Jason Calderone Email & Phone Number

As the studio grew it required a professional able to implement a content strategy across all our production teams. My strong experience in design, producing, development (both art and engineering), quality assurance and customer support were instrumental to my success in this role.A partnership with Big Fish Games highlighted this success as I worked intimately with key stakeholders to ensure our products meet the standards of both parties involved. I provided design input for the following mechanics: Swap 3, Time-Management and Hidden Objects.I oversaw the development of our first mobile games in 2008 with the release of QBeez and Word Up for iPod Touch. These were premium games and the only option available at the time.In 2010 while managing the 2 enormous hidden object games I began to manage the design and development of our first freemium bowling game. It was built with Unity3D and deployed to iOS and Android where it meet with great success. I ensured that the products meet the KPIs defined in the content strategy and were released on time and on budget. I managed the release of over 8 mobile products over the 5 years using data analysis to create updates and implement A/B testing techniques.

San Francisco Bay Area

A creative game designer that is passionate in developing compulsion loops and entertaining experiences for constantly changing gamers and platforms. I’m battle-tested in large and small organizations and small to large size projects, participating in every phase of development from concept through release.While working as a lead game designer, I performed the following functions: • Created and maintained design documents for our hit hidden object series in partnership with Big Fish Games • Constructed the economy, devising sources and sinks, for our hit freemium bowling game. • Key designer on QBeez, our successful skill-based game, a successful hit on Skilljam • Abreast of trends in mechanics and monetization models through constant research • Deft at taking data and using my knowledge and creativity to capitalize with new featuresI employ a variety of methods in my approach to designing. These range from paper sketches and diagrams to animated Flash mock ups to quick prototypes when resources are available. Creative problem solving is what I do and my access to almost two decades of experience in games and technology allow me to be efficient and effective while working with cross-functional teams. I thrive in collaborative workplaces and feel they provide the greatest reward. It’s where my positivity and genuine excitement shines through creating great content and game experiences.

San Francisco Bay Area

When the larger companies can’t see past the bureaucracy you can choose to leave or pave your own path. I chose the latter and joined a few close friends and colleagues to create an independent game studio and begin selling downloadable games. This was 2001 and there was just a handful of companies doing this.My primary role in the beginning was providing the creative and art direction of company assets. This included being instrumental in creating the core characters and game elements for many of our successful games. We quickly established both a quality bar and unique style that attracted a growing audience. This style and our creative design sensibilities cemented us as a consistent casual game studio and afforded us the luxury of developing over 20 games over 13 years. Eight of these became top 10 in sales on the top channels. These games include QBeez, Gutterball®, Daily Mah Jong, Tennis Titans and Flux Family Secrets series to name a few.My appreciation with the nature of form and hue across a broad spectrum of “things” steers me away from complacency and mediocrity. From the challenge of infusing tons of character into a cube to the recreation of historical moments with the greatest attention to detail can be felt in each product I’ve created or directed. Whether through words, style guides, reference materials or sketches I call “chicken scratch”, my ability to get my teammates to drink the kool aid and improve upon these visions has been a great reward.

San Fra

I became the first game designer at the company to develop its first in-house game when ex Pixar executive, Lawrence Levy, accidentally saw a prototype of my design. With the assistance of two other colleagues that would become the core of Skunk Studios, we embarked on building a game experience that is still quoted and enjoyed today - Tamale Loco: Rumble in the Desert.This side-scrolling platform hopper pushed the boundaries for games in this space both visually and conceptually. An elaborate story depicted through animated flash movies gave players motivation to play and see what happened next while engaged with a strong compulsion loop: collect ingredients to make burritos to appease the father of love interest and get one step closer to a special evening with the object of Tamale’s affection.The game was a great success and one of only a few games purchased for download. Now look at how the casual games business has grown. Tamale Loco was nominated for Best Characters at GDC 2001, the only non-core game nominated for any award that year. People still request the game, share their childhood fondness of the game and every once in a while you will hear someone shout “Chips of Death!”

San Francisco Bay Area

Lead QA tester for Shockmachine projectBecame QA Manager leading a team of 8 in testing hundreds of games on a variety of configurationsDesigned test cases for the team to executeCreated animated greeting cards for shockwave.comSold rights to the Tamale Loco brand and developed the hit game as Shockwave.com's first independent successful game.

San Francisco Bay Area

Applied my experience with Director and Flash to ship a pivotal version of Director - D7Worked closely with engineers to identify "Developer" applications of the softwareCreated test cases for the QA teamSpecially selected by Norm Meyrowitz of Macromedia to ship a special version of the shockwave playerSelected to join a special project, Shockmachine, which became part of the transition between shockrave to shockwave.com

San Francisco Bay Area

Worked with clients large clients like Levi's in creating adver-gamesCreated Avatars for the virtual islandDesigned game concepts, art and games for arcade within virtual worldCoverted 1,000 clip art images into animated files in Future Splash (Flash) within 1 monthMet with Bud Colligan to discuss features for Director 6 from a "Developers" perspective - this unknowingly lead to joining Macromedia