Skills and Qualifications
- Game Designer with over 7 years of commercial game development experience and multiple shipped titles across PC, handheld and mobile platforms
- Proven leadership abilities with experience guiding numerous games through full production cycles while serving as the project "vision keeper"
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, able to coordinate team members of all disciplines to gather input and clarify requirements
- Finely honed creative and analytical sensibilities, equally adept at developing high-level concepts and detailed solutions to complex problems
- Avid game player with comprehensive knowledge of game genres and history, well versed in both theoretical and practical aspects of game design
- Extensive experience with design document creation, UI wireframing, building and streamlining tutorials, assembling interactive prototypes, organizing playtests, refining features based on metrics and feedback, formulating and presenting pitches, leading brainstorming sessions, and generating asset lists
- Demonstrable expertise in system design and economy balancing with a track record of defining and managing progression and currency systems in high-stakes live environments
- Fluent in a variety of programming and scripting languages (C++, Lua, ActionScript) with a background as an AI and generalist programmer on multiple commercial games
- Proficient with various content creation tools including Excel, Flash, and assorted 2D and 3D level editing tools, with experience in construction and usage of a diverse range of content pipelines
- Highly capable creative writer, responsible for creating and editing narrative content including story, character dialogue, and tutorial text for numerous games, with additional published writing featured on gaming websites (Gamasutra, Critical Distance, Idle Thumbs) and in literary journals and books
- Comfortable adapting designs to scope constraints and compressed time schedules for milestone deadlines
Game Development Experience
Lead Designer Cat Tap Fever iOS
Served as the primary creative lead for a game about collecting, raising, and breeding cats. Worked on the project
from initial inception through to release, and continued to refine the game and add new content after launch.
Designer Unannounced Strategy Title iOS
Worked on developing a new, mobile instalment of a popular PC strategy game series.
Lead Designer Pokey Death Sticks iOS
Assumed creative ownership of a game in mid-production, with the goal of refining the existing design.
Lead Designer Hotel Vegas iOS, Android
Oversaw development of a successor to the original Hotel GB game.
Lead Designer Hotel GB iOS, Android
Worked closely with an external client (Channel 4) to rapidly design and
implement a hotel management sim that could be released
to coincide with the debut of a corresponding
television show.
Lead Designer Funpark Friends Deluxe iOS, Android
Guided the creation of an enhanced version of the
original Funpark Friends
game, while simultaneously managing the existing title as a
live service.
Lead Designer / Lead Programmer Funpark Friends iOS, Android
Led design and implementation of a free to play, social theme park
simulation for iPhone, iPad and Android.
Programmer All Star Darts WebOS
Ported a complete game from iPhone to Palm in one month,
with no outside assistance and no prior knowledge of either platform.
AI Programmer APB: All Points Bulletin Windows
Responsible for implementing, extending and maintaining AI systems for
a large scale, online sandbox game. Primary tasks
involved simulating a large population of AI-controlled
vehicles within a highly dyamic urban environment.
Designer Re-Mission 2 Windows
Freelance contract with HopeLab to develop new concepts
that would expand on the core mechanics of the
original Re-Mission, a game created for teens who
have been diagnosed with cancer.
Collaborated with the Producer and Technical Lead
of the project to ensure that the final deliverable fulfilled the intended goal of increased gameplay
variety while retaining the proven treatment benefits of the existing game.
Programmer Marvel Trading Card Game Nintendo DS
Responsible for implementing an auto-pass system and other gameplay logic.
Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Lead Programmer
Game Boy Advance
Oversaw a small team of programmers to ensure that all project milestones were
met. Primary responsibilities included designing and writing
new object-oriented system components, and communicating with the Art and Design Leads about overall goals and specific
tasks.
Cabbage Patch Kids: The Patch Puppy Rescue
Programmer
Game Boy Advance
Implemented the majority of AI, collision, and game object behavior
logic.
Programmer Elevator Action BREW
Refactored the entire AI system into a much more elegant, scalable,
and intuitive object-oriented design.
Additional Game Development Experience
Designer / Programmer Hurdles Browser
Solo project created in under 48 hours for the Ludum Dare
game jam. Designed the game around the competition theme of
"minimalism", and received strong positive feedback for
originality, fun factor, and innovative use of theme.
Designer / Programmer Kigo Browser
Personal project to create a prototype for a browser based
puzzle game in ActionScript. Wrote an initial design
document and implemented a fully functional, playable
prototype on my own. Set up and
maintained a source code repository to better facilitate
rapid experimentation.
Designer / Programmer Laundry Day Browser
Group project created in under 72 hours for Ludum Dare 31.
Guided a diverse team that included members of widely varying
ages and experience levels, including contributors that were
working remotely.
Designer / Programmer Treat Me Well Android
Entry in the 2013 Life.Love. Game Design Challenge, where participants create games to raise awareness
about teen dating violence for purposes of education and prevention. Worked with one other programmer
and an artist to create a game in less than a week using Haxe.
Designer Common Ground Browser, Android
Created as part of the "Life Designs" hack weekend hosted by Project Ginsberg, where participants were tasked
with developing games and apps to help people struggling with common mental health problems like anxiety,
stress and depression. Prototyped an interactive tool where users tend to a garden that acts as an anonymous,
communal support group for various mental health disorders.
Designer / Programmer Pac Mentality Browser
Created as part of the "Life Designs" hack weekend hosted by Project Ginsberg. Prototyped a game that repurposes
the iconic characters from Pac-Man to create an interactive simulation that allows players to explore and understand
problems related to social anxiety, introversion and agoraphobia.
Where's Wheelie?: Invasion of the Buddy Matchers
Designer
Oculus Rift
Networked co-op multiplayer game made using Unity. Game concept was required to incorporate the randomly chosen elements
"Sci-Fi", "Match" and "Wheel". One player, using the Oculus Rift and a steering wheel, is a roving security guard in a
crowded space mall, and must coordinate with a second player who has an overview map and mugshot in order to locate and
apprehend a particular alien before time expires. Created in under 24 hours for Tag Jam 2014, the game swept all available
award categories based on peer playtesting and voting.
Designer Planet Pong iOS
Multiplayer action game with two players facing off using a single tablet device.
Created in under 24 hours for Tag Jam 2012.
Designer / Programmer Rescue Robots Windows
Puzzle game where players must guide robots to rescue workers trapped in hazardous environments.
Created in under 24 hours for Tag Jam 2011.
Designer Brickle Game Boy Advance
Homebrew handheld game prototype, came up with initial
concept and worked with a single programmer to implement a
working demo. Provided design and implementation
guidance and project oversight.
AI Programmer Insanity Windows
Worked in a small team to create a complete 3D game engine from scratch, with
significant personal contributions to the AI, camera, dynamic collision, and many other vital system
components.
Designer / Programmer Cardboard and Steel Windows
Wrote and maintained a comprehensive design document, including a realistic,
prioritized catalog of all game features. Programmed the camera system and script interface. Also wrote
and edited all in-game dialogue.
Designer / Programmer Office Gear Solid Windows
Proposed original game premise and guided the team toward implementation.
Programmed the AI,
collision, level editor, and game
object behaviors.
Maintained the design document and technical specifications.
Designer / Programmer Skywriter Windows
Completed an enjoyable, fully functioning game in two weeks with no outside
assistance.
Designer Jack Dash!! Windows
Came up with the original game concept and utilized custom tools to build game
environments.
Related Experience
- IGDA Albany Chapter Coordinator, April 2005 - September 2008
- Author, "A Framework for Classification and Criticism of Ethical Games," in Designing Games for Ethics: Models, Techniques and Frameworks (Ethics and Game Design, vol. 2), Schrier & Gibson, Eds.
- Judge and Mentor, Dare to be Digital 2013
Employment History
October 2014 - Present Tech Valley Game Space Founder
July 2014 - Present Spoony Bird Founder
December 2010 - June 2014 Tag Games Game Designer
September 2008 - September 2010 Realtime Worlds AI Programmer
April 2005 - October 2006 1st Playable Productions Programmer
Education
January 2003 - December 2004 Full Sail University
- Bachelor of Science Degree in Game Design and Development
- Salutatorian of graduating class for Associate Degree program
- Received Course Director's Award for achievement in Artificial Intelligence
- Cumulative GPA of 96%
*References and portfolio samples available upon request.
