Doug Wood

For other uses, see Wood (disambiguation).

Doug Wood
Biographical information
Place of birth	Carlsbad, New Mexico
Title(s)	Animator Modeler 2D Artist Designer
Time period	August 1997 – January 2016
Nickname(s)	Draco

 

Douglas R. Wood is an animator who worked at Valve. He is not related to fellow Valve designer Matt Wood with a similar background.

Biography

Doug has been working in the gaming industry since 1994. He joined Valve in August 1997. He was very excited with the showing of Half-Life at E3 1997, and decided it was the game that he wanted to be a part of. He had previously worked at ReelFX on television commercials, briefly at Origin on some of their video game titles, at 3D Realms (along with Chuck Jones) on Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Prey, and at Rebel Boat Rocker (the team that later formed Gearbox Software) on Prax War. He studied at NMSU, NMSU-C, ENMU, and finally at the Art Institute of Dallas where he graduated with a degree in Computer Animation and Multimedia. On February 2, 2016, Doug announced on his Facebook that he had decided to retire from Valve to spend more time with his children, and do more traveling.

Work

For Half-Life, Doug created many of the scripted sequences, including the tentacles that pull unsuspecting scientists through the ceiling, and the Headcrabs that turn humans into the Zombies. He also created the multiplayer maps Bounce and Team9, the security guard player model for the multiplayer. Doug helped shape the Source engine's animation system, focusing on techniques which allow animators and designers to quickly create and modify choreo scenes.

Trivia

Doug's surname appears in Half-Life as an Easter egg in the Anomalous Materials Laboratory on a locker and on a sign in the Hospital in Half-Life 2: Episode One.

Selected gameography

• Half-Life (1998)
• Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999)
• Half-Life: Blue Shift (2001)
• Half-Life 2 (2004)
• Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006)
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007)
• Portal (2007)
• Portal 2 (2011)

Company biographies

• January 11, 1998 (archived)

Douglas R. Wood - Animator/Modeler/2D Artist

Doug joins us from Apogee/3DRealms where he worked on projects such as Duke Nukem3d, Shadow Warrior, Prey (before everyone left) and the Plutonium/Atomic Edition for Duke. Before 3DRealms, he worked for Origin down in Austin. As far as we know, Doug is the only member of Valve who has ever been a Guardian Angel in New York City. Doug is responsible for many of Half-Life's scripted sequences, including tentacles that pull unsuspecting scientists through the ceiling.

• April 18, 1999 (archived)

Douglas R. Wood - Animator/Modeler/2D Artist

Doug joined Valve from Apogee/3DRealms where he worked on projects such as Duke Nukem3d, Shadow Warrior, Prey (before everyone left) and the Plutonium/Atomic Edition for Duke. Before 3DRealms, he worked for Origin down in Austin. As far as we know, Doug is the only member of Valve who has ever been a Guardian Angel in New York City. Doug is responsible for many of Half-Life's scripted sequences, including tentacles that pull unsuspecting scientists through the ceiling.

• July 10, 2006 (archived)

Doug Wood - Animator

Doug joined Valve in 1997 and has been working on the Half-Life series ever since. Before Valve, Doug worked at 3Drealms where he worked on Duke-Nukem 3D and Prey. He has been working in the gaming industry since 1994.

• September 25, 2011 (archived)

Doug Wood

Doug came to Valve in the early days - 1997, to be exact – so there aren’t many titles he hasn’t touched. But most of his work has been animating for the Half-Life series. Before coming to Valve, Doug did time at Origin in Austin, and at 3DRealms in Dallas, where he worked on Duke Nukem 3D.

Gallery

• 

  Bounce.

• 

  Team9.

• 

  The security guard multiplayer model.

• 

  Ditto, low quality version.

• 

  Ditto, preview image.

• 

  The Hospital Easter egg.