Hal Barwood

Hal Barwood is an American writer, director, and producer. He is mostly known for his writing and designing works for video games. The famous screenwriter has written for video games of top movie franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. 

Some of Barwood's popular works include Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures, and Star Wars: Yoda Stories. As of now, Barwood is married to Barbara Ward.

What Is Hal Barwood Net Worth?

Hal Barwood has an estimated net worth of $5 Million and it can be thanked mostly for his writing and designing works. Not just video games, but has also been involved in Hollywood as a screenwriter. 

Some of Barwood's works that can be credited for his wealth are designing games for top movie franchises like Star Wars: Yoda Stories, and a couple of Indiana Jones games. He has also written for movies like Warning Sign, Dragonslayer, The Sugarland Express, and much more.

Barwood's writing is not just limited to movies and video games as he has written novels in the past too. Plus, he also owns a company called Finite Arts and makes money through that as well.

Relationship Status: Married To Barbara Ward

Hal Barwood is a married man with Barbara Ward being his partner. Settling down with your childhood sweetheart seems like something that only exists in Disney movies for some. But, not for Barwood whose wife is his childhood love.

Barwood and Barbara are currently living somewhere in California, away from the eyes of the media. Both of them are living private life and are also missing from social media. The details of when they got married also remain to be known. One thing that is known about his wife, Ward is that she works as a teacher.

Has Written A Couples Of Novels

Barbara Ward's husband Barwood has also expanded his writing skills outside movies and video games and has used it to write Novels. He has written a couple of novels so far and they have been liked by his readers. 

Barwood began his novel writing journey with Shadowcup, Broom Handle, and Whiskey Jack. These three novels are the continuation of the same story which follows the policewoman named Marianne Sarzeau, who has special abilities like a witch and uses them for her advantage.

Besides that, Hal has also written other novels like Glitterbush, Happenstance, Fulfillment, Sandpeople, Tinwoman, and Cratertown. All of his novels have been well-received with good ratings. He started doing it for his love of writing and is now making a living out of it.

Education Background

Barwood is a well-educated man and has studied at multiple Universities. He first attended Brown University (the same institute Kate A. Shaw studied at) and got himself a degree in Bachelor of Arts. He then went on to attend the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television.

Barwood had put all his focus while studying on arts and animation. This provided him a helping hand to make a successful career in screenwriting movies and writing and designing video games. 

Owns A Business

Hal Barwood runs his own business today called the Finite Arts. He has been doing this for a very long time as the company was first started in January 2008. His IMDb page says that he works as a freelance independent contractor at the company.

Finite Arts is a company based in Portland, Oregon. Hal's main focus through the company is video games and as per the company's website, he gets into a contract with game developers and works with them on the project. Another game designer, Scott Cawthon has released many video game novels and animations.

Who Are Barwood's Parents?

Barwood's parents remain a mystery and they have lived a very private life. But, the Warning Sign writer, Barwood has disclosed what his father used to do for a living when he was growing up.

Hal's father used to operate a movie theatre in Hanover, New Hampshire. This was revealed by Barwood himself in one of his Star Wars interviews in 2010. In the interview, he talked about his father's job being one of the reasons that got him into movies at a very young age.

In that interview, Hal mentioned that his father's theatre gave him access to all kinds of movies at a very young age. He thanks his father for it. Unfortunately, we haven't found out any details about his mother yet.

Started Making Video Games As A Kid

Barbara Ward's husband Barwood's work as a video game designer has to do with his love for video games since, a kid. What's interesting about him is that he started making non-digital games as a kid.

Hal shared this story while sitting down to talk with The Indy Experience. His childhood was the time when computers were expensive and not easily accessible like today. So, he started by making mechanical games. The first proper game he made was an electrical football machine.

The game had hidden switches to select the play at the start and other visible switches to set up the formation. Hal, later on, made digital games as well as some of his notable games including Star Wars: Yoda Stories, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, RTX Red Rock, and Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures.

How Did Barwood Get Into Movies?

Barwood has not only made a name for himself among video game fans but moviegoers as well. He had a few things that inspired and motivated him to get into it. His first inspiration was his father's theatre. That theatre aided him in watching a lot of films as he started developing a love for the movies.

Barwood's other big inspiration was the 1957 film The Seventh Seal. He was in high school when he saw this film and for him, the strangeness of Ingmar Bergman's film made him like the film a lot.

Another inspiration for Barbara Ward's husband Hal was Disneyland. What he liked about the famous theme park is that he was fond of the idea of bringing fantasy concepts into real life and loved the concept of Disneyland.

Career Summary

Hal Barwood has had an amazing career both in movies and video games. When it comes to movies, he started by making short animated films in 8mm. He then went on to work as a writer in movies like Warning Sign, Dragonslayer, and The Sugarland Express. He was also involved in the legendary Spielberg film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Talking about Hal's Video Games designing career, he started by making mechanical games as a kid. And his first taste of major success came in 1990 with LucasArts hired him to continue the project of the game The Last Crusade. 

Hal's video game only started rising from there and today, many gamers call him the greatest Indiana Jones video game creator. Talking about Indiana Jones, you might want to read about Harrison Ford.

Friends With George Lucas

The Dragonslayer writer, Barwood is friends with the legendary George Lucas, the man responsible for Star Wars. They have known each other since their University days. Both of them first met at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television.

Barwood had already seen a lot of Lucas's talents and knew he would go places. But, even though he didn't expect Lucas to have such a humongous career he ended up having one.

Barwood and Hal's friendship was not only limited to the University as he also worked at his prestigious LucasArts. Their friendship was also one of the key reasons, Barwood got to make licensed games for Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

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