Jesse Schell (E 1993)

Founder, Schell Games

Bio

In 1995, Jesse became a programmer at the Disney Virtual Reality Studio, where he created new types of theme park experiences and online massively-multiplayer games. As the creative director at the Imagineering VR Studio, his projects included working on DisneyQuest and leading the design of Toontown Online. 

During this period, he met Randy Pausch, who was on a sabbatical in Jesse’s lab. Professor Pausch went on to found the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, and in 2002, Jesse joined the faculty. In 2004, he founded Schell Games, a multimedia and game design company.

“At the INI, one of the things I focused on was networked virtual reality, because there was an opportunity to do that. Virtual reality was really something that had captured my imagination.” 

Education