- Eric M. Scharf has always displayed a strong aptitude towards creativity –
in strategy, design, content generation, and communication. He
originally intended to pursue a career in the graphic design /
visual communication field which – to this day – remains the
critical link between most forms of entertainment.
- Following two years within an exclusive
commercial art program at Plano Senior High School in Plano,
Texas – where he augmented his creative abilities – Eric
continued to enhance the quality of his craft at CalArts (California
Institute of the Arts) in Valencia, California from 1989-1993. An
oversaturated, undervalued graphic design field, however,
encouraged Eric to invest his skills in a different direction.
- Brøderbund Software visited CalArts’ Character Animation
department in the School of Film / Video in the spring of 1991.
Brøderbund was in search of their first-ever Computer Graphic
Artist intern. Eric interviewed with Brøderbund’s then-Creative
Director, Michelle Bushneff. Two weeks later – and as the
acceptance letter read “after an exhaustive international
search” – the Novato, California-based Brøderbund found their intern and, thus, began Eric’s
games industry career (which also brought him within an
over-the-Golden-Gate-bridge driving distance to his place of
birth in the Sunset District of San Francisco).
- Upon finishing his internship,
Eric returned to CalArts to complete his BFA degree in Character
Animation – not yet
knowing whether his brief taste of games industry ingredients
would make for some serious career cuisine. Eric was hired at
the end of that same year by Activision Studios (now known as
Activision Blizzard) to become a primary member of one of their
most talented development teams (tasked with rejuvenating their
popular-but-age-old “Zork” text adventure video game series).
That edition – “Return To Zork
(RTZ)” – gave the series
a first-ever 2D-rendered graphic adventure and an (at the time) unmatched
graphic user interface. RTZ was a multi-sku, million-plus
selling success and the key to ensuring Activision’s long-term
survival of some extremely delicate financial conditions, which
encouraged their relocation from Menlo Park to Santa Monica just
prior to Eric's hire.
Decades later –
following numerous other product opportunities within game
development (from entertainment to educational / training
simulations) and other interactive media initiatives beyond game
development – Eric is
always interested in new and exciting creative technology
fields through
which he can further expand his hybrid expertise.
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