James J. Email & Phone Number

Phoenix, Az, Us

Tustin, California, Us

Developing enemy AI for Clockwork Revolution, which is a game currently in development using Unreal Engine 5. I worked on enemy AI behaviors and animation engineering. This included AI being able to react to gameplay mechanics unique to this game. Because this is a game in development, I can't be more specific than that.I also worked on Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds. I joined the team to help finish the game and bring it up to publishable quality. I fixed issues with the existing monster AI implementation, including locomotion, animation, and compatibility with networking. I also fleshed out the allied AI bot system. This system filled the remaining slots in a team with bots if there aren’t enough human players at the start of a match. These bots had to help accomplish a team’s goals, defeat enemy players, enemy bots and monsters, all while staying out of the way of allied players.

Marina Del Rey, Ca, Us

Fixed bugs and preparing Creed to ship. Major bugs I fixed include issues with player placement and orientation when recalibrating the head mounted display during gameplay, user interface issues when one player drops out of a match, and foot pinning issues when the player is moving very slowly or is moving side to side.On Walking Dead I worked on an animated loading screen plugin, weapons and on enemy AI.

El Segundo, Ca, Us

Creating gameplay and enemy behavior for The Arcslinger and an unannounced VR shooting game using the Unreal Engine 4 platform. For both games I authored and maintained behavior trees and wrote code to handle cover point selection and evasion as well as handling animation events using both C++ and the Blueprint visual scripting language. For Arcslinger I wrote the behavior for enemy projectiles, including thrown projectiles that could be shot back to the thrower, and modified Unreal’s Android audio implementation to better handle rapid gunshots.

New York, New York, Us

Creating lifelike ambient character AI responses to world events and player actions. This includes AI responding to shocking situations such as seeing a dead body as well as getting complex AI behavior working on moving platforms. I also worked on modifying existing AI reactions depending on differing amounts of fear and anger.

At Molten Games, I developed core gameplay systems for a massively online PC game built on Unreal Engine 4. Key systems I worked on include: optimizing network data replication, improving projectile combat, fixing collision issues and ensuring animation-driven movement works correctly in a networked environment with many players. My leadership duties included working with the production team to determine task priorities and to ensure timely completion of core systems, mentoring other engineers and architecting solutions for new gameplay features. We relied on the Scrum development methodology, which is something I’m quite familiar because I am Certified Scrum Master and have used Scrum in previous projects.

There are a lot of very talented individuals who are passionate about making games in the Phoenix area. After THQ Phoenix closed its doors, I founded Nullspace Entertainment, LLC to keep game development alive and well in Phoenix by leveraging this talent pool to create top quality and innovative games. Unfortunately, it's hard to keep a studio going without funding so Nullspace is no longer in operation.

Tempe, Az, Us

When I attended college, there were no programs in game development, only programming. As a result, I had to learn most of what I know about making games the hard way: by making games on my own prior to graduation and by learning on the job after I got into the game industry. At UAT, I helped to prepare the next generation of game developers by giving undergraduate students insight I've gained over the course of my career.

Phoenix, Arizona, Us

I was the lead software engineer for Saint's Row: Money Shot. In addition to ensuring the team met the game's milestone dates, my engineering responsibilities included the player control system and enhancing the collision system to handle both animated skeletal meshes and to detect both hits and near misses. Although THQ Digital Phoenix officially closed in August of 2011, I stayed on to finish this title. Although the game was never officially announced, it was talked about to the press by executives at THQ so I can acknowledge its existence. Since I no longer work at THQ, I don't know if or when they will decide to release the game.Before that, I worked on gameplay programming and the physics system as a senior engineer for Dood's Big Adventure. I also worked on special effects support and hero attacks.

Middleton, Wisconsin, Us

I worked on X-Men Legends, X-men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Singularity and briefly on an unnamed project. For all these games, I've been a senior gameplay and AI programmer. For all the comic book games, my focus has been the combat system, but I still did a fair amount of work on creatures (both AI and heroes.) For Singularity and the new project, my focus has been on AI.

Burbank, Ca, Us

I worked on Spyro:Year of the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank and did prototyping work (uncredited) for Ratchet & Clank II. I was responsible for pretty much everything that moved, be it something as simple as a flying car or something far more complex like an enemy creature, for the levels I was assigned. In addition, I also implemented several of the weapons used by the hero in Ratchet & Clank.

Us

I was a co-project lead with Dave Schwartz on Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. In addition to my responsibilities as a lead, I also did AI programming. The project was only 6 months in length, but we still managed to ship it on the original Playstation console.Prior to that, I did user interface, sound engine and some AI programming for the Playstation port of NFL Blitz and the Playstation version of NFL Blitz 2000.

Us

I was a programmer working on the game Starfleet Academy. I did user interface programming for the PC version, but most of my work was as an engine programmer for the Playstation port. However, the port was not a priority for the company and we received very little asset support. I ultimately left the company when it became obvious that the Playstation version would never ship.