'Filmgame' Firm Cecropia Adds To Advisory Board

Distinctly alternative game development studio Cecropia, which Gamasutra profiled exclusively back in December 2004, have announced that industry veterans Ken Fedesna and Andrew Miller have joined the company's Advisory Board, in order to help guide Cecropia's launch of its first “filmgame”, The Act. A romantic comedy originally aimed at arcade audiences, using a unique 'knob' controller, The Act is a game built around social interaction that Cecropia hopes will draw in a large audience thanks to its simplicity, as well as its story, animation, and addictive gameplay. In The Act, players must control the visual personality cues in the animated characters in order to move to the next level of the game. Ken Fedesna is the co-founder and president of White Rabbit Game Studio, and has 30 years of experience in the gaming and coin-op industries, and served as the executive VP of product development for Midway Games, and as the executive VP/general manager of Midway's coin-op division. Andy Miller is the founder and CEO of Miller Consulting, and has more than 25 years as an information technology opinion leader, beginning with the founding of Miller Communications in 1977. Cecropia itself was established in 2001 by Omar Khudari, co-founder of the game developer Papyrus Design Group (Grand Prix Legends). The Cecropia team is comprised of veterans of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Pixar, DreamWorks and Blue Sky and video gaming industry veterans from Papyrus Design Group, Sierra On-line, Hasbro Interactive and Atari. The company has not yet announced explicit launch plans for the title.