• Nearly 20 years of experience in the gaming industry and credited on nearly 30+ titles from Social “High 5 Casino” and "Shake the Sky", to casual “Deer Hunter series” to Triple AAA “Frontlines: Fuel of War”. Seasoned in driving all parts of development from concept to final delivery across multiple SKUs & platforms.
• Outsourcing/Insourcing/Team leadership: Managed internal & outsourced teams from small 10+ to large 30+ from game development to digital production. I coordinated the implementation of 1,000s of assets into 5 Wii Titles and 1 PC Title by working closely with outsource teams based in South America, Europe, & throughout North America.
• Project Management: Coordinated schedules and task assignments across multiple departments. Focus on innovation while identifying and avoiding pitfalls to keep updates of Games and Features to the live “High 5 Casino” Social App on track.
• Art Direction & Production: Managed and mentored a wide range of projects consisting of 2D, 3D, Art creation, Animation, & motion capture. This includes interactive vehicle creation for “Stuntman: Ignition” (Xbox360, PS3), character creation and rigging for “Humvee Assault” (PC), key frame animation for “Big Beach Sports” (Wii), motion capture animation for Supple 2 (PC) normal mapped assets for “Frontlines: Fuel of War” (Xbox360, PS3), real time particle effects “Dino Strike” (Wii) and 2d backdrops and UI for “Medieval Games” (Wii).
• Entrepreneur with Business Acumen: Successfully ran Sylum Entertainment for over 13+ where I experienced all aspects of owning and running a development studio.
• Branding, Licensed & Original IP Development: Successfully implemented official branding and product likenesses based on licensed IPs from various high profile companies including but not limited to “Harley Davidson”, “AM General”, “Virgin Comics” and a host of licensed hunting products during work on the popular Deer Hunter games that has exceeded 4 million units in sales.
Director & Senior Producer, Casino Production @ Director & Senior Producer overseeing social casino products at High 5 Games. Responsibilities include: • Regularly interfacing with executive level management to help set goals, present new ideas and review ongoing live product performance. • Overseeing and prioritizing new feature development and ongoing maintenance of all existing live social casino products including High 5 Casino, Shake the Sky and Video Poker on both canvas and mobile platforms (PC, iOS and Android). This requires interfacing with creative, technical, analytic and marketing teams. • Taking a direct hands-on role in feature design efforts of new products to add to the High 5 Games family of social games. • Leading a team of Producers and Associate Producers. From August 2014 to Present (1 year) Mahwah, NJ / New York City, NYSenior Producer @ Senior Producer overseeing High 5 Game's Asian themed Asian themed casino, "Shake the Sky" for Facebook. Also overseeing ongoing development of it's Mobile counterpart. Overseeing design and development of new products to add to the High 5 Games family of social games. From January 2014 to August 2014 (8 months) Mahwah, NJ / New York City, NYProducer @ Producer overseeing development and launch of High 5 Game's Asian themed casino, "Shake the Sky" for Facebook. Also overseeing ongoing development of it's Mobile counterpart to add the High 5 Games growing Social presence. From August 2013 to January 2014 (6 months) Mahwah, NJ / New York City, NYProject Manager @ Project Manager for High 5 Games focusing on expansion into the social/mobile gaming market. • Managed multiple live releases per month to the “High 5 Casino” Social app. This included new Slot Game additions along with new App Features, Enhancements and live hot fixes. • Balanced business expectation with resource availability to ensure a realistic delivery schedule. • Met regularly with business stakeholders to discuss delivery status, priorities and possible roadblocks or pitfalls. • Coordinated development across multiple departments. This required daily interaction with individual developers, release managers and QA leads. • Responsible for flexible scheduling and task assignment to accommodate shifting priorities. From October 2012 to August 2013 (11 months) Mahwah, NJ / New York City, NYArt Producer / Producer / Project Manager @ Here is a summery of the work I have been a key part of over my career. PUBLISHED TITLES In-house: • Medieval Games (Vir2L Studios) • Harley Davidson: Road Trip (Destineer) • Buck Fever (Destineer) • Martian Panic (Zoo) • Dino Strike (Zoo) • Supple 2 (MTI Games) • Deer Hunter 3: Gold (Atari) • WWII Tank Commander (Merscom) • Humvee Assault (Atari) • Cabala’s Ultimate Deer Hunt 2 (Activision Value) • Deer Hunter 5 (Atari) • Police: Tactical Training (Atari) • Buckmasters Deer Hunting (Atari) • Sportsman’s Paradise 2 (Atari) Outsource: • Frontlines: Fuel of War – Artwork – (Kaos Studios – THQ) • Stuntman: Ignition – Artwork – (Paradigm – THQ) • Big Beach Sports – Animation – (HB Studios) • Deadly Dozen – Artwork – (n-Fusion – Atari) • Deadly Dozen 2 – Artwork – (n-Fusion – Atari) • LOS Vietnam – Artwork – (n-Fusion – Atari) • Metal Gear Solid (PC) – Texture work – (Microsoft) • Spiderman – (Game Boy Color) – Cut scenes (Vicarious Visions) • Wild Thornberry’s – (Game Boy Color) – Levels (Vicarious Visions) From June 1995 to September 2012 (17 years 4 months) Art Producer / Producer @ • Art Production Manager on 5 completed Nintendo Wii titles (including “Medieval Games” and “Martian Panic”) 1 completed PC title (“Supple 2”) and began production on 1 PS3 Move title (Confidential). Balanced workflows for up to 4 projects at once being developed by the same staff. Organized and managed with other department leads to demonstrate progress and address concerns. Allocated staff resource for all projects and provided weekly reports to update project(s) status. • In-house Leadership and Mentorship: Led staff in day to day operations and was responsible for task assignments and scheduling. Reviewed work in progress for changes or approvals and made adjustments when necessary. Directed veteran staff while mentoring newer junior staff. My teams consistently ran on or ahead of schedule. • Art Direction: Directed in-house and outsourced concept artists to shape “look and feel”. Provided detailed explanations and guidance. Reviewed all iterations and provide feedback to insure high quality and functional images. • Outsource Direction: Directed multiple outsource art houses and individuals to produce 1,000s of assets for integration into in-house projects. Assets ranged from highly stylized to photo realistic depending upon project requirements. • IP Licenses / Branding: Responsible for all in-game branding on “Harley Davidson : Road Trip” (Wii). Insured all Harley Davidson likenesses were displayed in accordance with their IP specifications. This included correct logo placement and all in-game assets properly representing the Harley Davidson brand. • Motion Capture Direction & Management: Over 8 years of motion capture experience in which I directed & was the lead for multiple projects. Most recently for “Supple 2” which had multiple actors, props, and complex motions. Provided art production & guidance and helped troubleshoot data to make sure it met project goals. We created 100s of moves in a single day of shooting. From April 2009 to March 2011 (2 years) Manalapan, NJSenior Project Manager @ • Project Manager for various high profile projects (HB Studios, Virgin Comics). Projects ranged from delivering key frame animation for integration into games to fully rendered final animated shorts for clients. Worked directly with clients from initial designs to final delivery to insure projects were delivered on time and on budget. • Production / Development Oversight: Responsible for driving all aspects of development for animated shorts. Creative sessions with clients, management of concept & storyboard artists, directing motion capture shoots, asset and character creation and rigging, rendering and final assembly of layers. Regular contact with the client would insure their needs were satisfied on budget. • Outsourced Team leadership: Led a team of up to 8 people remotely. Delegated work based on a clear knowledge and understanding of each of the team members skills. Reviewed work in progress for approval and was responsible for final delivery of work to clients. • Motion Capture & Key Frame Animation Direction: Directed a number of Motion Capture shoots for a variety of uses with multiple actors and props on set. Oversaw all key frame animation for internal production and client delivery. From August 2007 to October 2008 (1 year 3 months) Glen Cove, NYPartner – Art Director @ • Founding member and Art Director for a game company that brought 10+ games to market and created a number of animated shorts for various clients. High level of experience in every step of the development process from creation of the original design documentation to final gold master delivery. • IP Licenses / Branding: Responsible for all in-game branding for clients such as “AM General” for “Humvee Assault” as well as “Nikon”, “Easton”, “Yamaha”, “API Outdoors” and others for “Buckmasters Deer Hunting”. Insured all product likenesses and logo placements met clients requirements. • Development Team Leadership: Led teams (both in-house and outsourced) of up to 30+ people. Managed teams to provided 1,000’s of assets for various next generation Triple AAA games on XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Creation of assets included work within the Unreal 3 engine and tool sets. Clients included Kaos Studios (“Frontlines: Fuel of War”) and Paradigm (“Stuntman: Ignition”) • Proprietary Technology Development: Coordinated development of our proprietary 3D technology called S.E.E.D.. Directed programming team based on development needs in the creation of editor and tool sets for world building, skeletal animation blending, particle generation, real time lighting and physics. This gave me a clear understanding of all aspects of the development process from art to code to sound. • Successfully managed all company finances including budgets, payroll, employee relations, both in-house & outsourced for over 13 years. From March 1996 to July 2007 (11 years 5 months)
School of Visual Arts Gino Fratto is skilled in: Adobe (Photoshop,..., MS Office (Word, Excel,..., Google Documents, Autodesk 3D Studio Max, 3D Studio Max, Video Games, Google Docs, Animation, Xbox 360, 3D, PS3, Social Games, Creative Direction
Websites:
http://www.high5games.com,
http://apps.facebook.com/highfivecasino/?fb_source=search&ref=ts&fref=ts