Chris Ulm

Chris Ulm is a former Oddworld creator and former employee of Oddworld Inhabitants. He worked on Abe’s Exoddus and Munch’s Oddysee.

Early life

Ulm received a BA in History from the California State University, Northridge.

Career

Before Oddworld Inhabitants

Chris Ulm was editor-in-chief of Malibu Comics from 1987. His co-creations in that time include the characters Rune and Ghoul, and the Exiles' series. He stayed at Marvel Comics for about a year after it acquired Malibu in 1994.

Ulm then co-founded MainBrain Productions, an animation and comic book developer based in Malibu, with other former employees of Malibu Comics. Here he adapted the videogame Myst into a comic book series for Dark Horse Comics, as well as contributed to the writing and development of series for companies including Universal Cartoon Studios, Klasky-Csupo, and Marvel Comics.

Oddworld Inhabitants

Having already admired the work of Oddworld, Ulm joined Oddworld Inhabitants shortly before the release of Abe’s Oddysee. He first worked on conceptual and level design for Abe’s Exoddus, for which he also co-wrote the pre-rendered cutscenes.

Ulm was the assistant director for Munch’s Oddysee. In March 2001 he delivered the panel ‘Oddfellows: Character Design the Oddworld Way’ alongside Paul O’Connor and Farzad Varahramyan.

After Oddworld Inhabitants

In 2001, Ulm left Oddworld Inhabitants and started Sammy Studios, originally a subsidiary of Sammy Corporation, later going independent and being renamed High Moon Studios. High Moon Studios released Darkwatch, featuring concept and script by Ulm, in August 2005. Ulm was involved in the company's acquisition by Vivendi Universal Games in January 2006.

On 31 October 2008, Ulm co-founded Appy Entertainment along with Paul O’Connor, Farzad Varahramyan, and others. This videogame developer has made games primarily for mobile devices, including Zombie Pizza, FaceFigher, and Trucks and Skulls.

Personal life

Chris Ulm has three daughters, the eldest of whom are identical twins.

References

1. Game Developers Conference (March 2001). Speaker page for Chris Ulm. GDC 2001. Bluedot. Archived by the Wayback Machines on 11/04/2001. Internet Archive.
2. Ulm, Chris (01/04/2001). ‘Chris Ulm, Assistant Director/Writer’. Oddworld’s Inhabitants. Oddworld.com. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 12/04/2001. Internet Archive.