G'day!
I'm Josh, a hardworking, team oriented programmer who strives to write clean, cache friendly optimized code. I’m always eager to learn and leverage my skills to facilitate unforgettable gameplay and narrative driven experiences.
I love working in teams and keeping busy
In between full time study, I've managed to work on four shipped titles:
- Don Bradman Cricket 17 (XBONE/PS4/PC)
- Casey Powell Lacrosse 16 (XBONE/PS4/PC)
- Smog Game (iPhone/iPad)
- Rugby League Live 2 (XBOX 360/PS3)
I'm also concurrently studying a Bachelor of Computer Science at RMIT University.
I'm a competent programmer and love learning
I love coding and game development with a passion, and solving challenging problems by working with others to hit deadlines. I realize that I don't know everything, but I recognize my weak points and add it to my learning.
Over the years though I've honed my experience with the following:
- Languages: C/C++, LUA, C#, Python.
- Version Control Software: Git, Subversion.
- Project Management Tools: Trello, Hansoft
- Software: Visual Studio, Photoshop, FMOD Studio
- Engines: Unreal Engine 3 (Licencee Version), Unreal Engine 4, Convant2.
I'm a STEM diversity advocate and enjoy speaking and presenting
I believe everyone should be able to make games and that having diverse people brings a plethora of benefits to not only the team but the project as well.
I regularly speak at conferences, conventions and to media on providing advice for students and budding game developers and on topics such as STEM diversity.
I've also created my own STEM diversity scholarship to promote and inspire girls and disadvantaged students into games development and tech.
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
A brief summary of my professional work experience, if you would like to see some more detail check out my LinkedIn!
Big Ant Studios
Junior Programmer Jan 2016 – Present
As a Junior Programmer I work with an interdisciplinary agile team of artists, designers, sound engineers and programmers to design, prototype and implement new features within our existing proprietary engine technology. I strive to ultimately write clean, readable and maintainable code in C++ and LUA and meet deadlines on time and under memory budget.
Projects:
Unannounced Title (Xbox One|PlayStation 4|PC) | Expected mid 2017
Unannounced Title (Xbox One|PlayStation 4|PC) | Expected mid 2017
Don Bradman Cricket 17 (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC) | Shipped late 2016
Casey Powell Lacrosse 16 (Xbox One|PlayStation 4|PC) | Shipped early 2016
Responsibilities Include:
- Ownership of audio programming and meta-game systems such as match objectives and statistics, porting them from older projects and making improvements where possible.
- Implement in-game UI closely with art and related gameplay systems with design departments.
- Collaborating with the Senior Sound Designer, utilizing FMOD Studio as a middle-ware audio solution to implement new audio features as well as maintaining the existing sound code. Primarily focusing on sports title commentary and sound effect systems.
- Responsible for platform holder leaderboard implementation and in particular dealing with Microsoft's Xbox Developer Portal.
- Writing and maintaining engine plugins and external tools with the tech team to ensure productivity across numerous departments using C# and Python.
- General bug fixing and resolving Microsoft XR's and Sony TRC's to ensure our titles are submission compliant for the respective platform holders.
Double Mercury Entertainment Pty Ltd
Founder/Programmer Jan 2015 – Jan 2016
Founder at Double Mercury Entertainment where I was the sole programmer on Smog Game, an award winning eco-themed colour matching endless runner for the iPhone and iPad, which shows children the benefit of reducing their 'Smog' carbon footprint. www.smog-game.com
Responsibilities Include:
- Implementing game mechanics and core programming (ad network/analytics integration etc) in the licencee version of Unreal Engine 3 using UScript, C++, Obj-C and Kismet.
- Responsible for all business development related activities as company director:
Incorporating Double Mercury Entertainment as a company, signing/formulating contracts (e.g. UE3 licence), regular meetings with our awesome supporters (PwC/Epic Games/The Arcade/IGDA Melbourne/GDAA - thanks!), entering award and trade shows etc.
- Overall vision holder for the game and at some point I have touched every aspect of Smog Games' development, from: UI to Sound, Quality Assurance to VFX and PR/Marketing etc.
Speaker: Various Conferences and Conventions
Speaker Jul 2013 – Present
I've been invited to speak at various conferences and conventions, primarily talks focused on providing advice for students and budding game developers and on topics such as STEM diversity.
Keynotes:
- DigiCon (2016)
Panelist:
- PAX Australia (2014, 2015, 2016),
- Oz Comic-Con (2015)
Lectures:
- iiiConference (2016),
- ACMI ScreenFutures (2016),
- RMIT University Careers Advisers Seminar (2016),
- "Hop into the World of Crossy Road" - Apple Store, Sydney Event (2015),
- Education in Game Summit (2015),
- Computer Games Boot Camp - Monash University (2013)
(VOLUNTEER) Unreal Engine Melbourne User Group Lead
Epic Games March 2016 – Present
I organize and run Unreal Engine community events on behalf of Epic Games in Melbourne, Australia one of the burgeoning capitals of game development in the world.
Unreal Engine Melbourne is Epic's largest user group in Australia with over 250+ members. The meetup provides events such as technical talks, networking events and launch parties:
meetup.com/unreal-engine-melbourne
Epic Games provides official sponsorship through event assistance and supplying promotional merchandise such as NVIDIA Shield consoles, signage and assistance with promotion on their social channels.
Epic Games also provides Skype / Hangouts talks to get feedback, to see how they can better support the group, or just chat in general.
- Ownership of audio programming and meta-game systems such as match objectives and statistics, porting them from older projects and making improvements where possible.
Personal Projects
Some commercial and non commercial personal projects I've worked on!
iPhone/iPad endless runner.
Smog Game is a color matching, eco-themed endless runner for the iPhone/iPad.
- Sole programmer who implemented game mechanics in UnrealScript/Kismet and core programming (ad networks/analytics integration) with C++ and Obj-C in Unreal Engine 3 (licencee).
- Responsible for all business development related activities as company director (e.g. contract negotiation with Epic Games).
- Overall vision holder for the game. As the Founder I have touched every aspect of Smog Game's development: from Design to Project Management to PR etc.
GLSL audio responsive desktop wallpaper
A small abstract audio responsive 'speaker' for your desktop created in HLSL for the Wallpaper Engine Steam Workshop. It now has over 1,000 downloads!
Crank up your favourite tunes, sit back and relax.
Note: I was really impressed with the engine team at Big Ant and what they can achieve with shader programming so I thought I'd give it a try myself!
- Sole programmer who implemented game mechanics in UnrealScript/Kismet and core programming (ad networks/analytics integration) with C++ and Obj-C in Unreal Engine 3 (licencee).
Contact me
