, a Star Wars game.[13] It was reported on October 17, 2017, that EA was shutting down Visceral Games and that their Star Wars project was delayed and moved to another studio to allow for "significant change". A representative of EA told Polygon that EA are "in discussions with Amy about her next move".[14] Hennig announced the following June that she had left EA in January and started a small studio to explore options involving virtual reality games.[15]

Hennig announced she joined Skydance Media in November 2019 to start a new division there for "new story-focused experiences [that] will employ state-of-the-art computer graphics to provide the visual fidelity of television and film, but with an active, lean-in experience that puts the audience in the driver's seat".[16]

Writing style

Hennig believes the term "platformer" is outdated and misused with many modern games, preferring a different term like "traversal" for some.[17] She also feels that focusing too much on graphics can inhibit a game, saying that once game writers focus on creative expression, video games will greatly improve.[18]

She often uses supporting characters to highlight personality aspects of other characters through interactions within the script. For example, Chloe Frazer acts as a foil for Nathan Drake, highlighting the darker aspects of his personality and past.[19] With her work in the Uncharted series, Hennig described the writing and plot as on the "bleeding edge" of the genre of cinematic video games.[7] She has won two Writers Guild of America Video Game Writing Awards in addition to several other awards for her work on Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3.[20][21]

Influence and legacy

Hennig has been cited as an example of a successful woman in a historically male dominated industry, and of how women are taking more important roles within it.[22] Hennig herself says that she has not encountered sexism in the industry, but that differing perspective from men in the industry has helped on some occasions.[1] The UK video magazine Edge named her one of the 100 most influential women in the game industry.[5]

Hennig was given a BAFTA Special Award in June 2016.[23] She received the Lifetime Achievement award at the Game Developers Choice Awards in March 2019.[24]

Works
Name Year Credited with Publisher
Electrocop1989ArtistAtari Corporation
The Bard's Tale IVCancelledElectronic Arts
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf1992
Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City1994Designer, artist
3D Baseball1996Artist[25]Crystal Dynamics
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain1996Design manager
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver1999Director, producer, writerEidos Interactive
Soul Reaver 22001Director, writer
Legacy of Kain: Defiance2003
Jak 32004Game director[26]Sony Computer Entertainment
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune2007Creative director, writer[27][28]
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves2009
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception2011
Uncharted: Golden Abyss2011Story consultant[29]
Battlefield Hardline2015WriterElectronic Arts
gollark: ... though it runs on the JVM, so arbitrary code execution is probably impractical, to be fair.
gollark: ... no, it probably does, no way have they patched out all the ones which maybe exist in vanilla.
gollark: I think the easiest way to get useful amounts of computation, though, is to find an exploit in the server software allowing arbitrary code execution.
gollark: ...
gollark: A piston tape?

References
  1. Fritz, Ben (February 7, 2010). "How I Made It: Amy Hennig". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Archived from the original on February 13, 2010. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  2. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KB59-XJ9
  3. Amy Hennig: "I'm actually really proud of that game still; I mean if somebody said...what is the best game you've designed, I'd probably say Soul Reaver," Hennig added. "I felt like it was the purest expression of story and gameplay being the same thing."Amy Hennig: 'You shouldn't underestimate the value of not being technical', Gamasutra, retrieved on October 20, 2016
  4. Gifford, Kevin (August 26, 2006). "Game Mag Weaseling': Mag Roundup 8/26/06". GameSetWatch. Think Services. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  5. Staff (September 11, 2006). "Game Industry's 100 Most Influential Women". Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on June 25, 2011. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  6. Marie, Meagan. "Storytellers of the Decade: Amy Hennig Interview". GameInformer.
  7. "Uncharted Territory: The Evan Wells and Amy Hennig 'Uncharted 2' Interview". G4. G4 Media. February 6, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  8. "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Tech Info". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. 2010. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  9. "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver". Allgame. All Media Guide. 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  10. Pfister, Andrew (October 13, 2009). "Launch Primer – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves". G4. G4 Media. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  11. Hopper, Stephen (2007). "Fortune Telling: Naughty Dog's Amy Hennig discusses Uncharted: Drake's Fortune". GameZone. GameZone Online. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  12. "Uncharted PS4 Writer Amy Hennig Leaves Naughty Dog". IGN. March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  13. Matulef, Jeffrey (April 3, 2014). "Uncharted director Amy Hennig joins Visceral Games". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  14. McWhertor, Michael (October 17, 2017). "EA shutting down Visceral Games, overhauling Star Wars game (update)". Polygon. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  15. Sinclair, Brendan (June 28, 2018), "Amy Hennig confirms EA departure", GamesIndustry.biz, retrieved June 28, 2018
  16. Wales, Matt (November 18, 2019). "Amy Hennig joins Skydance Media to create "new story-focused experiences"". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  17. John, Tracey (November 19, 2007). "Naughty Dog: We Need A New Word For "Platformer"". MTV Multiplayer Blog. MTV. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  18. Ashley, Robert (June 18, 2007). "The Future of Games". 1UP.com. UGO Networks. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  19. Purchese, Robert (October 16, 2009). "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. Archived from the original on January 23, 2010. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  20. Wawro, Alex (January 14, 2010). "5 games nominated for a Writers Guild Outstanding Achievement Award". GamePro. IDG. Archived from the original on January 16, 2010. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  21. Alexander, Leigh (February 23, 2010). "Uncharted 2, Hennig Take WGA Award". Gamasutra. Think Services. Archived from the original on February 24, 2010. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  22. Staff (June 18, 2008). "The Growing Role of Women in Gaming". Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  23. Wawro, Alex (May 24, 2016). "BAFTA honors veteran game designer Amy Hennig with a Special Award". Gamasutra. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  24. Sinclair, Brendan (December 11, 2018). "Amy Hennig to receive lifetime achievement award". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  25. "Amy Hennig Video Game Credits and Biography". MobyGames. Blue Flame Labs. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  26. Turner, Benjamin (April 19, 2004). "Naughty Dog's Amy Hennig on Jak III". GameSpy. IGN. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  27. Thomsen, Michael (February 5, 2008). "Inside The Story: Naughty Dog Interview". IGN. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  28. Graft, Kris (November 13, 2009). "Reflecting On Uncharted 2: How They Did It". Gamasutra. p. 4. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
  29. Garvin, John; Gilbert, Francois; Reese, Chris (November 8, 2012). "Postmortem: Sony Bend Studio's Uncharted: Golden Abyss". Gamasutra. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
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