Christian Whitehead

Christian Whitehead
Residence	Melbourne, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Other names	Taxman
Occupation	video game programmer
Known for	Working on games in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series

Christian Whitehead, also known by his alias Taxman, is an independent video game programmer and designer from Melbourne, Australia. He is most recognised for his work creating updated ports of early games in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, as well as leading the project of an original title in the series, title Sonic Mania.

In 2006, Whitehead worked as a freelance 3D animator with the company Kine Graffiti. Since 2009, he became focused on game development, developing various fangames based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In 2009, Whitehead produced a "proof-of-concept" video of Sonic the Hedgehog CD running on an iPhone using his own custom engine, the "Retro Engine". Two years later, in 2011, Sega officially released his port on various systems such as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iPhone and Android. His port was so successful that he was later commissioned to port Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to mobile devices. Although he released another proof-of-concept video for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in 2014, Sega did not approve of the remake. In 2015, it was announced that Whitehead would be involved in his first non-Sonic game, Freedom Planet 2. In 2016, it was announced that Whitehead, in collaboration with Headcannon and PagodaWest Games, would be developing their own original title in the series, titled Sonic Mania.

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Wikipedia