Ryan Thorlakson
ryan.thorlakson .. at .. gmail.com
* I am looking to assist a game development company by solving difficult technical challenges as a programmer.
SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS
* Two and a half years of professional industry experience with console and PC game programming.
* Lead a team of four programmers at Snowblind for eight months as Acting Gameplay Programming Lead of a large budget console title.
* Received two raises during Snowblind performance reviews with exclusively positive feedback.
* Created my own Xbox 360 game project from scratch, published on Xbox Live Community Games.
* Valedictorian of my DigiPen graduating class.
* Strong background in A.I. theory and implementation
* Worked extensively with 3D characters and animation including blending and animation tracks.
* Mathematical perfectionist with 3D math emphasis:
- Minored in Mathematics, taking most available math electives including Linear Algebra 1 & 2 and Quaternions, earning straight A’s in all math classes.
- In high school, achieved perfect math scores on the SAT and AP Calculus tests AB & BC.
* Member of American Mensa, a high-IQ society for those scoring in the top 2% on a standardized IQ test.
* Avid obsessive gamer since childhood.
SKILLS
* Expert in C/C++ with advanced knowledge of C#.
* Several years experience with Visual Studio 2005/2008 and 3DSMax.
* Production experience with MAXScript, Lua, ASP, VBScript, HTML/CSS, SQL, and XNA.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Indie
Project Sept 2008 – June 2009
Light’s End
* Created a unique story-driven game for Xbox 360 from scratch using C# and XNA.
* Sole programmer, designer, writer, musician, and marketer.
* Contracted an artist, the only other developer on the project.
* Published through Xbox Live Community Games and now available.
* www.lightsendgame.com
Snowblind
Studios,
Acting Lead Gameplay Programmer (Dec 2007 – Sept 2008)
Unannounced
Action RPG (Xbox 360, PS3)
* Lead of a gameplay programming team for a big-budget unannounced Xbox360/PS3 action RPG.
* Voluntarily stepped up to replace previous lead when he left.
* Managed our team of four programmers and coordinated closely with many other programming, art, and design teams.
* Coordinated and assembled milestone deliverable packages for Vivendi, the publisher.
* Implemented or debugged the most difficult “hot-item” gameplay issues that arose.
* Actively investigated agile development methods such as scrum and frequently discussed workflow issues with managers and team, easing transition from small to mid-sized company.
* Implemented safeguards against programmer distractions, improving productivity.
* Created an automated scheduling tool in Excel, populated from our bug database, FogBugz. This tool considered many variables such as severity, frequency, estimated resolve time, preferred programmer, deadline, and dependencies. This gave managers a reality check, bringing bugs out from under the rug and into the light so they could be scheduled.
* Received my second raise at Snowblind of 25% during performance reviews with no negative feedback.
* My departure from Snowblind was prompted by loss of this position’s responsibility when the company’s two projects were cancelled/merged due to Vivendi’s restructuring.
A.I./Gameplay Programmer (April 2006 – Dec 2007)
Unannounced
Action RPG (Xbox 360, PS3)
*
This big-budget Xbox360/PS3 project lasted for
nearly two years before being cancelled/absorbed into our second project due to
Vivendi’s restructuring.
*
Overtook responsibilities of those who had
programmed the A.I. system for the previous game as sole designer and
implementer of our “next-gen” A.I. system.
*
Created an A.I. behavior and character control
system from the ground up in C++:
- Goal-based
A.I. achieves goals via agents analyzing and utilizing available actions.
- Modular,
extensible, robust, readable, efficient, and data-driven.
- Empowered
designers to produce compelling enemy behaviors on their own.
- Implemented common building block behaviors: Idle, MoveTo, Attack, Flee, Protect, StayBack, Surround, TakeCover, PickUp.
- Team-based logic allows factions of NPCs to fight each other or alongside the player.
- NPCs intelligently pick up and use nearby weapons or other important items.
- Commands allow agents to take direct instruction from designers for cut scenes and scripted sequences.
*
Designed a successful nav-mesh pathfinding
scheme (implemented by another programmer).
*
Designed and implemented intricate and visually
appealing character locomotion:
- Implemented
path following that respects turning constraints.
- Animation
based movement eliminates common foot sliding problems when turning.
- Movement
animations and capabilities of each agent are cleanly separated from A.I.
logic.
- Implemented
seamless flight to ground movement to “burrowed” movement transitions.
*
Designed and directed implementation of a group
behavior system which we used, for example, to make four grunts work together
to load and fire a catapult.
*
Implemented limb severing A.I. logic and
finishing move character links for dramatic kills.
*
My A.I. systems have received overwhelmingly
positive feedback and are still in use at Snowblind today. They stood the test
of time with zero re-writes.
*
Implemented many other various gameplay systems
including a multiplayer camera that keeps four players in view within one
viewport.
*
Received a raise of 24% during performance
reviews with no negative feedback.
Justice
League Heroes (PS2, Xbox)
* Justice League Heroes is a superhero action RPG for PS2 and Xbox that we shipped.
* Repaired and improved existing A.I. and pathfinding code when I arrived.
* Programmed most of the unique boss encounters in the game.
* Due to the stability of my A.I. work and need for more manpower, I was entrusted with the responsibility of making the builds of the game:
- Made all kinds of builds for external testers, external localization team, and the publisher.
- Built the gold versions of JLH on store shelves: Xbox, PS2 NTSC, and PS2 PAL.
- Directly worked with publisher Warner Bros. to develop an incremental delivery system, eliminating overnight upload times.
DigiPen Game Development
Distance Learning Programs Spring
2005
Curriculum
Developer
Teacher
Indie Project June
2003 – June 2007
Teragaia
* Designed, programmed, and maintained an independent web game.
* Persistent world game boasted 60 players.
DigiPen Institute of Technology,
* B.S. in Real Time Interactive Simulation (Computer Science) with Math Minor
* GPA: 3.75 – Valedictorian.
* Achieved straight A’s in all math classes.
* Created 5 full-featured game projects on small teams.
* Sci-fi FPS senior game project featured mind-numbingly efficient A.I. pathfinding, logic, and physics, allowing for thousands of enemies in play at once employing unique scent-trail, flanking, and squad behaviors.
* Valedictorian of DigiPen graduating class
* Member of American Mensa, a high-IQ society for those scoring in the top 2% on a standardized IQ test
* A winner of ThinkFun’s 36 cube contest. I was one of the first in the world to solve their incredibly challenging puzzle.
* Music theory/composition/performance
* Philosophy
* Video games!
Visit www.ryanthorlakson.com for project images, demos, and code
samples.