STEVE RAFFEL

Steve Raffel has worn a number of hats since he and his brother Brian formed Raven Software back in 1990: artist, level designer and game designer, to name a few. But that’s what it takes if you’ve assisted in the development of hit games such as Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II. An area that is of particular interest to Steve is finding and testing the latest in software and hardware that can be used to improve the production of video games; he refers to this as ‘an endless technology-upgrade loop’. One of eight children (including a hyper Pepsi-fueled younger brother), Steve has his wonderful wife Heather and a bouncing baby boy named Michael. An avid fan of Lost, House and The Office, he also enjoys Tivoing old shows he knows he’ll never get around to watching. But who has time to watch TV when there’s some new bit of hardware or software out there that could revolutionize the way Raven builds games?