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2019 is going to be a big year, and Pixelmatic is excited to announce the expansion of its team with two major hires to spearhead the development of Infinite Fleet.

The company’s new Chief Creative Officer, Jason Lee, joins as an acclaimed game systems designer from Relic Entertainment. Having spent 13 productive years at Relic, Jason most recently led game design on the Age of Empires 4 project -- a major upcoming title in the monumental Age of Empires series published by Microsoft. Previously, he had worked on the highly acclaimed strategy game Company of Heroes 2, as well as having been part of the game balance team of the original Company of Heroes game.

Looking back on what he learned through his time at Relic, Jason mentions the importance of synergizing good gameplay mechanics with a rich game story/lore. “Building gameplay that helps tell the narrative,” Jason said, “this is probably the greatest lesson I take from Relic and bring to Infinite Fleet -- to have gameplay and story support each other to lead the player through a truly immersive, epic sci-fi adventure.”

Another specialty that Jason brings is his expertise on the art of gameplay balance -- a tricky yet crucial component of any multiplayer game. For any game to be successful, it is absolutely vital that a fine balance is achieved in terms of game dynamics and win rates between different characters and factions.

Pixelmatic also brought in veteran game designer Damon Gauthier, who joins from famed Canadian games studio BioWare, the company behind the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series. Previously, Damon was a member of the original Homeworld team at Relic -- Homeworld being one of the most innovative and highly acclaimed titles of all time in the real-time strategy (RTS) game genre. In his career, Damon has worked on over 10 shipped titles, with most of them being huge successes.

Damon brings with him a wealth of experience in multiplayer gameplay and 3D RTS combat game design. He takes particular pride in his work on Homeworld 2, where he was able to work with lead designer Josh Mosqueira on the complex multiplayer 3D space battles associated with a game like Homeworld.

On how he plans to translate his experience from Homeworld to Infinite Fleet, Damon said, “from a players perspective managing a fleet in 3D space, sending out scouts, planning where to attack and micromanaging your units in full 3D isn’t simple. The experience of working on Homeworld 2 has made me look carefully at the barrier to entry on a full 3D RTS. I have a lot of ideas on how to tackle these problems and I will be using that knowledge here on Infinite Fleet.”

Jason, Damon, and Pixelmatic CEO Samson Mow were all previously colleagues at Relic. This close relationship and chemistry of having worked together bodes well for the development of Infinite Fleet, as the three friends seek to create a masterpiece out of their dream project.