The rock-solid team at Cascade Game Foundry (CGF™) is composed of entertainment simulation experts from the former Aces Studio, Sports & Racing Studio, and other groups in the Microsoft Games Studios. Our unrivaled expertise and passion for simulations and entertainment software enables us to provide breathtakingly-accurate simulations for hardcore audiences, as well as compelling exploration gameplay for casual audiences.
We bring a rich level of expertise in programming, design, production, art, and audio, across the PC, Xbox, mobile, and VR platforms. In addition to our independent releases, Infinite Scuba, Dive with Sylvia VR, and Rescue Bear Operation, we have also completed numerous bespoke projects for a diverse range of clients including Neil Young, BASE Entertainment, Imagine Exhibitions, EWI Worldwide, Victory Hill Exhibitions, ThoughtOps, Mimic Technologies, Aquatica Submersibles, and Bridge Partners Consulting. Our team members have also shipped dozens of successful titles in the Simulation, Action, Racing, Strategy, and Sports genres while working at Microsoft, including Microsoft Flight Simulator, Microsoft Train Simulator, Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator, Project Gotham Racing, Forza Motorsports, Alan Wake, Fable, Kinectimals, Halo, Shadowrun, NFL Fever, and many others.
We build products that delight, amaze, and educate players about the world around them, using the latest game engineering, virtual reality, and social-media technologies.
Our Team…
Kathie Flood – Managing Director & CEO Kathie is an accomplished video-game producer and entrepreneur with over 20 years experience delivering ground-breaking, best-selling titles on-time and on-budget. Prior to co-founding Cascade Game Foundry, she worked in the Microsoft Games Studios from 1994 through 2009. Shipped games include Infinite Scuba (Windows & Mac PC), Dive with Sylvia VR (Oculus Rift), Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360), Project Gotham Racing 3 (Xbox 360 launch), NFL Fever 2003 (Xbox Live launch), NFL Fever 2002 (Xbox launch), NFL Fever 2000 (Windows PC), Soccer 1.0 (Windows PC), and numerous prototypes that never saw the light of day. Prior to games, she worked in Microsoft Research and Microsoft Systems. She holds a BA in Mathematics/Computer Science (Central College) and an MA in Journalism/Mass Communications (Drake University). She likes to hike, scuba dive, lifeguard, and play the drums.
Russ Glaeser – Development Director Russ has extensive experience developing simulations, starting in 1994 at the Bruce Artwick Organization (BAO) working on Microsoft Flight Simulator, and was part of the Microsoft acquisition of BAO in 1995. Additionally, he worked on Combat Flight Simulator for the PC, and Fable 2, Alan Wake, Crackdown 2, and Kinectimals for the Xbox 360, as well as several other unannounced titles from Microsoft Game Studios. Russ also spent several years working on Windows/Office projects, an experience which convinced him games are way more fun than operating systems. At Cascade Game Foundry, Russ has led the programming for Infinite Scuba, the Connected Car demo (for AT&T), and numerous other external contracts. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Master’s Degree in Natural Language Processing. Russ is an avid bicyclist and guitarist.
Geoff Dahl – Development Geoff has over 20 years experience in computer software engineering and management. For the last 8 years he has been President and CEO of NeoCode Enterprises providing software engineering and program management consulting services. Clients have included everything from small startups to Fortune 500 companies. Prior to NeoCode, he held positions as Director of WebDriver Engineering at Wild Tangent and Lead for Audio on Windows at Microsoft. He worked on multimedia technology for all Windows OS releases from 3.1 through Win95, as well as Video for Windows and DirectX. Geoff holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and enjoys windsurfing, paragliding, hiking, astronomy, photography, and of course, computer games.
Birney Mitchell – Scenery Art Lead Birney started working in the industry in 2003 as an intern with Microsoft Game Studios. Over the years he has helped create multiple titles from Microsoft Flight Simulator, to Forza Motorsports 2. When he is not playing games or creating games, he is out camping backpacking and enjoying numerous other outdoor activities.
Robert Smiley – Character Artist & Animation Director Robert Smiley is a traditionally trained graphic artist who moved into CG art in the video post-production world. He began his video game career as an animator on the Microsoft Sports titles for PC and Xbox and has worked for other game companies, such as Sierra Games and Sony. He brings his past experience in graphic design, modeling, texturing and animation to the Infinite Scuba team. Robert is responsible for the development of the game’s diver characters and has also contributed to the project in animation, logo design, and the creation of wetsuits and other dive gear.
Kathy O’Keefe – UI Art & Design Kathy started out her professional career as a product designer for exhibits, toys, and other consumer products. An interest in using computers to design lead her to an MFA graduate program. Post grad school, she worked on a variety of game projects before coming to the Microsoft Game Studios’ NFL Fever franchise where she worked as a 3D artist, modeling football player models and building stadiums. With 9+ years of gamework, she is currently adding her varied design background to the User Interface for Infinite Scuba.
Pat Cook – Game Design Pat has designed and produced simulation and entertainment experiences for more than 20 years on a wide variety of devices. He has shipped more than 70 titles ranging from sports (Front Page Sports series, Xbox Sports) to racing (Midtown Madness, Project Gotham Racing, Rallisport Challenge, and Forza) to flying (Flight Simulator X, Flight) as well as real time strategy, arcade, and casual games (Rocket Ranger, Outpost 2, Hexic). This deep and eclectic background helps him craft the right balance between realism, ease of use, and sheer fun, creating experiences that appeal to first-time-users as well as those looking for a deeper challenge. His motto and motivation are simple: Delight the player!
John Carlton – Artist, Animator John has been hooked on video games for decades – ever since Pong bonged him in the head at the mall. He started working in the game industry in the early 1990s after getting his BFA in Film and Video from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His first job was at a video arcade game company where he learned about making games fun to play and fun to look at. There he was part of the teams that made NBA Jam, NBA Hangtime and War Gods. After moving at the end of the twentieth century to the beautiful Pacific Northwest (where he is frequently distracted away from the video screen to go outside by the spectacular environs) he has worked on titles like Stunt Racer 64, Forza Motorsport and Flight Simulator. In addition to his work with Cascade Game Foundry, John is also frequently involved in local community events, travel, unusual art and/or whatever catches his attention that day.
“See what everyone else has seen and think what no one else has thought.”
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi