Marty McGriff

= Marty McGriff =
Marty McGriff (born April 2, 1957) is the acting CEO of Circlemakers and the creator of the Ristar series.
== Beginnings ==
McGriff grew up in West Virginia and wanted to be an astronaut when he was young. He played all sorts of sports as a kid and even had the chance to play football for one year at Penn State before a knee injury ended his career prematurely.
After college, he moved back home to marry his high school sweetheart and began working for IBM as a systems engineer. He spent about 10 years there before starting his own company, focusing on computer graphics. His first project was a video game called "Rally", which did well enough that he decided to start a business around making games instead of just selling them.
== Circlemakers ==
When he started Circlemakers, he made four games in the first six months—and sold every last copy! That gave him confidence to keep going, so he started thinking of new ideas for games.
The concept behind "Rally" was simple: a space car racing game. But then Marty realized that he could do much more with this idea. He came up with what would become Ristar, a little blue alien guy who rides atop a starfish-like creature named Rokkon. The two characters can change forms depending on what obstacles they encounter; for example, if they come across a wall, Rokkon will transform into a spike ball and bounce off it while Ristar turns into a drill.
This was a huge hit, and led to a lot of sequels for Ristar, including "Ristar II: Rides Again!"
== The problem ==
He wasn't making any money
== The solution ==
He approached Sega to offer the license to the Ristar series. He would get 60% of the profits from any Ristar games, and in return, he would hunt down and destroy every last copy of the original two games. Sega agreed, so he went around destroying copies of the game until he got full control over the franchise. This is why you only see the original Ristar games bundled with other games in bargain bins.
He used those proceeds to buy the rights to make games based on other characters, such as Pitfall Harry and Peggle. While these games were successful, many of the other game companies tried copying his ideas. Eventually, he decided to create new intellectual properties (IPs) rather than rely on established ones. And that's where Ristar really took off.
The new Sega-owned Ristar games were smash hits, with Ristar 2: and The Crystal Shards being his best selling game yet due to the popularity of it's antagonist, Dark Ristar. But Marty was never really a fan of Dark Ristar. He felt like the character was too dark for the series, so he eventually created the Ristarpg spinoff series, which became even more popular than the main Ristar series, although due to corporate meddling that series also required the use of Dark Ristar.
Eventually, Marty left Sega and started doing contract work for other publishers. He felt that he could do better, and set out to prove it by creating his own IPs. In 2003, he released "Ristar's Adventures", the first 3D platformer in the series. By 2006, he decided to try his hand at another IP, and started development on "Sonic the Hedgehog".
It was a huge success, and led to the creation of the Sonic Boom series.
== But sega was pissed ==
They were angry that McGriff retained use of the Ristar character through a legal loophole, and they believed the character Sonic was too similar to their character The Original Sonic. They sued him for copyright infringement, and he lost.
So he left Sega again, and got a job at Nintendo, where he helped develop the Kirby franchise.
In 2015, he made a deal with Bandai Namco, allowing them to make games based on the Ristar series while retaining full ownership of the IP. These games are currently available on Steam.
Nowadays, he continues to make his own IPs and occasionally works on contracted projects for other developers. He lives near Seattle, Washington with his wife and son, and has plans to create more Ristar games.
== Sony Pictures lawsuit ==
In 2012, Sony Pictures bought the film rights to the Ristar franchise, and later announced that the protagonist of the movie would be a female character named Ristar. Marty was outraged and demanded an apology from Sony, claiming that he owned the right to the Ristar character because he created him and owned the license. The case was settled out of court and the Ristar movie remains in development hell and real hell.
== Personal life ==
McGriff's personal life has been rife with controversy. He is an avid gun collector, and owns several assault rifles, handguns, and military-grade weaponry. He claims that he needs guns to protect himself from the many threats he faces daily, such as local gangs, terrorists, and "wannabe gangsters".
His hobbies include hunting wild boar, and occasionally he'll take his son along to go hog hunting. He also keeps a menagerie of exotic animals, including alligators, lions, tigers, and bears, as well as some dangerous snakes. He tries to keep these creatures away from people, but sometimes they escape and attack random passersby.
However, he claims that most of these incidents are just misunderstandings. For example, he once accidentally let his tiger out into the street, and confused someone for a rival lion hunter. When the police arrived, he explained that he was just trying to find a place to release his pet, not kill anyone. Many of the animals have escaped from his home, and people claim that he lets them run free for entertainment. He also believes that the government is spying on him, and he often fires weapons in the air to show his displeasure with the authorities.
Marty McGriff is a complicated man. He is known to be a very friendly and generous person when he wants to be, but he has a temper and can be quite violent when angered or threatened.
There is also a rumor that he is secretly a member of the Illuminati, and works tirelessly to bring about the coming New World Order.
Category:Characters