Michael Crassweller, CSM
Director of Production at ForwardXP- Claim this Profile
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Topline Score
Bio
Michelle Kusters
Michael is one of the most supportive producers I've ever worked with. I worked with him on several game projects from 2016 to 2019 and during those years I've seen him not only support us as a Producer, but also lead us as a team lead. Knowledgeable in many facets of game design, Michael respects the expertise of his teams and gave us the opportunity to grow and take on the challenges we were looking for. His future employer is lucky to have him, as are the teams he will support.
Özgen Güngör
As a starter, Mike is a driven, result oriented person. He has a "definitely can do" attitude. This gives him and people working with him tons of motivation and energy. On top of these great traits, he is well seasoned in the games industry. We worked together on some projects with vague requirements, and thanks to Mike we were able to keep on delivering. Finally, I would also like to highlight his sense of humor and commitment to have fun together with his colleagues. He is a great leader with background, experience, and personality for making it happen.
David Goemans
Mike is an exceptional colleague. He has the ability to manage people and projects, with great insight and confidence. Mike is always looking out for more optimal ways to solve problems - via automation or process changes, and when needed is willing to get his hands dirty. He's definitely one of the most fun colleagues I've had in the past years, and will miss working together with him. He would be a great asset to any team.
Michelle Kusters
Michael is one of the most supportive producers I've ever worked with. I worked with him on several game projects from 2016 to 2019 and during those years I've seen him not only support us as a Producer, but also lead us as a team lead. Knowledgeable in many facets of game design, Michael respects the expertise of his teams and gave us the opportunity to grow and take on the challenges we were looking for. His future employer is lucky to have him, as are the teams he will support.
Özgen Güngör
As a starter, Mike is a driven, result oriented person. He has a "definitely can do" attitude. This gives him and people working with him tons of motivation and energy. On top of these great traits, he is well seasoned in the games industry. We worked together on some projects with vague requirements, and thanks to Mike we were able to keep on delivering. Finally, I would also like to highlight his sense of humor and commitment to have fun together with his colleagues. He is a great leader with background, experience, and personality for making it happen.
David Goemans
Mike is an exceptional colleague. He has the ability to manage people and projects, with great insight and confidence. Mike is always looking out for more optimal ways to solve problems - via automation or process changes, and when needed is willing to get his hands dirty. He's definitely one of the most fun colleagues I've had in the past years, and will miss working together with him. He would be a great asset to any team.
Michelle Kusters
Michael is one of the most supportive producers I've ever worked with. I worked with him on several game projects from 2016 to 2019 and during those years I've seen him not only support us as a Producer, but also lead us as a team lead. Knowledgeable in many facets of game design, Michael respects the expertise of his teams and gave us the opportunity to grow and take on the challenges we were looking for. His future employer is lucky to have him, as are the teams he will support.
Özgen Güngör
As a starter, Mike is a driven, result oriented person. He has a "definitely can do" attitude. This gives him and people working with him tons of motivation and energy. On top of these great traits, he is well seasoned in the games industry. We worked together on some projects with vague requirements, and thanks to Mike we were able to keep on delivering. Finally, I would also like to highlight his sense of humor and commitment to have fun together with his colleagues. He is a great leader with background, experience, and personality for making it happen.
David Goemans
Mike is an exceptional colleague. He has the ability to manage people and projects, with great insight and confidence. Mike is always looking out for more optimal ways to solve problems - via automation or process changes, and when needed is willing to get his hands dirty. He's definitely one of the most fun colleagues I've had in the past years, and will miss working together with him. He would be a great asset to any team.
Michelle Kusters
Michael is one of the most supportive producers I've ever worked with. I worked with him on several game projects from 2016 to 2019 and during those years I've seen him not only support us as a Producer, but also lead us as a team lead. Knowledgeable in many facets of game design, Michael respects the expertise of his teams and gave us the opportunity to grow and take on the challenges we were looking for. His future employer is lucky to have him, as are the teams he will support.
Özgen Güngör
As a starter, Mike is a driven, result oriented person. He has a "definitely can do" attitude. This gives him and people working with him tons of motivation and energy. On top of these great traits, he is well seasoned in the games industry. We worked together on some projects with vague requirements, and thanks to Mike we were able to keep on delivering. Finally, I would also like to highlight his sense of humor and commitment to have fun together with his colleagues. He is a great leader with background, experience, and personality for making it happen.
David Goemans
Mike is an exceptional colleague. He has the ability to manage people and projects, with great insight and confidence. Mike is always looking out for more optimal ways to solve problems - via automation or process changes, and when needed is willing to get his hands dirty. He's definitely one of the most fun colleagues I've had in the past years, and will miss working together with him. He would be a great asset to any team.
Credentials
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Learn Python 3 Course
CodecademyJan, 2021- Nov, 2024 -
Certified ScrumMaster
Scrum AllianceFeb, 2017- Nov, 2024
Experience
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ForwardXP
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United States
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Software Development
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1 - 100 Employee
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Director of Production
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Jul 2022 - Present
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Senior Production Manager
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Jul 2019 - Jul 2022
Titles: Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance (Console/PC), Stormland (Oculus Rift, Dev Support), Please Don't Touch Anything (Oculus Rift, Quest), Unannounced AAA Multiplayer Title (Console)• Lead the Production Team & provide guidance to all projects at ForwardXP• Supporting the growth of ForwardXP from 10 employees to now over 50 covering a number of internal and external co-development projects with partners such as Wizards of the Coast, Insomniac Games, Meta and Qualcomm.• Work with each project team to establish the right production processes, tools and methods Show less
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GameHouse
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Spain
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Computer Games
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1 - 100 Employee
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Studio Lead / Producer
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Oct 2016 - Jun 2019
Titles: Fabulous Angela's High School Reunion (2017), Fabulous Angela's Wedding Disaster (2018), My Original Stories (2019) Led game development teams in Netherlands and Spain to create 2 premium mobile time management games and one of the company's first Free-to-Play games; My Original Stories. With a focus on team development, clear process and well-articulated goals, we were able to release frequently, reliably, on-time and at high quality with low stress and no crunch. Titles: Fabulous Angela's High School Reunion (2017), Fabulous Angela's Wedding Disaster (2018), My Original Stories (2019) Led game development teams in Netherlands and Spain to create 2 premium mobile time management games and one of the company's first Free-to-Play games; My Original Stories. With a focus on team development, clear process and well-articulated goals, we were able to release frequently, reliably, on-time and at high quality with low stress and no crunch.
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CoolGames
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Netherlands
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Computer Games
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1 - 100 Employee
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Studio Operations Manager
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Aug 2014 - Sep 2016
Titles: Tetris Twist (2016), Pac-Man Run (2016) Jewel Academy (2014) I led a team of 8 responsible for managing company-wide Project Management, 3rd Party Developer Support, Game QA and Game Licensing as well as act as Product Owner for our HTML5 game services API. Additionally I spearheaded multiple efforts to streamline company operational work including hiring and digital contracts. Titles: Tetris Twist (2016), Pac-Man Run (2016) Jewel Academy (2014) I led a team of 8 responsible for managing company-wide Project Management, 3rd Party Developer Support, Game QA and Game Licensing as well as act as Product Owner for our HTML5 game services API. Additionally I spearheaded multiple efforts to streamline company operational work including hiring and digital contracts.
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Spil Games by Azerion
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Netherlands
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Computer Games
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1 - 100 Employee
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Head of Studio Post Production
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Nov 2013 - Jul 2014
As the Head of Post Production at Spil Games, I oversee all areas of game production outside of development and art. My teams are responsible for Quality Assurance, Localization and Mobile Games Publishing. Serving both the internal studio teams and the hundreds of external development partners that Spil works with on a daily basis, we strive to deliver high quality at high speeds. In addition to core duties, I also act in an advisory role to the Brand, Technology & Publisher Portal teams to help ensure business requirements match to technology projects and can be turned into reliable, repeatable process. Core Tasks & Responsibilities • Manage multiple teams covering Game QA (Studio Projects & External Licensed Content), Localization & Game Porting • Managing multiple porting projects with both internal and external teams (e.g. game developers, QA leads, artists and producers) within time, budget, and resource constraints; • Managing technology functionality, security, cross promotion functionality, QA checklists associated with social integration and advertising enhancement, with wrapped builds for multiple platforms and browsers; • Ensure final products meet launch requirements • Identifying and mitigating risks, removing roadblocks; and • Setting and tracking productivity goals and targets for the studios. Show less
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GameStop
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United States
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Retail
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700 & Above Employee
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Manager – PC Digital Distribution & GameStop.com Content
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May 2011 - Oct 2013
As part of the GameStop acquisition of Impulse from Stardock, I managed the GameStop PC Downloads Release team to deliver frequent, high-quality game releases. As a team, we delivered the content powering strong annual PC revenue growth both digitally and at retail. Responsibilities grew to eventually manage all product content for GameStop.com. As part of the GameStop acquisition of Impulse from Stardock, I managed the GameStop PC Downloads Release team to deliver frequent, high-quality game releases. As a team, we delivered the content powering strong annual PC revenue growth both digitally and at retail. Responsibilities grew to eventually manage all product content for GameStop.com.
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Stardock
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United States
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Software Development
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1 - 100 Employee
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Technical Relationship Manager
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May 2008 - May 2011
Working with partner publishers and developers to place games and software on the Impulse Digital Distribution Platform. I act as the primary technical contact for Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, THQ, Paradox Interactive as well as many independent developers from around the globe.
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Publishing Support
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Jul 2006 - May 2011
Assisted with publishing activities on various Stardock Entertainment titles during my tenure with the company. Specific games include:-Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor-The Political Machine 2008-Sins of a Solar Empire-Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment-Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy-Demigod-Elemental: War of Magic
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Community Website Manager
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Jul 2006 - Aug 2008
In charge of managing websites and communities connected to Stardock. I oversee sites such as WinCustomize.com and JoeUser.com, as well as Stardock's PC Game sites from a business and community management perspective. Tasks range from lining up advertisers to off-hours server ops work, and frequently writing article and news content for the sites.
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Cigna Healthcare
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Hospitals and Health Care
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700 & Above Employee
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Infrastructure Engineer - Security Products
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Aug 2004 - Jun 2006
Provided cradle-to-grave management & production support on multiple critical network security systems including messaging security (e-mail & IM), desktop encryption & offshore secure connections. Provided cradle-to-grave management & production support on multiple critical network security systems including messaging security (e-mail & IM), desktop encryption & offshore secure connections.
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Education
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2000 - 2003
Penn State University
B.S, Information Sciences & Technology, Minor in IT Telecom
