Executive Summary:

• Graduated UT with a BA in Radio Television and Film (emphasis on production and writing)
• Started as a designer at Fever Pitch Studios
• ... which became Warthog, TX and finally Gizmondo Studios Texas

The Long Version:

I graduated from UT with a BA in Radio Television and Film. Prior to that I was a computer science student.  I was drawn to writing and storytelling however and switched majors halfway through.  The sum total of that experience, however, led to my employment with Fever Pitch Studios as a designer.  My experience as a writer as well as my technical knowledge of programming helped me a great deal in this new position.  I helped craft stories and worlds for various RPGs and RTS pitches we sent out.  I also wrote the scripts and in-game cinematic moments for our various milestone submissions.

During the work on the Lord of the Rings RPG Shadows of Mordor, I was responsible for generating a great deal of the story (through a tremendous amount of Tolkien research) as well as generating many of the maps in our custom editor.  I was also chiefly responsible for maintaining the Game Design Suite, which was a suite of documents all regarding the design and data of Shadows of Mordor.  At its pinnacle, the printed document stuffed a 3 inch binder fairly completely.

As we transitioned from Fever Pitch to Warthog TX, we lost the contract for the Lord of the Rings RPG.  I began working on a console title as well as creating missions and story for Conquest 2.  At this point, we had hired a former screenwriter Wynne McLaughlin as a designer.  He was a tremendous help in generating story beats for the missions and I learned a great deal with him on the team.

Closing in now on four years of work as a game designer, I've done just about every task imaginable in game design.  I've created pitches, design documents, design web pages, in-game cinematic scripts, mission scripts, manipulated data, created 3D levels, tested, polished and shipped a game.  I've worked on PC games, console games and handheld games.

So far, it's my favorite job and one I'm passionately devoted to.  My roommate and lead programmer on Hit & Myth voiced my opinion on games perfectly.  At a time when all the articles I read about being a game designer were about how you had to love games or you wouldn't pass muster, he said "I make games because I don't like them."  And it's true.  I don't like many of the games out there, I think they can be better and I want nothing more than the opportunity to do that, to put my mark on the world and create great games.

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