BeastWorks Games and Tech

Umbra integration let me tackle a different kind of engine problem while still doing deep systems work. I led the O3DE-side integration, geometry export and optimization workflow, visibility investigations, and the supporting cleanup needed to make an alternate occlusion-culling path practical.

Shader Management Console started as an answer to a painful production problem: controlling shader variants before they exploded build size and runtime cost. I built it into a real document workflow with editing, undo and redo, automation, and tighter integration with the shader asset pipeline.

Material Canvas was my push to bring graph-based authoring into Atom instead of forcing every workflow through direct text and property editing. I led the architecture, the RFC, the data-driven node and template system, and the preview and generation workflow that made it a real source-authoring tool.

Material Editor was the first Atom tool that really had to become a serious production workflow, and I led that transition. I took a partially functional prototype, rebuilt the architecture around a document-oriented, data-driven model, and turned it into a tool people could rely on for daily material authoring and look development.

Material Component was where Atom became real for people building content in the editor. I led the in-editor material assignment and override workflow, slot and instance handling, and the hot-reload behavior that made changes from Material Editor and Material Canvas show up live where users were actually working.

Preview Renderer solved a small problem that turned out to matter everywhere: tools need reliable, attractive, and consistent previews if users are going to trust what they are editing. I created the shared scene-capture and thumbnail system used across Atom tools, with support for models, materials, lighting presets, and dynamic updates.

Atom Tools Framework grew out of architectural work I kept having to solve again and again across the Atom tool chain. I pulled the common document, viewport, asset browser, property editing, docking, scripting, and automation patterns into one shared foundation so new tools could start from something solid instead of reinventing the same infrastructure.

I led Atom's tools, workflows, component patterns, and integration with the engine and editor. I collaborated across rendering, UX, technical art, physics, animation, tools, and core systems to connect rendering technology to production workflows.

Terrain grew naturally out of the same large-world thinking behind Dynamic Vegetation, especially the work around gradients, surfaces, dependency tracking, and live authoring. This page shows both the early direction I helped establish and the later work that carried the system forward after the initial effort paused.

Dynamic Vegetation was one of the biggest systems I led at Amazon. I turned an early, limited prototype into a procedural world-building framework with vegetation areas, gradients, surface data, dependency monitoring, live editing, and a runtime architecture that could scale across large environments without becoming unusable for artists.

My editor work focused on making entity and component authoring faster, clearer, and less frustrating in daily use. I led major improvements to the Entity Inspector and Entity Outliner, including component cards, add-component workflows, ordering, enable and disable behavior, and hierarchy interaction while working closely with UX.

At Amazon, I led or made major contributions across some of the most visible user-facing systems in Lumberyard and Open 3D Engine, from editor modernization and large-world workflows to Atom tools, materials, shaders, preview infrastructure, and occlusion culling. It is the best overview page for understanding the scope and character of that work before drilling into the individual projects.

At MaxPlay, I owned and led development of the multicore task-based component system, the editor client viewport, live editing, scene management and reconstruction, JSON message processing from servers and the asset pipeline, the initial STL implementation, the flocking demo, and the Origami Sky VR demo built on top of that work.

CAGE Mesh Simplification Demo was a focused geometry-processing project I built in CAGE 2.0 to support software occlusion culling, reduce complex meshes into practical occluders, and prove the engine could handle more advanced runtime and tooling experiments.

CAGE Archer Demo was a more comprehensive game project I used to refine and demonstrate CAGE 2.0 beyond the smaller games and technical exhibitions I had already shipped using my personal engine.

Time Twister was one of my early games on the new casino engine after Thundering Herd and one of the last titles I built before leaving Multimedia Games. It reused the animation tooling lineage from The Kraken and helped prove that the workflow could carry forward into the newer engine.

On The Kraken, I completed and integrated the After Effects-driven animation system the project needed, building import tools, custom skeletal playback and interpolation, and seamless integration with our existing data-driven presentation system so the game could deliver full-screen animated sequences without relying on video assets.

During my second Multimedia Games stint, which began in 2010, I put Zombie Outbreak together end to end while leading a small group of engineers who were also developing other games. I wrote the code for its unique gameplay elements and managed the unusually large video-driven presentation for a horror-themed casino game.

CAGE 2.0 was the point where my personal engine stopped being just an older desktop project and became a broader cross-platform production tool. I migrated the editor to wxWidgets, reworked major systems, and pushed the technology into real mobile projects while still using it for demos and larger technical experiments.

As lead engine and gameplay engineer, I built core technology for a highly unusual iOS action game built around grappling hooks, gravity boots, multiplayer, and full 3D traversal. The project demanded work across rendering, math, collision, camera systems, visibility, performance, and networked play, and it remains one of the most technically ambitious mobile titles I worked on.

I extended the iOS technology foundation I had already established and pushed this version toward richer real-time 3D presentation. My work focused on improving rendering quality, scene composition, lighting, animated wildlife, and transparent geometry handling before I left the project.

As lead engineer, I ported the studio technology to iOS, built the 3D runtime and asset pipeline, and led gameplay and physics work for the shipped title. The project also established the technical base that later supported several other iPhone games built on the same engine framework.

At NCSoft, I owned a wide range of production-facing tools and editor work used by artists and designers every day. I maintained and extended effects workflows, terrain painting, DCC integrations, model-viewer tools, particle editing, UI workflows, and other systems that kept the team shipping content.

CAGE 1.0 was the beginning of the personal engine and editor work I started after Acclaim Studios shut down. I built the original runtime, component model, messaging system, and MFC-based editor framework as a way to turn lessons from earlier game and tools work into something I fully owned and could keep evolving.

On The Red Star, I moved back toward science-fiction action work and contributed to gameplay, camera systems, AI, pathfinding, and Xbox-focused R&D. I also prototyped a side-scrolling shooter sequence and spent time inside the studio’s evolving next-generation engine work.

On NBA Jam 2004, I started in gameplay, AI, animation, and locomotion work, then helped the project pivot from a canceled football title into a new arcade basketball game with updated visuals, gameplay prototypes, and a broader production push across the team.

NBA Jam 2004 Particle Tech focused on the cross-platform particle system and editor I built for artists, including real-time preview, hierarchical effects, animation controls, and in-game parity across the supported console and PC targets.

I implemented offensive AI, gameplay, and animation sequences for NFL Quarterback Club 2002 during the transition from Nintendo 64 technology to new C++ systems. I investigated evolving engine dependencies and coordinated gameplay integration during a major technology migration.

On Turok 3, I implemented the gameplay and AI for several boss encounters, including the rooftop dropship fight, the Alpha Fireborn sequence, and the final Oblivion battle. The project gave me a deeper understanding of Iguana’s tools, level workflows, and boss setup patterns inside a mature Nintendo 64 code base.

This was my first shipped game title and my entry point into professional game development. I built user interface screens, mini-game flows, and gameplay presentation work inside Iguana’s existing framework while learning the studio pipeline, console development hardware, and the rhythm of a professional game team.