Irish design consultant Tadhg Kelly joins U.S. startup

Britain-based game design consultant (and frequent Gamasutra contributor) Tadhg Kelly is making a move to the United States to take on the role of creative director at a Seattle-based startup. Kelly's new home, Jawfish Games, specializes in tournament-based real-time multiplayer social games. The company tells us that its core focus is on creating quick-play tournaments that last "four or five minutes" on average. Jawfish is hoping to spark a new interest in the casual and social space for multiplayer games, with its website saying that traditional leaderboards "are boring and downright meaningless." The company has a word game on Facebook already, and will launch tournament-based casino games next year (note: Jawfish CEO Phil Gordon is a professional poker player). Tadhg Kelly has been working in games for twenty years, first in the table-top and live-action role-playing spaces and then in video games. His credits include Lionhead's The Movies, among others. More on Kelly's blog.