Daniel Fornace, 32
BS digital media ’11
CEO, Aether Studios (Bothell, Washington)
As the creator of the video game “Rivals of Aether,” Daniel Furnace is among the most talented game designers and developers in the industry. After graduating from Drexel in 2011 with a BS in digital media, he joined Microsoft Studios as a game designer, where he worked as a consultant on many critically acclaimed titles including “Trials Evolution,” “Dust An Elysian Tail,” “Charlie Murder,” “Mark of the Ninja,” and “Ori and the Blind Forest.” In August 2012, he was appointed lead designer at Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One game, “Killer Instinct,” which he worked on through its release and until April 2014. At that point, he left Microsoft Studios to become an independent game developer. On April 1, Fornace announced the creation of a new game studio, Aether Studios, which is working on new games and is built off “Rivals of Aether.” Robert Lloyd, associate teaching professor and program director of game design and production at the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, has a hunch Fornace will once again find success. “I have regular meetings with prospective students, and when I mention “Rivals of Aether,” not only have they heard of it, but they are often avid players of it,” he wrote in his nomination of Fornace. “This speaks to the incredible and rare accomplishment Dan has achieved. In a market flooded — and I mean flooded — with a dizzying variety of games on a dizzying array of platforms, Dan has created something that is commonly known and loved.”
In his own words…
My Greatest Accomplishment: We had our first child in October of last year. He seems quite happy with the fact that his dad works from home.
How Drexel Helped Me: By making me well-rounded when it comes to technology and video game development. When I started at Drexel, I wasn’t sure what specific aspect of digital media interested me so I tried my hardest in all the classes. This helped a lot when I started an independent game studio in 2014 with just myself and a musician.
What Success Looks Like to Me: Success in life is finding balance. Success in my career is releasing video games that only my team could create with people who are just as passionate as I am.
How the Past Year Has Influenced Me: I’ve been working from home for a few years now, but the pandemic did make me miss conventions and interacting with our fans. It’s easy to lose personal contact with people when working in the tech industry, but the pandemic reminded me how important it is to interact with both your teammates and your fans.
My Top Post-Pandemic Plan: We just announced our new game studio, Aether Studios. Now we are expanding the team to keep making games in the world that we have created. Maybe we’ll even look into some office space once offices become a thing again!