About Three Rings

Three Rings is a startup developer of persistent world online games, based in San Francisco, California. Here are a few facts about our little company:

  • Three Rings was founded on 2001.3.30 by Mr Daniel James and Mr Michael Bayne.
  • We started developing Puzzle Pirates in earnest on 2001.7.9 when Mr Walter Korman joined the company and we moved into first modest Pirate's cove. Since then we have been joined by a host of swarthy crewmates and moved our lair twice-over, whilst remaining within staggering distance of San Francisco's docks.
  • Puzzle Pirates went into Alpha testing on October 23rd 2002, Beta testing began on July 14th 2003. No character wipes were made throughout testing. Pre-subscriptions began and the 'Midnight' production ocean opened October 27th. Beta ended and the game officially launched December 2003. In February 2005 we launched two new Oceans, Cobalt and Viridian. Viridian was our first 'Doubloon' server, offering free play with micro-payments for luxury purchases. With the success of this model we have rolled out two additional Doubloon Oceans, Sage and Hunter.
  • We are working with a number of distribution partners for Puzzle Pirates, including shockwave.com, popcap games and miniclip.com online, and Ubisoft for North American retail. We are interested in working with other distribution partners, smaller affiliate websites, retail publishers and international partners. If ye be crazy enough to email us then we probably want to hear from you.
  • We are singularly focused on the creation of games that are different, interesting, and hopefully reach new audiences. Whilst we love many current games, we don't want to make a better mousetrap. We want to trap the big hairy rats you get on Pirate ships.
  • Puzzle Pirates was developed in Java 1.4 on Debian GNU/Linux, and is now deployed on FreeBSD servers. We are fans of open source, and use free software whenever possible, which is most of the time. We have made our game toolkit available as open source; visit Game Gardens, where you can also host your multi-player creations for free.
  • Our second game, Bang! Howdy, an online strategy game set in a steam-powered wild west world, officially launched in February 2007. Mosey on over and have yerself a ball!
  • We recently announced Whirled, our third and most ambitious project, at the 2007 Game Developers Conference. Whirled is a web-based social world fueled at every turn by player created content - everything from avatars, to games, to pet monsters, can be custom designed and 'remixed' by players using easy Flash development tools. Whirled is currently in closed alpha testing, but we plan to open up the sandbox soon! Sign up to the beta list here.
  • In September 2006 we began working with the design team at Because We Can; transforming our downtown SOMA office space into a deep-sea exploration vessel inspired by Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The project has been picked up by various newswires, including a fantastic photo essay published by Wired.com. We lub coming to work in our Victorian submarine - even on the days when the squid gets angry!
  • We are not a giant corporation or presently funded by one. We value our independence, mostly because it allows us to make wacky and unusual games. We believe that it's possible to make really fun online games without an emphasis on flashy graphics technology and quantity of content.
  • If you'd like to contact Three Rings regarding any matter of business or with some feedback, please mail Daniel James. Please direct hiring inquiries and public debate regarding Yohoho! appropriately.


The Three Rings Crew
  • Daniel James is Three Rings' game designer and wears the Captain's hat of CEO. Daniel was a Wizard on Essex MUD aged twelve in 1983, and has been wallowing ever since. Captain Cleaver be his moniker on the Ocean blue and green.
  • Michael Bayne is our Magic Maker and CTO. He keeps the winds filling our sails. Michael was Chief Software Architect at go2net. Michael is known as 'One-eyed Jack' at sea and Sherriff Mike in those western badlands.
  • Rick Keagy is the wizard of our Art. Rick was Art Director for Bolt Action software and made love swings for The Sims Hot Date. The citizens of Winter Solstice Island call him Governor Bluebeard, and his sailing prowess is legendary.
  • Ray Greenwell, Ace Software Engineer, is Three Rings' chief of Wordplay. He also hails from go2net. Peghead is his most piratey persona.
  • Jon Demos is our second talented Arrrtist. In his Puzzling guise as Captain Nemo he is also known to herd marooners and swashbucklers. His blade is feared by all.
  • Andrzej Kapolka, software engineer, comes to us from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, where he worked on Delta3D and other good things. No dolphins were harmed. His Pirate is named Hussar, after the winged Hussars of Poland.
  • Thomas Schofield, Chief Operating Officer, hails from the rough waters of enterprise software development. Tom is known as the creator and host of the gameshow 'That's Enormous!' His pirate is the philosophically-inclined Sophocles.
  • Mark Johnson, Software Engineer, came to us recently from the of the University of Waterloo, Canada. He enjoys explaining the arcane rules of the many board games mastered during the long arctic winters of the frozen north. His Pirate is called Roparzh.
  • Michael Thomas, Software Engineer, was 'rescued' by the kindly Dread Ringers from the warships of Lockheed Martin. He joins Mr Bayne as our second Rose-Hulman graduate, and his Pirate is named Arcturus.
  • Nick Popovich has realized that he is forever doomed to work at companies associated with the high seas, as prior to Three Rings he was once an artist at Castaway Entertainment. His pirate is named Lindworm.
  • Adam Gutterman is master of our financials and assists the Captain by counting his doubloons and keeping angry debtor inn-keepers at bay.
  • Josh Gramse, artist, comes to us via Spiderman from eastern shores, where he got himself one of those fancy MFA's. We'll put his book learning to the test!
  • Nick Barkas, Infrastructure Engineer, causes further collision in our namespace. He has worked modeling forest fires and joins other team members in their bicycling enthusiasms.
  • Ian McConville was rescued from the wilds of Ohio and the wacky world of webcomics to try his hand at Piracy and Cattle-wrangling. His Pirate is known as Blackhat, but his is better known as co-creator of MacHall comics.
  • David Hoover, Software Engineer, used to write boring software but has now been apprenticed to a pirate. He sails the oceans as the tentacled Cephalopod.
  • Terri Kramer, Web Content Manager, keeps our websites ship shape! She is known as Seville in those roguish, watery realms - and Madame Tofu in more elusive parts of the Whirled.
  • Pär Winzell comes aboard with an erudite history of MUD-making, including founding engineering work at Skotos Tech. Pär escaped the troll-infested forests of Sweden in 1992, crossing the ocean wide for the love of a lady.
  • Aya Shirai was found paddling madly in our direction on a river raft filled with books from the blistering valley of Sacramento. Here in cooler climes she has taken the name of Hypnos, for her love of sleep and soft blankety things.
  • Robin Barooah joins the Infrastructure team as Software Engineer. He joins the Three Rings' conspiracy of extraordinary Englishmen, and has the envy of many a pirate as the owner of the domain sublime.org.
  • Brittney Lee, Arrrtist, joins us from the School of Film and Animation at the Rochester of Institute of Technology. She recently won a giant pencil for her thesis animation.
  • Nathan Curtis, Software Engineer, was brought into the fold from the wilds of web development. Nathan threatens to bring his hobby of juggling into the wilds of Whirled.
  • Dr. Robert Zubek used to tame robots and train orcs, but now he has an entire Whirled to work with. He swears he's not an evil doctor - we'll just have to see about that.
  • Shanti Bergel, Vice President of Business Development, joins us from Electronic Arrrts. He be the one to contact if ye dream of crewing yer way to a business partnership filled with copious loot and piratical booty.
  • Charlie Groves, Software Engineer, forsook monitoring earthquakes from South Carolina to experience them here in San Francisco. When not living the life of a swashbuckler, he contributes time to the Jython project. His pirate is named Bungleton.
  • Bill Robinson, Arrrtist, puts yet another notch in our belt of RIT alum. Bill worked at Fischer-Price toys in Buffalo, NY before joining the mad Whirled of Three Rings. His sketches and paintings appear on his blog.
  • Natalie Larsen, Office Manager, comes to us from the secretive world of high-end wedding film (as in movie reel). Alas, OOO may be less romantic, but hopefully more fun! Natalie is rumored to moonlight as an alt-country star. Her pirate be named Bonnymoll.
  • Sarah Collins is our first-ever Web Engineer, and from Victoria BC is yet another Canadian. Hurrah for Canadians! Sarah's recently been traveling all over the world, inc. Japan, and before that did lots of webby ajaxy kind of stuffs, including a homebrew web MMO.
  • Tim Conkling, Software Engineer, comes to us via New York City and Gamelab, one of our fellow ground-breaking indie developers and pals of Three Rings.
  • Sean Keeton, Arrrtist, bolsters our elite crew of RIT alum. His animations have been shown on the Nicktoons channel, in Stash DVD magazine, and in festivals around the world. His sea-faring name be fishheadred.
  • Jamie Doornbos, Software Engineer, comes to us from good old blighty, where he's been suffering the weather for a few years working mostly on games. A while back he had the honor of being the Lead Engineer on the original Sims. He cavorts around the Whirled under perma-name Jamie.
  • Kyle Sampson, Software Engineer, joins us from the recently-defunct Perpetual Entertainment where he worked in the platforms group, integrating forums, wikis, and other collaborative goodies into their games. In his spare time he likes to work on homebrew games and technologies for Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS.
  • Matt Jensen, Software Engineer, is our second employee to paddle ashore from the Perpetual shipwreck. Yarr! Matt is a rare Bay Area native and has been writing Java for close to 10 years. He'll initially be steering his barnacled hull through our build and billing systems.
  • Jayme Cox, Director of Infrastructure, joins us after a stint running Current TV's network and has an august history of heavy-lifting before that. Jayme assumes the extreme responsibility of guarding the precious 'keys to the kingdom'.
  • Annie Shao, our first ever Technical Project Manager, will be getting our documentation, metrics/tuning, QA and other processes shipshape. Annie is the recipient of Three Rings' prestigious 'Most Strange and Wonderful Job Application' award.
  • Bruno Garcia, Engineering Intern, will be joining us for a stint on the Whirled Development team. Bruno is the first inhabitant of our fabulous ooo-sponsored SF residence, otherwise known as the 'w00t intern party house'. We promise to return Bruno to Brock University in one piece.


Parrrt-Time Pirates
  • Somatone composed the fine music and sound for Bang! Howdy. Yeeehaw!
  • Riyadh Drebika, jobbing musician, created many of the sounds in Puzzle Pirates, including those in alchemistry, shipwrightery and more.


Reformed Pirates
  • Walter Korman was the Shaper of our Worlds. His pirate is the elusive Buffy, and skellingtons are amongst her many legacies.
  • Eric Lundberg, software engineer, is known simply as Red. Portraits and Alchemistry are some of his contributions.
  • Ted Vessenes, the infamous Pirate Tedv, once owner of much of the Midnight Ocean, laboured stalwartly to create the Drinking and Shipwrightery Puzzles.
  • Gene Rozenberg created many of the sounds you hear in Puzzle Pirates, including those in Sailing, Drinking, Gunnery, and Distilling.
  • Chris Kimbell created the sounds of Bilge Pumping, Swordfighting, Navigation, Carpentry.
  • William Fischer, was our Meister of Marketing and Three Rings' first Vice President. He was rescued from the wild waters of revolutionising DVD retailing and, in a past life, convinced you to buy toothpaste online.
  • Michelle Tung, Marketing Manager and Web Designer, came to us from New York, Stanford and Hong Kong.
  • Lauren Wheeler, Project Manager, was the force majeure behind our first german language ocean; Opal.
  • Kate Liu, Arrrtist, joined us from Vancouver, increasing the ooo Canadian contingent. Her exquisite visions of biped cupcakes and sushi-inspired decor are coming to a Whirled near you.
  • Michael Agustin, Intern, saddled up for a stint on the Bang! Howdy development team.
  • Elizabeth Fong, or Lizthegrey, kept our bug database honest and worked astonishingly hard on coding projects as our Software Engineer.
  • Landon Fuller, infamous bug-squasher, was the founding member and Director of our talented infrastructure engineering group. He leaves behind the envious legacy of being the only ooo employee to grace the pages of the Wall Street Journal (yet!).
  • Jonathan Le Plastrier, infrastructure engineer and founding member of the Three Rings Philosophical Society, was the chief architect behind our uber-fabulous build systems.


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