Bill Tiller is an American
computer game designer, writer, and artist. At
LucasArts
Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...
, he was the lead artist and art director of ''
The Dig'', the lead background artist on ''
The Curse of Monkey Island
''The Curse of Monkey Island'' is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts in 1997. A sequel to 1991's ''Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge,'' it is the third game in the Monkey Island (series), ''Monkey Island'' series.
It follows ...
'', and the lead artist on ''
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine'' is an action-adventure video game by LucasArts released in 1999. The first 3D installment in the series, its gameplay focuses on solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and completing various platforming se ...
''. He created the games ''
A Vampyre Story
''A Vampyre Story'' is a 2008 point-and-click adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment for Windows, published by Crimson Cow. The game is set in Europe during the 1890s, and follows a young female opera singer turned vampire as she ...
'' and ''
Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island
''Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island'' is an adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment and released in 2009. The concept and design were created by William 'Bill' Tiller, who was also responsible for the visual look of ''The Curse of Monkey ...
'' for
Autumn Moon Entertainment
Autumn Moon Entertainment is an independent computer game developer founded in 2002 by Bill Tiller. The company specializes in traditional graphic adventure games in the style of the LucasArts classics, particularly '' The Curse of Monkey Island'' ...
, a studio he co-founded with Mike Kirchoff in 2002. He worked as a game designer on the iOS title
Perils of Man.
Career
Bill Tiller was hired by
LucasArts adventure games
From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, LucasArts was well known for their point-and-click graphic adventure games, nearly all of which received high scoring reviews at the time of their release. Their style tended towards the humorous, often ir ...
by Collette Michaud in 1992 as an animator for
Brian Moriarty
Brian Moriarty (born 1956) is an American video game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, '' Wishbringer'' (1985), ''Trinity'' (1986), and '' Beyond Zork'' (1987), as well as ''Loom'' (1990) for LucasA ...
's version of ''
The Dig''. He stayed with the project through all of its incarnations, and was ultimately the lead artist and
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...
on the final version of the game. He was the lead
background artist
A background artist or sometimes called a background stylist or background painter is one who is involved in the process of animation who establishes the color, style, and mood of a scene drawn by an animation layout artist. The methods used can e ...
of ''
The Curse of Monkey Island
''The Curse of Monkey Island'' is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts in 1997. A sequel to 1991's ''Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge,'' it is the third game in the Monkey Island (series), ''Monkey Island'' series.
It follows ...
'', and the lead artist of ''
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine'' is an action-adventure video game by LucasArts released in 1999. The first 3D installment in the series, its gameplay focuses on solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and completing various platforming se ...
''. In 2001, he left LucasArts to work at
ArenaNet
ArenaNet, LLC is an American video game developer and subsidiary of NCsoft, founded in 2000 by Mike O'Brien, Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain and located in Bellevue, Washington. They are most notable as developers of the online role-playing ga ...
.
In 2002, co-founded
Autumn Moon Entertainment
Autumn Moon Entertainment is an independent computer game developer founded in 2002 by Bill Tiller. The company specializes in traditional graphic adventure games in the style of the LucasArts classics, particularly '' The Curse of Monkey Island'' ...
to develop his own adventure games. Their first release was ''
A Vampyre Story
''A Vampyre Story'' is a 2008 point-and-click adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment for Windows, published by Crimson Cow. The game is set in Europe during the 1890s, and follows a young female opera singer turned vampire as she ...
'' in 2008, followed by ''
Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island
''Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island'' is an adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment and released in 2009. The concept and design were created by William 'Bill' Tiller, who was also responsible for the visual look of ''The Curse of Monkey ...
'' in 2009. Due to financial issues with the publisher of the Autumn Moon games,
Crimson Cow
Crimson Cow is a German video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer.
They often finance the developme ...
, Tiller has maintained a freelance career in the industry. His royalty checks from his work on ''
Snuggle Truck'' has allowed Tiller to keep working on his own adventure games. Before the success of ''Snuggle Truck'', Tiller served as the art director for MunkyFun, which is itself a studio founded by a number of ex-LucasArts developers. In 2013, Tiller started a
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by cro ...
effort for an episodic, independent prequel to the
A Vampyre Story
''A Vampyre Story'' is a 2008 point-and-click adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment for Windows, published by Crimson Cow. The game is set in Europe during the 1890s, and follows a young female opera singer turned vampire as she ...
saga called ''
A Vampyre Story: Year One''. The
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign was unsuccessful, however, the game remains in development.
In 2013, Tiller collaborated with
IF Games in Switzerland as one of the game designers for the 3D adventure ''
Perils of Man'', which saw release in 2014. In August 2014, Bill Tiller began a Kickstarter campaign for a spin-off of ''
Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island
''Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island'' is an adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment and released in 2009. The concept and design were created by William 'Bill' Tiller, who was also responsible for the visual look of ''The Curse of Monkey ...
'' titled ''
Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler!.
Games
*
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
: ''
Star Wars: Rebel Assault'', artist (LucasArts)
*
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
: ''
Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi'', artist (LucasArts)
*
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
: ''
Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
''Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures'' is a 1994 platform video game released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is a video game adaptation of the ''Indiana Jones'' films ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (1981), ''Indiana Jones and the Tem ...
'', artist (LucasArts)
*
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
: ''
Full Throttle'', artist (LucasArts)
*
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
: ''
The Dig'', lead artist, art director (LucasArts)
*
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
: ''
Outlaws
An outlaw is a person living outside the law.
Outlaws or The Outlaws may also refer to:
Film and television Film
* ''The Outlaws'' (1950 film), an Italian crime film
* ''Outlaws'' (1985 film), a French film
* ''The Outlaws'' (2017 film), a Sou ...
'', artist (LucasArts)
*
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
: ''
The Curse of Monkey Island
''The Curse of Monkey Island'' is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts in 1997. A sequel to 1991's ''Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge,'' it is the third game in the Monkey Island (series), ''Monkey Island'' series.
It follows ...
'', lead background artist (LucasArts)
*
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
: ''
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine'' is an action-adventure video game by LucasArts released in 1999. The first 3D installment in the series, its gameplay focuses on solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and completing various platforming se ...
'', lead artist (LucasArts)
*
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
: ''
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'', Art Director (Stormfront Studios)
*
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
: ''
A Vampyre Story
''A Vampyre Story'' is a 2008 point-and-click adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment for Windows, published by Crimson Cow. The game is set in Europe during the 1890s, and follows a young female opera singer turned vampire as she ...
'', project leader, artist, writer (Autumn Moon Entertainment)
*
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...
: ''
Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island
''Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island'' is an adventure game developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment and released in 2009. The concept and design were created by William 'Bill' Tiller, who was also responsible for the visual look of ''The Curse of Monkey ...
'', project leader, artist, writer (Autumn Moon Entertainment)
*
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...
: ''
Bounty Bots'', Art Director (
Munky Fun)
*
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...
: ''
Snuggle Truck'', artist (
Owlchemy Labs
Owlchemy Labs is a video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 2010 by Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate Alex Schwartz. Owlchemy is best known for its virtual reality video games ''Job Simulator'' and ''Rick and ...
)
*
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
: ''
Jack Lumber'', artist (Owlchemy Labs)
*
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...
: ''
Perils of Man'', game designer (
IF Games)
*
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
: ''
Skylanders: Imaginators'', Senior Concept Artist (
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
)
*
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
: ''
Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler!'', project leader, artist, writer (Venture Moon Industries)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiller, Bill
1967 births
Living people
American video game designers
American video game directors
Background artists
People from Petaluma, California