Education
Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Minor in Mathematics
Graduated Dec. 2013
Work Experience
Indie Dev in Austin, TX
Designer and Engineer, Unannounced | Feb. 2026 to Present
- Developing a boss-fighting game in Godot with an artist & animator partner
- Picking up skills! Pixel art, VFX, animation basics
Gunfire Games in Austin, TX (Hybrid)
Principal Game Designer (Player & Systems Lead), Darksiders 4 | Nov. 2024 to Jan. 2026
- Designed and implemented combat systems and progression systems, in alignment with the Director’s vision
- Managed and oversaw a small team of senior designers, while contributing heavily as an Individual Contributor
- Designed and implemented the core player kits of the 4 horsemen, and a unique boss
- Collaborated closely with animation, vfx, and sound design
- Developed in UE5 using Blueprint and local AI tech
Wonderstorm in Los Angeles, CA (Remote)
Lead Combat Designer, The Dragon Prince: Xadia | Aug. 2021 to Oct. 2024
- Designed and drove combat for this multiplayer isometric ARPG for all platforms
- Stood apart from other ARPGs with more focus on gameplay: high engagement, combat depth, skill expression, clarity, gamefeel, and replayability
- Lead a team of 4 combat designers to create 10 heroes, 24 bosses, 14 elites, and 20 enemies
- Personally designed, implemented, and balanced:
- Core combat systems like poise, dodging and blocking, aggro, stealth, non-holy-trinity role differentiation (no healers, just tanks and damage dealers)
- Combat-adjacent systems like stats, in-mission power-up shops, and mission modifiers
- 7 hero kits with varying playstyles, difficulty, and strength/weakness profiles
- 3 boss fights, each exemplifying the 3 different types of boss fights in the game (soloable, low coordination, and high coordination max difficulty)
- 6 “Tools”, re-usable abilities that any hero can equip
- Coordinated and collaborated with other disciplines to maximize gameplay quality and facilitate appropriate usage of combat assets
- Developed in UE4 using Blueprint, C++, and a proprietary scripting language
YAGER Development in Berlin, Germany (Remote)
Game Design Lead, The Cycle: Frontier | Dec. 2020 to Aug. 2021
Senior Combat Designer, The Cycle: Frontier, Unannounced | Oct. 2020 to Dec. 2020
- Defined high-level gameplay needs of combat and gameplay systems to fulfill game pillars from the Creative Director
- Managed and mentored a team of 12 designers
- Defined “what good looks like” for design craft and cross-discipline collaboration, and how it correlated to titles and promotions
- Designed and implemented new creatures in collaboration with animation, vfx, and sound design
- Represented game design in leadership strategy meetings
- Briefly supported another project to help the director nail down core gameplay and systems
Gunfire Games in Austin, TX
Senior Technical Combat Designer, Remnant: From the Ashes | Jun. 2020 to Oct. 2020
Technical Combat Designer | Remnant: From the Ashes, Darksiders 3 | Jan. 2019 to Jun. 2020
- Fulfilled a craft lead role for the enemy design team, establishing core design principles for bosses in new titles and mentoring new designers on design and technical craft
- Designed and implemented many major bosses for Remnant: From the Ashes and its DLCs
- Collaborated with a fully matrixed team of artists, animators, and sound designers
- Utilized my technical background to implement unique abilities and behaviors
- Designed and implemented all of the bosses for Darksiders 3’s second DLC
- Assisted others in designing and implementing enemies, items, player combat, and game systems
- Utilized my technical background to pitch in on solving technically challenging bugs and features leading up to release
- Identified, prototyped, and implemented design improvements to player character combat
- Worked on all elements of design of a “vertical slice” prototype game
- Developed in Unreal 4 with significant local studio tech
Riot Games in Los Angeles, CA
Game Engineer, Champion Team | Dec. 2015 to Current
- “Full Stack” engineer working on gameplay, engine, tools, build, and some platform work
- Created new playable characters in a cross-discipline team (art, narrative, design, engineering), collaborating on all elements of the character
- Relied on as the sole engineer on champions, collaborating with designers and artists to identify, prioritize, and develop new engine features to open design spaces and introduce new mechanics
- Primarily coded in C++, with some C#, Python, Lua, and an in-house scripting language
- Shipped three new champions (Ornn, Pyke, Sylas), and aided on improvements to Live, tools, and other in-development champions
- Worked on a small team of engineers to develop “Chronobreak” for Esports – a combination of engine tech and tools to allow for rewinding and resuming games from a previous point in time
- Developed in a proprietary engine
National Instruments in Austin, TX
Software Engineer, Radio Frequency R&D | Dec. 2013 to Oct. 2015
FarmerApps, Inc. in Lubbock, TX
iOS App Developer (Freelance) | May 2013 to Dec. 2013
Standards Design Group, Inc. in Lubbock, TX
iOS App Developer | Oct. 2011 to May 2013
Data-Intensive Scalable Computing Laboratory (DISCL) in Lubbock, TX
Undergraduate Student Research Assistant | Aug. 2012 to Dec. 2012
ConocoPhillips Bridge Program in Lubbock, TX
Student Tutor, Mentor | Aug. 2010 to May 2012
Skills
Professionally developed with Unreal Engine (4 & 5), C++, C#, Python, Lua, proprietary languages
Hobby work in Unity, GameMaker, my own engines
And overall I’m still a very active gamer, keeping up with new games big and small, in just about every genre