Ben Schofield

Ben Schofield Email and Phone Number

Principal Gameplay Engineer @ Riot Games
Seattle, WA, US
Ben Schofield's Location
Seattle, Washington, United States, United States
Ben Schofield's Contact Details

Ben Schofield work email

Ben Schofield personal email

About Ben Schofield

I love making games. I started when I was 11 years old, teaching myself how to program in GameMaker by reverse-engineering projects I found on the internet. When it came time to apply to colleges, I only considered schools with game programs, because I knew what I wanted to do.Since 2012, making games has been my career. As a full-stack engineer, I've worked on pretty much everything, from UI to servers to tools, but my player-first mentality has kept my focus on gameplay. When I can't get enough gameplay programming in my day-to-day, I've been known to spin off side projects. I'm addicted to rapid prototyping and iterative design. Gameplay programming is about exploration and discovery, and it's hard for me to ignore my curiosity.The big difference from when I was making games as a kid is that now I collaborate with amazing teammates. I enjoy partnering closely across disciplines, and I'm always looking for ways to leverage my specific skillset to creatively solve problems for the team. When design has been shorthanded, I've devised systems for procedural content to improve our pipeline. One time, I led a team for a week to investigate Machine Learning as a solution to better predict player competence in solving solitaire puzzles (it was even harder than it sounds).It's hard to plan ahead in this industry, and that's okay with me. I'll be happy as long as I get to keep making games.

Ben Schofield's Current Company Details
Riot Games

Riot Games

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Principal Gameplay Engineer
Seattle, WA, US
Ben Schofield Work Experience Details
  • Riot Games
    Principal Gameplay Engineer
    Riot Games
    Seattle, Wa, Us
  • Probablymonsters
    Senior Software Engineer
    Probablymonsters May 2023 - Oct 2024
    Bellevue, Washington, Us
    •Took ownership of event-based, randomized loot effect gameplay system within a broader ECS architecture, refactoring for greater flexibility for designers as well as to avoid systemic pitfalls•Collaborated with designers to quickly and creatively adapt legacy systems to implement new features•Touched a wide swath of systems as needs arose: optimizing nav mesh regeneration, greyboxing UI, investigating frame optimization, adding networked multiplayer cheats for QA, and more
  • Hopoo Games, Llc
    Senior Programmer
    Hopoo Games, Llc Oct 2020 - Feb 2023
    Unannounced Action RPG•Built data-driven, server-authoritative inventory system with gameplay, UI, and animation for vertical slice•Worked with the Gameplay Ability System, CommonUI, Enhanced Input, Blueprints, and moreRisk of Rain 2•Implemented majority of new content, including dozens of new items, new playable characters, new enemies (and an alternate final boss), new achievements, new combat skills, and new interactables•Updated the gamemode system and added a new highly modular, wave-based gamemode
  • Big Fish Games
    Senior Software Engineer
    Big Fish Games Jul 2012 - Sep 2020
    Seattle, Washington, Us
    Unannounced Prototype (2016-2020)•After proving core gameplay with a paper prototype, I leveraged existing client and server architecture to prototype a networked, PvP Collectible Card Game in my spare time•Built data-driven systems for rapid iteration on design of gameplay and over 100 cards•Scheduled internal playtests regularly, gathering data via observation, survey, and server-side Slack integration to capture full game replays, which I then analyzed with an automated scriptUnannounced Title (2019-2020)•Identified missing core systems and gained engineering consensus to design their interfaces•Implemented component-based quest system for flexibility with future design pivots•Partnered closely with design to foresee potential issues and solve them before they manifestDeep Sea Solitaire (2018-2019)•Refactored core Solitaire gameplay logic to improve maintainability•Implemented several different periodic reward systems to improve player retention•Recognizing that puzzle gameplay makes churn points hard to predict, I led a week-long investigation into using Machine Learning to more accurately model player skill per player segmentLet's Dish (2015-2018)•Maintained Match 3 gameplay code through multiple major design pivots in a tight timeframe•Collaborated with designers to develop a server-authoritative, randomized reward system•Delivered major releases to a live player base, migrating player data from version to versionPanda Pandamonium (2013-2015)•Designed a new obstacle puzzle mechanic, several puzzle levels, and an AI to generate levels•Supported live product through multiple updates, via both app store and over-the-air dataMystery Case Files: Shadow Lake (2012-2012)•Joining the team as the only engineer halfway through the development cycle, I collaborated with the designer and artists to create 13 puzzles and minigames, meeting an unmovable deadline for release
  • Digipen Institute Of Technology
    Computer Science Ta
    Digipen Institute Of Technology Jan 2012 - May 2012
    Redmond, Wa, Us
    • Helping students with 3D computer graphics programming topics including 3D graphics pipeline, linear algebra, z-buffering, and culling • Grading and debugging programming assignments for over 50 students
  • Triple Shot Software, Llc
    Contractor, Gameplay Programmer / Game Designer -- Mascot Kickoff
    Triple Shot Software, Llc Aug 2011 - Nov 2011
    • Developed client’s idea of a timing-based skill game into a complete concept and detailed it in a GDD• Created majority of gameplay and menus using the Impact JavaScript Game Engine

Ben Schofield Skills

Video Games Gameplay Programming Game Development C++ Game Programming Actionscript Game Design Opengl Programming C Directx Level Design Tortoise Svn Game Engines Glsl Python Javascript Hlsl 3d Math

Ben Schofield Education Details

  • Digipen Institute Of Technology
    Digipen Institute Of Technology
    Computer Science

Frequently Asked Questions about Ben Schofield

What company does Ben Schofield work for?

Ben Schofield works for Riot Games

What is Ben Schofield's role at the current company?

Ben Schofield's current role is Principal Gameplay Engineer.

What is Ben Schofield's email address?

Ben Schofield's email address is be****@****mes.com

What schools did Ben Schofield attend?

Ben Schofield attended Digipen Institute Of Technology.

What skills is Ben Schofield known for?

Ben Schofield has skills like Video Games, Gameplay Programming, Game Development, C++, Game Programming, Actionscript, Game Design, Opengl, Programming, C, Directx, Level Design.

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