Homeworld
Relic Entertainment was founded in Vancouver, Canada, on June 1, 1997, and began work on "Homeworld" as their first title. Relic co-founders Alex Garden and Luke Moloney served as the director and lead programmer for the game, respectively, while Erin Daly was the designer and Aaron Kambeitz the lead artist. Garden was 22 years old when he founded the company. Writer David J. Williams is credited with the original story concept, while the script itself was written by Martin Cirulis and the background lore was written by author Arinn Dembo. Cirulis and Dembo, credited jointly as "Marcus Skyler", were selected by the publisher, Sierra Studios, partway through development to expand the story concept of Relic and Williams. Sierra agreed to publish the game early in development based on, according to Garden, "two whiteboard presentations and no demo". The development of the game took over two years; the game systems were largely complete by the final eight months, which Relic spent polishing and improving the game, including adding the whole-map Sensors Manager view. The game was initially expected to be released at the end of 1998; Garden stated in a 1999 interview that the team found creating the core game itself much easier than getting it to the quality level they wanted, and that if they had known how difficult it was going to be they may have chosen not to do the project. Several ideas for the game, including ship customization, convoy routes, and different unit types for the Kushan and Taidann fleets were cut during development as they could not be done well enough for the project.
Steve Rennie
Rennie began his music career working as a booking agent at USC. After dropping out of college in 1980 he decided to start his own concert promotion company called Steve Rennie Presents after being passed over for a job in the mailroom at William Morris because he had not completed college. For the next 2 1/2 years he promoted a number of up and coming 'new wave' bands including the Motels, The Plimsouls, Adam Ant, X, the Blasters, Mötley Crüe and INXS in secondary markets outside LA. On New Year's Eve 1983, he had his first big breakthrough in LA booking The Motels at the Beverly Theater in Beverly Hills, CA, getting the nod to promote show over the big promoters in town. By 1983 he had caught the attention of Southern California's leading concert promotion, Avalon Attractions, who offered him a chance to join the company which he accepted. He soon rose to the ranks to become the Senior VP at Avalon Attractions. In 1990 he left Avalon Attractions to start his first incarnation of REN Management Corporation, an artist management firm where he managed a number of top alternative bands including Dramarama, The Wonder Stuff, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, , and Primal Scream. In 1994, he accepted an offer from then Epic Records President and now One Direction Manager, Richard Griffiths, where he became Senior Vice President/GM.While at Epic Records he met and helped sign a young So Cal band called Incubus. While at Epic he took the band under his wing and helped them build the foundation of what became one of the most successful alt rock bands of the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1998 Rennie left Epic to become one of the founding members of one of the pioneering internet music start-ups, ARTISTdirect. When Rennie informed the members of Incubus that he would be leaving Epic to join his friends Marc Geiger and Don Muller at Artist Direct, guitarist Mike Einziger asked Rennie to co-manage the band with their then manager, Mark Shoffner. Rennie accepted the offer and stayed at ARTISTdirect until 2000 when he left the company to manage the band on a full-time basis. Shortly thereafter, the band released their breakthrough multi platinum selling album MAKE YOURSELF. Over the next 14 years, the band went on to have a #1 Billboard Top 100 album and (2) #2 Top 100 album and a dozen Top 10 alternative radio hits. During his tenure as manager the band built a huge live touring business around the world and one of the most dedicated and loyal fan bases in the music scene. In January 2014, the band and Rennie parted company. Today, all of Rennie's focus is towards his new venture Renmanmb, which is a mecca for all aspiring artist and music business professionals to come and learn the "real" music business from some of the smartest, most talented, and successful people in the music industry.