Halden Thaner
| Biological | |
| Full name: | Halden Alphonze Thaner, Jr. |
|---|---|
| Born: | 2282 AD (2 WB) |
| Birthplace: | Bangor, Guardia |
| Sex: | Male |
| Race: | Human |
| Hair: | Black, graying |
| Eyes: | Blue |
| Height: | 5'8" |
| Weight: | 185 |
| Personal | |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Family/Relationships: | Marcus Stanley-Thaner (Husband); Gregg Thaner (Brother), Halden A. Thaner, Sr. (Father), Majory Thaner (Mother), Halden A. Thaner, III (Son), Yvette Earnol (Surrogate) |
| Religion: | Spekkian |
| Title: | CEO of Studio S |
| Nicknames: | |
| Hobbies: | Video gams, Web history, Chess, Jazz |
| Known skills: | Computer programming, Guitar- and piano-playing |
| Favorite color: | Blue |
| Inspiration: | |
| Motto: | |
Halden Thaner is the creator of the Tenbu Saga series of console RPGs, and the father of the RPG genre itself.
Thaner was a teenager during the Syndicate Wars; growing up in Bangor, the running battles between the Arris and Trann Syndicates meant that much of his education was met with dangerous disruption. While some of his peers were lying about their ages and enlisting to join Doan's army, Thaner kept his head down and stayed in school. Eventually, he was accepted to the Geno Dome Computer System Academy; his father (who had been an engineer under the Trann Syndicate before the war) had been hired on as a programmer at the Guardian Robotics Corporation, and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps.
Of course, Thaner had other ideas. He had inherited his mother's love of music, and began to actively pursue a career as a professional musician during college. When his inability to secure lucrative gigs became apparent, he resigned himself to the fact that he would probably wind up being a computer programmer after all. It was around this time that a chance encounter at a Geno Dome tavern lead to a unique opportunity: a job at the Guardian Computer Corporation's naiscent Entertainment Software Studio (ESS, lovingly nicknamed Studio S).
Thaner left college and moved to Proto Dome, where he joined the creative team at Studio S and began developing games for the GCC's computers. In 2306, after spending some time in the trenches working on various projects, he was given a chance to design and direct a game himself. The first game he took the lead on was a real-time strategy game called "Romance of the Three Syndicates," which in addition to providing tactical action set around Guardia's most recent internal conflict also played up the human drama between the three Tech Syndicate's major figures. He followed this up by personally taking the lead on a passion project, also set during the Syndicate Wars, called "Syndicate Warriors": a button-mashy action beat-em-up that turned major personalities in the three Syndicates into god-like "warriors worth a thousand."
Neither of Thaner's first two games did especially well; he was on the verge of quitting and going back to pursue his love of music when he decided to take a stab at pitching another project to the studio. By this time, the Gate Dimension had discovered the Web of Worlds, Medina had formed an ill-fated alliance with Ticondera and Kuvalla, and giant ants from space had descended to attack several of the Web's dimensions. Studio S had wanted Thaner to direct a new RTS game "Against the Hive," but instead he pitched a new kind of game (based on some of the tabletop role-playing games that had started to crop up across the Web of Worlds at that time) that he called "Tenbu's Story." An interview with Studio S's "CodexEss" magazine revealed, years later, that Thaner changed the name of the final product to "Tenbu Saga" because of how much there was at stake with this game's success – he insists that, had it failed, he would have left the game industry and become a gig musician, for real this time. "Because of how much was riding on this game's success, the name 'Tenbu Saga' felt more dramatic, and thus more appropriate," Thaner said.
Tenbu Saga was part of the launch of the G-Deck game console, intended to compete with the more established Manaseed X. A sleeper success, Tenbu Saga helped the G-Deck gain its market foothold, and established itself as one of the flagship titles of the GCC's foray into console gaming. With Tenbu Saga putting Studio S on the map, and a sequel in the works, Thaner was promoted to director of game development, effectively making him #2 in the studio. He would go on to personally direct Tenbu Saga 2 and 3, and then replace the retiring R17-Y "Riley" as the director of GCC's Entertainment Software Studio.
Halden Thaner, tellingly, did not direct Tenbu Saga 4, though he is credited on the game as an executive producer and story consultant. Behind the scenes, he was the main driving force behind the brewing conflict between Studio S and GCC, as he had wanted Tenbu Saga 4 and the upcoming re-released "Tenbu Trilogy" to see a cross-platform release, but GCC wanted the fourth game to serve as the killer app for the next gen "G-Deck Neo." When Studio S and GCC separated, Thaner became the new company's CEO, a position he continues to serve in today.
Game Credits
- Romance of the Three Syndicates (Director)
- Syndicate Warriors (Director)
- Tenbu Saga (Director)
- Tenbu Saga 2 (Director)
- Tenbu Saga 3 (Director)
- Tenbu Saga 4 (Executive Producer/Story Consultant)
- Tenbu Trilogy Re-Release (Director)
- Tenbu Saga Tactics (Director)
- Romance of the Three Syndicates 2 (Director)
- Syndicate Warriors 2 (Director)
- GACA Warriors (Director)
- GACA Warriors 2: HyperLegendz (Director)
- Secret of the Time Gigas (Director)
- Tenbu Saga Online (Executive Producer/Story Consultant)
- TSO: Spear of the Dawn Expansion Pack (Director; not yet released)
- Tenbu Saga 5 (Director; in development)
