About.

GAMES ARE WHAT I DO.

There’s a story my mom likes to tell people – when I was about 3 years old, I somehow managed to launch a strip poker game on our old 286 PC. When I won a round and the pixelated lady took her shirt off, I tossed my bottle at the screen.

I’ve been playing, watching, reading, and talking about games my entire life. I’m 30 years old now, so that’s a decent amount of time. I take games seriously – games and game design are my passion. I have an interest in all of the various fields of this profession, and I’m eager to learn and do more.

I’ve been on the game design side of the aisle professionally for more than a couple of years now, and I feel like I’ve found a very solid footing. I’ve conducted market research, developed product strategy, reverse engineered successful titles, led the development of 12 shipped titles – played by millions of players – and conducted data analysis and live development for many titles.

Work.

RECENT PROJECTS.

Experience.

FULL GAME DEVELOPMENT CYCLE.

Over the years, I’ve had a hand in every step in the process of game development – from market research to game development strategy, prototyping and testing, documentation, analytics event planning, game development and iteration, live ops, and optimizations. Below you can find my process and previous experience.

01. Market Research & Strategy.

Deeply research the market and identify the intersection of trends and development capabilities.

What is the prevalent motif, trend mechanic or look and feel that are in common for a majority of top titles? Using market analysis tools, and playing each top title extensively, discern what makes these games tick, and what the trajectory of market trend is.

What are the capabilities of the target platform? What is unique to it? For instance, on Facebook Instant Games, the top discovery and re-engagement tools are social – on the tech end, games have to be extremely lightweight and highly optimized. This dictates game design – how do you reuse elements? How do you encourage sharing and social play? What games lend themselves to challenge mechanics?

02. Prototyping.

After identifying potential directions for mechanics, a prototype is necessary – as the adage goes, no battle plans survive contact with the enemy, and in game design, the principle applies. An idea can seem amazing on paper but game design requires interactive proofing.

I firmly believe in iterative design as the correct methodology to perfecting an idea – start with a seed of an idea, develop it and see where the concept takes you. Approaching a design with a fully formed idea on paper is a surefire way of hamstringing a game.

If a game does not prove itself within the prototyping phase, it’s also important to recognize when it’s time to let it go – not all ideas are winners, and treading water is a waste of time.

If the concept did prove itself internally – start with limited user testing, and then – depending on the project – on to soft-launching when applicable. Do the numbers echo the internal feedback? If so, move on to full development.

03. Development.

In general, I find overwhelmingly that as agile an approach as possible is the correct way to go – have a vision of a final game in mind, but let the game guide you, and set tasks according to the flow of development.

User testing must be conducted at key junctures to assess the viability of the game and to adjust the course of development, as a development team has a natural tendency to bias. Objective playtesting is one of the key components in creating a fun and successful game.

It is important at the outset of development to set necessary KPIs, deadlines, and milestones to understand when development is stretching and not performing as it should, and to eliminate projects if necessary.

If the game is showing the expected KPIs, it’s on to a rolling launch with data analysis and live adjustments.

04. Data Analysis & Live Ops.

The game is finally launched! Great!

Now, let’s home in on the data. What events do we need to keep track of? What are the relevant KPIs? How can we improve on them?

What are the possible features that could be added to elevate the game?

What features can be tweaked and a/b tested to fine-tune?

How is monetization performing? What monetization points can be added? How can we fine-tune the monetization points we have?

Skills.

SOME OF MY PROFICIENCIES.

I have an obsession with process, tools, and efficiency. Throughout my career, I’ve at least tried most of the tools that are relevant to my trade, or the development process, in an attempt to better understand my peers and to improve workflow where possible. Below are some of the tools I think are most relevant.

I’M A FAST LEARNER.

I’ve been working with computers, programs, and tools my entire life, and can usually find my way around a new program or tool pretty quickly.

If a tool your company is working with is missing from the above list I’m confident in my ability to get up to speed pretty quickly.

Contact.

LET’S TALK.

Got questions? Comments? Offers?