We have no dudettes yet, sadly.
Ambient Studios is a small independent developer based in Guildford, UK, unexpected centre of the British games development universe. Founded in 2011 by ex-Media Molecule alumni, Ambient is now comprised of 11 super-awesome dudes, with pedigrees including LittleBigPlanet, the Fable franchise, Burnout and Need For Speed.
Jonny Hopper
Jonny got his break in 2004 when, after doing some work experience for Lionhead Studios, he asked Peter Molyneux for a job. Peter thankfully said OK. He cut his teeth on The Movies working as junior programmer before being misappropriated by the newly formed Media Molecule in March 2006. There, he helped develop the prototype for what would become LittleBigPlanet, and ended up leading the development on the Popit level creation tool.
He founded Ambient Studios with Daniel, Mike and Tim in 2011 and owns Frank, Lord Of Pugs (see above), unofficial company mascot/reindeer.
Tim Holleyman
Tim started out his working life at EA Games as an animator on the Harry Potter franchise, amongst others. Adventure beckoned and he wandered off to pursue the bohemian life of an artist - he studied and then taught oil painting at the Lavender Hill studios in London.
After a while living off mainly bread and cheese he returned to commercial work as a concept artist at Supermassive Games, before heading into the film industry to work in the matte painting department at MPC. He worked on a number of titles including Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and more recently, Prometheus.
Daniel Leaver
Daniel got his first taste of level design in 1990 driving game "Stunts". Subsequently he found himself having more fun designing levels for games like Doom II, Quake, Half-life and Half-life 2 than playing them.
After a brief stint working as an estate agent in London, Daniel's self-loathing helped him realise that games development was a more fitting future. He applied to then-unknown studio Media Molecule and was hired as the first designer on LittleBigPlanet. Daniel worked on LBP 1 and 2 as a senior designer before leaving to form Ambient Studios in 2011.
Mike Pang
Mike started his animation career at EA. Joining as a traditional animator he started in the concept department before moving on to 3D animation. After working on the Harry Potter and Battlefield franchises, he whetted his film whistle at MPC working on titles such as Percy Jackson and Narnia, The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. Commuting wasn't his thing so he settled back in Guildford and found himself in the creative place that is Media Molecule working on LittleBigPlanet 2 and the LBP Move Pack.
Michael has no pets at the moment but wants a cat.
