Christian Whitehead
From Sega Retro
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Christian Whitehead |
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Place of birth: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
Date of birth: 1992-08-18 (age 32) |
Company(ies): Headcannon |
Role(s): Lead Programmer, Designer |
Education: Deakin University (2004-2007; Media Arts, Animation, Film, Photography)[1] |
Forum user name: The Taxman |
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Christian "The Taxman" Whitehead is an Australian programmer most known for his modern ports of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog CD, and for being the driving force and primary creator behind the development of the first fan-led Sonic the Hedgehog game - Sonic Mania. Whitehead is also a long-time member of the Sonic scene, having created the popular fangame Retro Sonic, and is also known for his trademark mod hairstyle.
Career
In July 2009, Whitehead contacted Sega with an early pitch of what would become Sonic the Hedgehog CD (2011), which was notably approved, and he was given the go-ahead to begin development proper. Instead of being a straight port of the original game's code, Sonic CD was completely recreated from the ground up and personally rebuilt in his Retro Engine. This allowed for a freeing degree of personal control over the project, providing a full 60 fps framerate and true device-adaptive widescreen capabilities. Released in December 2011 to critical and commercial success, Whitehead has since partnered with fellow Sonic scene member Simon Thomley to develop the modern ports of the first two Sonic games, and even collaborated on the founding of a proper game development company, Headcannon, to represent the duo's future work - most notably, the highly-acclaimed Sonic Mania.
Production history
- Sonic the Hedgehog (iOS; 2013) — DEVELOPED FOR DIGITAL PLATFORMS BY
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Android; 2013) — DEVELOPED FOR DIGITAL PLATFORMS BY
- Sonic the Hedgehog (iOS; 2013) — Lead Programmer
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Android; 2013) — Lead Programmer
- Sonic Mania (Windows PC; 2017) — Developed by
- Sonic Mania (Windows PC; 2017) — Lead Developer
- Sonic Mania (Windows PC; 2017) — Lead Programmer
- Sonic Mania (PlayStation 4; 2017) — Developed by
- Sonic Mania (Nintendo Switch; 2017) — Developed by
- Sonic Mania (PlayStation 4; 2017) — Lead Developer
- Sonic Mania (Nintendo Switch; 2017) — Lead Developer
- Sonic Mania (PlayStation 4; 2017) — Lead Programmer
- Sonic Mania (Nintendo Switch; 2017) — Lead Programmer
- Sonic Origins (PlayStation 4; 2022) — Retro Engine Authors
- Sonic Origins (PlayStation 5; 2022) — Retro Engine Authors
- Sonic Origins (Xbox One; 2022) — Retro Engine Authors
- Sonic Origins (Nintendo Switch; 2022) — Retro Engine Authors
Photographs
- Main article: Photos of Christian Whitehead