Jon Burton
Jon Burton | |
---|---|
Born | Winchester, Hampshire, UK |
Nationality | British |
Other names | John Burton, Jonathan Burton |
Occupation(s) | Video game designer, writer, director, programmer |
Years active | 1989–present |
Known for | Traveller's Tales |
Notable work | Puggsy, Lego Star Wars, Mickey Mania & Sonic 3D Blast |
Website | ttjontt |
Jon Burton is a British video game director, designer, writer, and programmer. He is the founder of development studio Traveller's Tales and its parent company TT Games.
Burton founded Traveller's Tales in 1989. He worked as a designer on Puggsy, Mickey Mania, Sonic 3D Blast and the Lego Star Wars series, and has served as programmer for many of their early games.[2] He has received five British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards.
Career
Burton founded Traveller's Tales in late 1989 and served as creative director of the games. His first game as designer, Leander, was in 1991; next was Puggsy in 1993. The game enabled Traveller's Tales to expand the company and develop games with bigger companies. In 1994, Traveller's Tales developed Mickey Mania for Disney, initiating a long relationship with the company; Disney later hired them to develop tie-in games for many of its properties. Starting in 1995, Sega contracted the company to develop two Sonic the Hedgehog games, Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R. He also served as creative director and lead designer of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. Next, he was served as creative director, lead designer, and writer of the action-adventure video game Haven: Call of the King, which sequels to the game was planned to be a trilogy, but it was cancelled due to the game's commercial failure.
Burton announced in 2005 that Traveller's Tales would merge with Giant Interactive Entertainment to form parent company TT Games. He served as creative director of the Lego Star Wars series based on the toy line of the same name and the film franchise. In 2007, Burton and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced that they had purchased TT Games and Traveller's Tales for an undisclosed amount as part of their expansion into the video game industry.[3] Burton served as creative director for both Lego Batman: The Videogame and its sequel, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. In 2013, Burton wrote the original story for, produced, and directed Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite based on the Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes video game. He also wrote the story for Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham alongside David A. Goodman, which was released in November 2014. Also in 2014, Burton worked as an executive producer for the Warner Bros. 2014 film The Lego Movie. He was a producer of the 2015 war thriller film Man Down, starring Shia LaBeouf, Kate Mara, and Gary Oldman. His latest game, Lego Dimensions, was released on 27 September 2015; Burton served as creative director, lead designer, and co-writer on this game.
In 2017, Burton began uploading videos demonstrating programming tricks and early prototypes of games that he worked on to his YouTube channel, GameHut,[4] and has since created a new channel called Coding Secrets for the same content, in 2020. In October 2017, Burton announced that he would be creating an unofficial director's cut of the Sega Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast, which was released in December 2017.[5]
In August 2021 Jon founded new studio 10:10 Games.[6]
Personal life
He currently lives in Malibu, California.[7][non-primary source needed] Burton is a practicing Christian and included an Ichthys as an Easter egg in one of the tracks in Sonic R.[8]
Works
Video games
Year | Titel | Notes |
---|---|---|
1991 | Leander | Designer |
1993 | Bram Stoker's Dracula | Programmer |
1993 | Puggsy | Designer |
1994 | Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse | Designer |
1995 | Toy Story | Designer |
1996 | Sonic 3D Blast | Programmer |
1997 | Sonic R | Programmer |
1998 | Rascal | Director, designer |
1998 | A Bug's Life | Creative director, designer, programmer |
1999 | Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue | Creative director, programmer |
2000 | Toy Story Racer | Executive producer |
2000 | Muppet RaceMania | Programmer, executive producer |
2000 | Buzz Lightyear of Star Command | Programmer, game concept designer |
2001 | Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex | Creative director, lead designer, writer |
2002 | Haven: Call of the King | Creative director, lead designer, writer |
2003 | Finding Nemo | Concept consultant |
2004 | Crash Twinsanity | Lead designer, programmer |
2005 | Lego Star Wars: The Video Game | Creative director, designer |
2006 | Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy | Creative director, designer |
2006 | Bionicle Heroes | Creative director |
2006 | Super Monkey Ball Adventure | Concept consultant |
2007 | Transformers: The Game | Concept consultant |
2008 | Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures | Director |
2008 | Lego Batman: The Videogame | Director |
2010 | Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 | Lead designer |
2011 | Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars | Creative director |
2011 | Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game | Director |
2011 | Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 | Lead designer |
2012 | Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes | Creative director |
2012 | Lego The Lord of the Rings | Creative director |
2013 | Lego City Undercover | Special thanks |
2013 | Lego Marvel Superheroes | Lead designer |
2014 | The Lego Movie Videogame | Director |
2014 | Lego The Hobbit | Director, designer |
2014 | Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham | Autor |
2015 | Lego Jurassic World | Director |
2015 | Lego Dimensions | Creative director, designer, writer |
2016 | Lego Marvel's Avengers | Director |
2016 | Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Concept consultant |
2017 | Lego Worlds | Concept consultant |
2017 | Sonic 3D: Director's Cut | Programmer |
Films
Year | Titel | Notes |
---|---|---|
2013 | Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite | Director, producer, original story with David A. Goodman (direct-to-video) |
2014 | The Lego Movie | Executive producer |
2015 | Man Down | Producer |
2017 | The Lego Batman Movie | Co-producer |
2017 | Viewpoint | Director, writer (short film) |
2019 | The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part | Co-producer |
References
- ^ "UK's wealthiest games developer revealed". Eurogamer. 30 April 2012.
- ^ Wallis, Alistair. "Playing Catch Up: Traveller's Tales' Jon Burton". Gamasutra. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ "Warner Bros. buys TT Games". Eurogamer. 8 November 2007.
- ^ Wales, Matt (3 October 2017). "How one Mega Drive dev cheekily slipped through Sega's certification process". Eurogamer. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ Wales, Matt (13 October 2017). "Sonic 3D's original developer is creating an unofficial Director's Cut". Eurogamer. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jontt/ [self-published source]
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/jontt/about [user-generated source]
- ^ DidYouKnowGaming? (28 February 2018), Sonic R's Religious Easter Egg - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Greg, archived from the original on 15 December 2021, retrieved 12 March 2018