Alexander Winn
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Alexander Winn (born September 24, 1986) is an American writer, producer, and director of mobile games, live-action and
machinima Machinima () is the use of Real-time computing, real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "Machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''machine'' and ''Film, cinema''. According to Guinness World Records, ma ...
films. Winn is best known as one of the two founding members of
Edgeworks Entertainment Edgeworks Entertainment is a machinima and new media production company founded by Alexander Winn and cofounded by Lacey Hannan. The company first gained recognition for their machinima series including ''The Codex Series'', ''Vox Populi'', ''Forsa ...
, and as the creator of ''TerraGenesis'', one of the top ten science fiction games for mobile in 2020, according to App Annie mobile data and analytics. He is also known as the writer, director, co-producer and composer of the award-winning ''
Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...
'' machinima series ''
The Codex Series Edgeworks Entertainment is a machinima and new media production company founded by Alexander Winn and cofounded by Lacey Hannan. The company first gained recognition for their machinima series including ''The Codex Series'', ''Vox Populi'', ''For ...
'', which consists of ''The Codex'', released in 2005, and its prequel, '' The Heretic'', released in 2007. He was a Presidential Scholar at the
University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts The USC School of Cinematic Arts is an academic unit of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. With a history that dates to the first years of talkies, the school descends from America's first program to confer a college degree in ...
, majoring in
film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
and minoring in
Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
, and is listed as one of the film school's Notable Alumni.


Background

Winn gained recognition as a young filmmaker while still a senior in high school when two of his student films, ''Baggage Claim'' and ''Jack O'Neill - Private Detective'', won a total of 14 film festival awards including a CINE Golden Eagle Award for ''Jack O'Neill - Private Detective'', making him the only high school student in the world to be awarded the CINE Golden Eagle for an individually produced project that year.


Machinima

In late 2004, Winn, along with Ryan Luther, co-founded
Edgeworks Entertainment Edgeworks Entertainment is a machinima and new media production company founded by Alexander Winn and cofounded by Lacey Hannan. The company first gained recognition for their machinima series including ''The Codex Series'', ''Vox Populi'', ''Forsa ...
to produce a new ''
Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclai ...
''
machinima Machinima () is the use of Real-time computing, real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "Machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''machine'' and ''Film, cinema''. According to Guinness World Records, ma ...
series called ''The Codex''. Episode 1 of this series was released on February 9, 2005, a date previously rumored to be the release date of an unknown
Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington, and a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (programme ...
project. Winn acted as writer, director, editor and composer, and reprised these roles during production of the prequel series, '' The Heretic''. Winn and his machinima series have been featured in national and international media including the biography segment "Machinima Master" on
mtvU MTVU (formerly stylized as MtvU and mtvU) is an American digital cable TV channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. MTVU programming initially served 750 college and univ ...
, the front covers of the ''
Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...
'' and ''
Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...
'', and a full chapter in ''Halo Effect'', a published collection of essays and articles about the impact of the ''
Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...
'' video game series on popular culture. Most recently, he was interviewed as an expert on machinima in a piece for
Marketplace A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...
on
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
in April 2008.


''TerraGenesis''

On July 6, 2016, Winn released his 25th app, ''TerraGenesis'', on the iOS App store. Based on real science and data from
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
, the game lets players terraform planets across the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
, far-flung systems like
TRAPPIST-1 , - ! style="background-color: #FFFFC0; text-align: center;" colspan="2", Characteristics , - style="vertical-align:top" ! style="text-align:left" , Evolutionary stage , Main sequence , - style="vertical-align:top" ! style="text-ali ...
, and even journey through time to explore various stages of the Earth's history. As players terraform, they cultivate entire civilizations through emergent gameplay, tackling societal, economical, ecologic, cultural, and political evolution and issues as they work to create habitable worlds for people to live on. Winn always thought someone should make a game based on terraforming and had only spent a month building the game upon the initial release. At the same time, the public's interest in space entertainment was increasing due to the release of Ridley Scott's ''The Martian'' starring
Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...
. Winn was able to create what he calls a “little version” of ''TerraGenesis'' in time for the film's opening. Winn quickly moved on to creating his next app and did not originally think much of ''TerraGenesis release. When the app started to pick up, Winn and his wife were actually living in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
at the time and were road tripping around for seven months. Winn says, "She was driving and I was on my little MacBook Air in the passenger seat doing bug fixes, pushing out updates on hotel Wi-Fi and stuff.” In June 2017, ''TerraGenesis'' took the top prize at the Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco. On October 4, 2017, Edgeworks signed with publishing company Tilting Point for ''TerraGenesis'', which market and distribute the title on iOS and Android. On April 4, 2018 Edgeworks Entertainment and publisher Tilting Point announced launching ''TerraGenesis'' on the Google Play store, making it available for Android users. In May 2019, the 5.0 version update of ''TerraGenesis'' was launched, adding a whole host of new features to the game, as well as a completely revamped graphical engine. Two months later on July 20 a "flat planet mode" was added to the game as well as Moon landing inspired events in the game to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
Moon Landing A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959. In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first cr ...
. On July 31, 2019, Edgeworks and Tilting Point announced their plans to release ''TerraGenesis'' to the
Microsoft Store The Microsoft Store (formerly known as the Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It was created as an app store for Windows 8 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps. With ...
in the fall. To showcase the upcoming Microsoft Store launch, Tilting Point and Edgeworks partnered with filmmaker and composer John D. Boswell on a cinematic video for ''TerraGenesis,'' showcasing the possibilities of space exploration, depicting a sense of wonder and curiosity. ''TerraGenesis'' currently has over 22 million downloads and is available in 12 different languages. A city-builder styled game titled ''TerraGenesis: Landfall'' released on digital storefronts in 2022.


Personal life

On April 9, 2016, Alexander Winn married Edgeworks cofounder Lacey Hannan.


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winn, Alexander 1986 births Living people Machinima USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni