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        OBJECTIVE — To make amazing games and entertainment software 

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

  • VR:

    • ReadyPlayerOne – Smash & Fracture & RPO Shooter – VIVE and Focus/Wave

    • Unannounced Melee Combat Game – VIVE, Oculus, Focus/Wave

    • Super Puzzle Galaxy – VIVE, Oculus, Focus/Wave

    • Arcade Saga – VIVE, Oculus, Focus/Wave, IGT Version

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SKILLS

  • Firm understanding of VR, especially the creation of fun gameplay for both seated and room-scale play and accommodating both 3DOF & 6DOF controllers.

  • Extensive experience dealing with the challenges of early generation hardware, both VR and console.

  • Creative leader whose style is to lead and drive from the trenches while continuing to work on high level design challenges and maintaining overall creative vision throughout.

  • Able to develop trust, encourage teamwork and create positive working relationships with both internal teams and external partners, even in challenging circumstances.

  • Resourceful designer, experienced in a variety of forms of design from low-level encounter, enemy creation, systems design, high level game design and IP creation to telemetry and social systems design.

  • Technically minded with the ability to script—LUA, etc.—and work in editors—Unreal and Unity—directly.

  • 10+ years in publishing helping developers ship AAA quality games, many on new platforms.

  • With 15+ years in development, and several AAA games, I understand development in an internal studio and have lead several large teams.

  • Excellent communication and organizational skills including creation and management of documentation on Confluence.

 

 

HTC – VIVE Studios, San Francisco, CA (January 2016 – Present)

VR CREATIVE DIRECTOR, 2 Bears Studios part of VIVE Studios –

  • Creatively lead a team of 27, mostly engineers, based in Taiwan and new to making games. I was charged with developing content that would demonstrate the strengths of the VIVE and the Wave/Focus platforms, appeal to a wide audience, look good on first generation hardware and ship quickly. We developed 4 games—the trio of games in Arcade Saga and the roots of Super Puzzle Galaxy in 11 months, initially for the VIVE and then for the Wave/Focus.

  • I was personally responsible for all design— Initial concept, prototype in Unity, tool design, story and dialogue, scoring systems, enemy and boss design and prototyping, layout in Unity, telemetry and social systems design, creation and upkeep of all design documentation on Confluence, etc.

  • I mentored and lead two Taiwan-based designers who performed layout on Arcade Saga. I conducted nightly calls with these two designers and traveled to Taiwan 30% of the time. I also had several calls a week with the broader team, frequently working long hours and Sundays to combat the 16-hour time difference and ensure strong communication with Taiwan.

  • Developed concepts and prototypes for all new hardware platforms created by HTC. Shipped titles for launch of the Wave/Focus and VIVE Pro. For the Wave, this included designing for the radically different 3DOF and 6DOF controllers.

  • Co-founded 2Bears studio and worked directly on all marketing and branding for 2Bears studio and its games. This included defining the role of our first party studio in its mission to provide “hero titles” to showcase HTC hardware. I was also responsible for generating all the raw screenshots and game footage for marketing.

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AMAZON GAME STUDIOS, Seattle, WA (May 2014 – October 2015)

PRINCIPAL DESIGNER – Saber’s Edge [F2P], Lost Within, Til Morning’s Light, Tales from Deep Space, Tofu: Fury, Publishing Side

  • Responsible for overseeing and ensuring quality in Saber’s Edge, Lost Within, Til Morning’s Light, Tales from Deep Space and Saber’s Edge. Established and then evaluated milestones for quality and scope. Monitored milestone progress and preemptively worked directly with developers to address weaknesses in action loops, purpose loops and legacy loops to ensure high player retention.

  • Worked with the developers and AGS internal metrics & monetization team to improve all Key Performance Indicators, particularly retention. Ensured that all phases of Free-To-Play game creation—GDD to post-launch—included F2P monetization principles as a core tenant.

  • Reviewed and evaluated developer pitches for design strength, portfolio and studio fit. Frequently called into new IP and IP acquisition meetings to create game and product designs that were both fun and fully embodied the IP.

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MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS, Redmond, WA (September 2005 – March 2014)

LEAD DESIGN DIRECTOR – Ryse: Son of Rome, Publishing Side (3/12 – 11/13)

  • Assigned to Ryse to address core gameplay problems with combat, layout and progression. Drove CryTek to solidify combat around a deflect-based, Batman style approach, which was immediately transformative to the fun of combat. Focused the game around a reduced feature set to improve quality. Drove the creation and implementation of the progression system for single and multiplayer. Worked in Germany 70% of the time for 18 months to ensure quality and a good working relationship with the developer.

  • Changed MS internal view of the product. The internal view of Ryse at MS was initially very poor because of lack of fun and quality. Working closely with CryTek, over 12 months we changed the view of the game from a “lost cause” into the title that led off E3 2013. The marketing budget increased by 10-fold when we had finished.

  • Repaired a broken publisher/developer relationship. Worked almost 70% of the time at CryTek to put a face on MS and create a “buck stops with me for anything MS.” By the end of the product I was considered part of the team.

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SENIOR DESIGN DIRECTOR – Gears of War: Judgment, Publishing Side (3/09 – 3/12)

  • Worked with Epic and People Can Fly to develop a shorter time-table Gears of War product. Gave feedback on all aspects of design and approval of design milestones, aligned internal and external expectations and was responsible for helping to ensure AAA-quality.

GAME DIRECTOR – Project Cyrus, Shooter Title on Kinect, Direct Development (10/09 – 2/11)

  • Identified a portfolio need for a core Kinect title and created initial prototype with one other programmer/designer. After getting green light, I directly oversaw all creative aspects of the product from inception through production and managed a team consisting of twenty external and five internal team members.

  • Worked with an externally owned AAA franchise and franchise holder. Created a relationship of trust with almost total creative autonomy.

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SENIOR DESIGN DIRECTOR – Gears of War 3, Publishing Side (3/09 – 3/10)

  • Worked with Epic to make competitive MP more approachable to wider audience by adding a Noobie-Class.

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DESIGN DIRECTOR

  • Fable 2, Direct Development – Scripted, tuned and tweaked all the enemies and bosses in the game using the LUA scripting language. Worked in England at Lionhead for long stretches and was part of the development team. I was completely self-directed, checking in with Peter Molynuex and Josh Atkins directly.

  • Viva Piñata: Party Animals; Gears of War; Marvel Universe; and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Responsible for directing our outside partners toward the best version of their ideas. Provided feedback on all aspects of design and approved design milestones.

  • Performed many due diligence trips to developers to evaluate game play and IP, pipelines, process and talent. Evaluated new game pitches for portfolio fit, game play strength and uniqueness.

 

 

 

STORMFRONT STUDIOS, San Rafael, CA (March 2001 – September 2005)

DESIGN DIRECTOR – Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, PS2 (10/02 – 9/04)

  • Responsible for overall vision and direction of the entertainment experience and game play from inception to ship. Pitched and was instrumental in selling concept to publisher, Atari. Named in contract as a key asset.

  • Oversaw all aspects of design from level creation to character tuning and over all fun of the product, including working with writer R.A. Salvatore to craft the story. Ensured that the all aspects of the game play and entertainment experience were of AAA quality.

  • Managed and mentored a group of three level designers and one lead designer, directing their day-to-day layout and character tuning efforts while also mentoring them.

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LEAD DESIGNER – Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, PS2 (3/01 – 10/02)

  • Responsible for the design direction of the game play from the initial high concept all the way through ship. Created or oversaw creation of all levels for the game.  Ensured strong game play themes, emotional hooks, and AAA quality.

  • Managed and mentored a group of seven level designers and directed their day-to-day layout efforts, giving criticism and direction, encouragement, and praise.

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THE 3DO COMPANY, Redwood City, CA (March 1998 – March 2001)

LEAD DESIGNER – WDL: War Jetz, PS2 and PSX (7/99 – 3/00)

  • Designed all aspects of game play for WDL: WJ and brought the game from inception all the way to ship under intense deadline and budget pressure. Oversaw the creation, implementation and tuning of 32 single player levels and 8 multiplayer levels for both PS2 and PSX.  Personally, laid out 2 levels from start to finish using 3D Studio Max. Responsible for hiring and overseeing 6 designers and all their day-to-day work. 

 

SENIOR DESIGNER – Army Men: Air Attack, PSX (12/98 – 6/99)

  • Working with the producer, helped to refine main player and enemy mechanics, level and overall game flow. Designed and laid out four single player levels and eight multiplayer levels. Scripted enemies and level events using a C++ derivative language.

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DESIGNER – Uprising X, PSX (3/98 – 11/98)

  • Extruded and tuned five single-player, and five multiplayer levels. Scripted enemies and level events using a C++ derivative language. Helped to decide which elements were crucial and which elements needed to be cut based on time and production constraints. Assisted in organizing and solidifying story line and wrote in-game character dialogue.

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BLAM! San Francisco, CA (July 1996 – March 1998)

LEAD DESIGNER – Monkey Hero, PSX

  • Incorporating the director’s vision, I refined the main character abilities and game mechanics for the entire game including organizing all story lines and writing in-game dialogue.

  • Tuned main character, enemies, objects and bosses using a scripting system. Created and implemented 20+ levels. Created design schedules and managed two layout designers in their day-to-day tasks.

 

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CRYSTAL DYNAMICS, Menlo Park, CA (January 1994 – June 1996)

LEAD DESIGNER – Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, PSX (10/95 – 6/96)

  • Worked with external partner and identified design problem areas and refined the main character’s mechanics as well as bosses, enemies and objects. Managed five in-house level designers and coordinated design output with that of external development team.  Created design schedules and critiqued levels.

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DESIGNER – Solar Eclipse, SEGA Saturn (7/95 – 10/95)

  • Created and implemented five levels and one boss.

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DESIGNER – Gex, 3DOOpera System (1/94 – 7/95)

  • Brought five levels from inception all the way through ship using a proprietary editor. Helped refine and develop mechanics for main character, enemies, objects and bosses as well as helping to create the flow of the over-world map.

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EDUCATION

Graduated magna cum laude with BA in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University in December 1992.

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TOOLS

Unity, Unreal Engine, CryEngine, GIT, TortoiseSVN, Visual Studio, Photoshop/Paint.net, Pencil (UI), Trello, MS Teams, Slack, Jira, Confluence, Numerous proprietary layout tools\engines, LUA, C#, MSOffice.

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