Jesse Schell is the author of the critically acclaimed book "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses," published in 2008. The book captured Game Developer Magazine's coveted "Front Line Award" in 2008. In 2014, he released the second edition of this book. In 2019 the tenth anniversary and third edition of the book was released. Jesse is also the founder and CEO of @SchellGames .
Since starting Schell Games in 2002, Jesse has grown it into the largest and most successful game development company in Pennsylvania. Under his leadership, Schell Games has produced an amazing array of innovative, transformational and award-winning entertainment experiences, including the Disney Fairies MMO, Pixie Hollow, Toy Story Mania TV Game and some of the most popular interactive theme park attractions in the world. Jesse also holds a faculty position as Distinguished Professor at the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) of Carnegie Mellon University. Since 2006, Professor Schell has taught the Building Virtual Worlds class, created by ETC Co-Founder and "The Last Lecture" author, Randy Pausch. Prior to starting Schell Games, Jesse was the Creative Director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, where he worked and played for seven years as a designer, programmer, and manager on numerous projects for Disney theme parks and DisneyQuest.
He is perhaps most celebrated for his design of Disney's Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer game for kids. Toontown Online won several awards, including the following:
- Computer Gaming World - "2003 MMORPG Game of the Year"
- Webby Awards - "2003 People's Voice Award, Kids Category"
- Parents' Choice Foundation - "2003 Silver Honor"
- Children's Software Review - "2003
- All Star Software Award" - WiredKids - "2005 Safe Gaming Award"
- 2005 Webby Awards - "Webby Worthy Selection Award"
In addition to his award-winning work at The Walt Disney Company, Jesse has achieved numerous accomplishments, including the following:
- KAPi Pioneer Award in 2019 - Pioneer in Immersive Reality Award in 2018
- Pittsburgh Technology Council Tech50 CEO of the Year in 2016
- Pittsburgh Technology Council 2016 CREATE Selection
- Creators of the Year
- Selected as Pittsburgh Business Times Most Admired CEOs in 2016
- Named a Smart 50 business leader in 2014
- Selected as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009 Finalist for Upstate NY, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia region
- Named one of the world's Top 100 Young Innovators by MIT's Technology Review (2004)
- Served as Director and Chairman of the International Game Developers Association (2003-2005)
- Lead designer of "2001 Thea Award" winner, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle of the Buccaneer Gold, a virtual reality attraction within Disney's theme park
- Cut his technical teeth as a Software Engineer for IBM and Bell Communications Research
- Earned a Master's Degree in Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University
- Earned a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)