Tony Walsh's Secret Lair

You've discovered Tony Walsh's Secret Lair.

A multi-disciplined creative, Tony Walsh has helped guide, develop, and execute story-driven interactive projects since 1994. He launched Phantom Compass in 2008, and leads the Toronto-based game-development company as its Founding Director.

Passionate about gaming since the advent of Space Invaders, Walsh is an internationally-recognized expert on the intersection of games and culture. Over the past five years, he has been a key game designer and writer for award-winning extended-TV games such as Regenesis and Fallen, and in 2008 co-wrote Liberty News, the extended-TV component of BBC 3 series "Spooks: Code 9."

As a consultant, speaker, and mentor, Walsh shares his experience with organizations and institutions around the world. In Canada, he helped develop and teach game design courses for George Brown College and Centennial College. He has coached film, television, and interactive producers locally, in Australia, the USA, and the UK on games and play. He is an advisory group member of the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School, the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and the Screenburn games festival in Texas.

Walsh is a regular public speaker, and media commentator, appearing in the game documentary Second Skin (2008), as a guest on a number of Canadian television programs, and has been cited in such publications as Wired, Discover, Utne, and the Harvard Business Review. Walsh has presented to international audiences on such topics as “The Secret Sex Life of Video Games,” “Avatar-Based Marketing,” and “Documentaries and Alternate Reality Games.”

Selected Professional Credits

2008

Director, Save B Dangerous (Alternate Reality Game) for GGL Global Gaming League

Lead Writer, Liberty News (interactive component for BBC Three TV series Spooks: Code 9) for Six to Start

2007

Game Design Consultant, M.I. High for Xenophile Media / BBC

Game Designer, The Border: Interactive for Stitch Media / CBC

2006

Game Designer / Writer, Fallen Alternate Reality Game for Xenophile Media / Disney / ABC Family
-- This project was awarded Interactive TV Emmy & a SXSW Web Award

2005

Game Designer / Writer, ReGenesis Extended Reality Game (Season 2) for Xenophile Media / The Movie Network
-- This project won a Canadian New Media Award for Excellence in Cross Platform; an International Emmy for Best Interactive Program in 2007; a Gemini Award for Best Cross-Platform Project; a Banff World Television Award

Lead Designer, ThisIsDanielCook.com (Season 2) for Marblemedia / TreehouseTV
This project won an iParenting Media Award; an award for Best Website at the Alliance for Children and Television's Awards of Excellence; This project was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Cross-Platform Project; a finalist for the NHK Japan Web Prize

2004

Lead Designer, ThisIsDanielCook.com (Season 1) for Marblemedia / TreehouseTV

Game Designer, ReGenesis Extended Reality Game (Season 1) for Xenophile Media / The Movie Network
-- This project was nominated for a FITC Convergence Award

2001

Creative Lead, Babar.com for Kaboose / Corus Entertainment

Content Creator, MuchMusic web games for CHUM Interactive

1994 - 2000

Creative Lead, Jacob Two Two (Official Movie Web Site) for ExtendMedia / Shaftesbury Films

Creative Lead, Dreamcatchers (CD-ROM) for ExtendMedia / Science Alberta Foundation

Interactive Designer, Fred Penner: Company Coming (CD-ROM) for Digital Fusion Multimedia

Content Creator, Mazlo's Animated Spelling Adventure, Vol. 2 (CD-ROM) for Digital Fusion Multimedia

Content Creator, Mazlo's Animated Spelling Adventure, Vol. 1 (CD-ROM) for Digital Fusion Multimedia

Creator, "Rat Boy" segment of Treble Charger Enhanced CD (CD-ROM) for Digital Renaissance / BMG Music

Knowledge Transfer

2008

Mentor, Producers Institute for New Media Technologies for the Bay Area Video Coalition

Mentor, "Digital Development Lab" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Instructor, Game Design Program, George Brown College.

2007

Instructor, Game Design Program, George Brown College.

Instructor, Game Design Program, Centennial College.

Instructor, Game Design Workshop (2 days), Canadian Film Centre.

Mentor, Producers Institute for New Media Technologies for the Bay Area Video Coalition

Mentor, Laboratory for Advanced Media Production for the Australian Radio, Television, and Film School

Professional Associations

Advisory Committee, Game Design Program, George Brown College (Toronto, Canada)

Advisory Board, Screenburn Festival / SXSW (Austin, Texas, USA)

Pool of Masterminds advisory group, Royal Academy of Art (The Hague, the Netherlands)

Professional Associate, Australian Film, Television, and Radio School

Member, International Game Developers Association