Josh Caratelli
Software Engineer
Currently coding at:
Sledgehammer Games, an Activision Studio
G'day!
I'm Josh, a hardworking, team oriented programmer who strives to write clean, cache friendly 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
Over the years I've worked on several shipped titles and major franchises:
I also concurrently studied a Bachelor of Computer Science at RMIT University, graduating with Distinction, while shipping the majority of these titles.
I'm an adept 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:
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 co-created a STEM scholarship to promote and inspire people from diverse backgrounds into games development and tech.
Professional Projects
A sample of the game titles that I've worked on over the years
Call of Duty: WWII
Software Engineer
Sledgehammer Games
(XB1/PS4/PC)
Software Engineer
Call of Duty: WWII is the fourteenth primary installment and first Call of Duty series game to be set primarily during World War II since Call of Duty: World at War in 2008. It was the best selling console game of 2017 worldwide.
As a software engineer with Core Engineering, I predominately deal with core game engine and low-level system programming in both single and multi-player networked environments. I also maintain additional engineering responsibilities with live-ops, build and title update release management.
Rugby League Live 4
Junior Programmer
Big Ant Studios
(XB1/PS4/PC)
Junior Programmer
Rugby League Live 4 is a Rugby League sports title for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
- Restructured and re-implemented the score and time system.
- Core audio programming in collaboration with the sound designer; including the implementation of the much requested feature for interrupt and statistic lines commentary.
- Implemented the majority of the in-game UI closely with art and design departments.
- Responsible for meta-game systems such as match statistics and objectives including associated tools for designers.
- Architected and implemented the new in-game HUD cut-scene callback feature to fix multiple UI issues prevalent in all previous titles.
- Responsible for the co-implementation of gameplay and UI for the new 'Tactics' feature which was a major innovation for the franchise.
- Microsoft XR, Sony TRC compliance and leaderboards implementation.
- Also completed additional gameplay, player physics, crowd rendering, engine and tool creation tasks.
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
A brief summary of my professional work experience, if you would like to see some more detail check out my LinkedIn!
Sledgehammer Games, an Activision Studio
Software Engineer Jun 2017 – Present
Titles:
As a software engineer with Core Engineering, I predominately deal with core game engine and low-level system programming in both single and multi-player networked environments.
I also maintain additional engineering responsibilities with live-ops and title update release management.
Other responsibilities:
- Culture Committee.
- Melbourne office Fire Warden and First Aider.
Big Ant Studios
Junior Programmer Jan 2016 – Jun 2017
Titles:
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 ultimately strive to write clean, readable and maintainable code in C++ and LUA to meet deadlines on time and under memory budget.
Responsibilities include:
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:
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:
Panelist:
Lectures:
(VOLUNTEER) Epic Games
User Group Lead March 2016 – Jun 2017
As the groups founder I organized and ran 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.
Media Attention & Publications
I thoroughly enjoy interacting with media and communities, especially when providing advice on how to break into game development and on topics such as STEM diversity. Here's a sample of that:
Epic Games & the Unreal Engine website
I wrote a guest blog post for the Unreal Engine website on using analytics for mobile titles: focusing on best practices for analytics and the process behind setting it up.
Sledgehammer Games / Activision
Sledgehammer Games and Activision did a developer spotlight highlighting my work as a Core Engineer, and detailed my story of how I got into the games development industry.
Kotaku
2K Australia closed its doors after the release of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!
I helped organize a community effort to help those affected by providing a public Google doc where members of the community posted job listings for those the talented developers who were now out of work.
RMIT University
RMIT University featured me as their primary marketing asset for their Computer Science course.
Good Game Spawn Point
I appeared on national Australian television on the critically acclaimed Good Game: Spawn Point TV show for a developer interview.
The interview covers my work history, my recently launched title Smog Game onto the App Store and tips for budding game developers to get into the industry.
Awards & Recognition
I've been lucky enough to pick up some awards along the way! Here are some listed below:
Finalist, Victoria 2017
Winner, Australia 2015
2nd Place - Smog Game, Sri Lanka 2015
Winner - Smog Game, Australia 2014
Winner - Smog Game, Australian STEM Challenge 2014
Winner - Smog Game, Australia 2015
Winner - Smog Game, Victoria 2015
Honorable Mention, International 2014
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.
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 6,000 downloads!
Crank up your favourite tunes, sit back and relax.
Thought process. Tid bits. Tutorials.
Contact me
Call of Duty: WWII artwork © 2017 Sledgehammer Games and Activision Blizzard.
Rugby League Live 4 artwork © 2016 Big Ant Studios and Tru Blu Entertainment.