Mike Kasprzak

Mike Kasprzak Email and Phone Number

Distraction.Engineer; 90's GameDev; Systems, Software, Web Architect; "Ludum Dare" guy @ Interactive Snacks Limited
Mike Kasprzak's Location
London, Ontario, Canada, Canada
Mike Kasprzak's Contact Details

Mike Kasprzak work email

Mike Kasprzak personal email

About Mike Kasprzak

Growing up with a Commodore 64, I was that kid who made video games instead of doing school work. I landed my first professional gig as a teen in the 90's, dropping out of college to work as a Senior Programmer on a Nintendo GameBoy game.I've shipped dozens of commercial and professional software projects across dozens of platforms. I'm intimately familiar with computers at every level, from low level embedded systems to distributed server infrastructures. I'm an expert at designing processes and toolchains, and in general making software run anywhere and do anything.Professionally I've architected, built, and deployed complicated distributed systems; lead teams, acting as senior and lead developer, as well as technical director; I've also run a number of small companies.I'm best known for co-founding the popular "Ludum Dare" game jam event. We've been running it for over 20 years, starting before "game jam" became a term. Our events see many thousands of developers take part every year.I playfully describe myself as a "Distraction Engineer", as I enjoy building things that entertain, educate, and fundamentally "distract". It feels like I've done a bit of everything; I'm a published author; I'm familiar with audio and video production; I'm fond of Linux, open source, the open web, and I advocate for user rights and privacy.Fun fact: I made a video game that won a car. 🚗

Mike Kasprzak's Current Company Details
Interactive Snacks Limited

Interactive Snacks Limited

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Distraction.Engineer; 90's GameDev; Systems, Software, Web Architect; "Ludum Dare" guy
Mike Kasprzak Work Experience Details
  • Interactive Snacks Limited
    Company Owner
    Interactive Snacks Limited Jul 2020 - Present
    London, Ontario, Canada
    Software development company focused on events, entertainment, and education products. Supports the popular Ludum Dare online game jam event.
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  • Ludum Dare
    Co-Founder, Event Coordinator, Lead Developer
    Ludum Dare Apr 2002 - Present
    Founded in April of 2002, Ludum Dare is the largest online game jam event in the world. The event attracts many thousands of developers and challenges them to make a game from scratch in aweekend. Find us at https://ldjam.comI’m part of the team that founded the event. Originally a hobby project we ran together, today I am the sole person responsible for the event. I handle scheduling, running the event, managing the servers, custom software development, and promotion of it and its social media accounts.Since summer 2015: After growing far beyond expectation, and with our 15th anniversary on the horizon, I put my my small business on hold to focus on building a brand new event website for Ludum Dare. The new website is capable of scaling to support thousands of concurrent users, and runs on low cost VPS servers. Buzzwords: Developed a custom multi-user social network entirely from scratch with a PHP 7 and a MariaDB backend, transpiled ES6 JavaScript code for the frontend (using Preact), a sophisticated compiler toolchain stapled together with GNU Make, and a local virtual machine testing environment powered by Vagrant and Virtualbox. Open Source.
  • Tiny Titan Studios
    Senior Programmer
    Tiny Titan Studios Apr 2018 - Dec 2019
    London, Canada Area
    Reworked an online multiplayer mobile game to scale. I lead the effort to re-engineer the game to run entirely server side on low cost VPS Linux servers. The game server was rewritten in C++, and it streamed updates over UDP to hundreds of game clients. I also deployed and managing the 40+ servers around the world that supported the game.In addition, I helped develop and deploy the backend API servers. These supported the game by storing all persistent player information, purchases, matchmaking, and providing us with realtime game metrics and sales data. Written in PHP 7, and deployed to a cluster of redundant frontend (PHP+NGINX), database (MariaDB), and datastore (Redis) servers. Arena Stars launched on Android, iOS, and Steam in April 2019, but sadly shutdown in October 2019.Currently finishing netcode for a game coming to PC and consoles.
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  • Sykhronics Entertainment
    Business Owner. Lead Developer
    Sykhronics Entertainment Dec 2005 - Dec 2015
    London, Ontario, Canada
    My small award winning independent game studio. I often worked alone and with contractors, though for over a year it had 1 other employee. Sykhronics’ (sighcron-icks) goal was to create original games for a variety of platforms, but I occasionally did contract work for other companies. Sykhronics was put on hiatus in 2015, but was eventually closed in 2017. I continue to sell software under my own name.Sykhronics Entertainment was a licensed Sony PSP, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii U, Steam, Apple, and Android developer. Sykhronics also developed and published software for Amazon Kindle, Symbian, Nokia Maemo, Palm webOS, Intel AppUp, Intel MeeGo/Moblin, GameTree.TV, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Microsoft Windows Phone, Blackberry, Tizen, Samsung Bada, Linux, and Microsoft Windows.
  • Shaw Communications
    Independent Contractor
    Shaw Communications May 2013 - Aug 2013
    Calgary, Ab
    Spent my summer at Shaw Engineering doing something technical and fancy. Project was completed end of August.
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  • Contributing Author
    "Iphone Games Projects" Book Nov 2008 - Jun 2009
    I provided a chapter on "game portability" for this collection of iPhone game development "gems". Published by Apress.
  • Game Tunnel
    Writer
    Game Tunnel Oct 2004 - May 2006
    I was a contributing member of a panel for a regular monthly feature called the "Indie Game Monthly Round-Up". We wrote short 1-2 paragraph mini reviews of indie and casual games. During my time on the panel, I reviewed over 100 games.
  • Big Blue Bubble
    Technical Director
    Big Blue Bubble Jul 2004 - Aug 2005
    London, Ontario, Canada
    During my time here I acted as the Technical Director. I assisted in management related duties such as interviewing new employees. The majority of my job was a combination of leading and supporting projects in development at our studio. I was involved in numerous mobile games, occasionally writing and assisting in pitches, porting, and the development of an original IP. In addition, I acted as the engine programmer on Atomic Betty (GBA).
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  • Digital Illusions
    Senior Programmer
    Digital Illusions Mar 2001 - Jun 2004
    London, Ontario, Canada
    Sandbox was purchased by Digital Illusions. I continued my role as a technical/lead programmer on various smaller budget and shelved projects. Released titles included Jump*Start: Dino Adventure (GBC), DivaStarz (GBC), Secret Agent Barbie (GBA), Polly Pocket: Super Splash Island (GBA), and Barbie: Gotta Have Games (PS1).
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  • Sandbox Studios
    Senior Programmer
    Sandbox Studios Nov 1999 - Mar 2001
    London, Ontario, Canada
    Hired on as a handheld game programmer (Gameboy Color). Worked on some shelved projects, but 2 released titles. Hoyle Card Games (GBC), and The Emperor's New Groove (GBC).
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  • Microcad Computer Corporation
    "Managers Assistant"
    Microcad Computer Corporation Jun 1998 - Dec 1998
    London, Ontario, Canada
    A computer wholesaler and parent company of Computers Canada Inc. After some internal reshuffling, I was moved to the parent company's office. Between my duties as a computer technician (occasionally at Canada Computers but also at Microcad whenever they had large bulk orders), I assisted the owner doing graphic design for promotions, business cards, signs, and the website. I also did some programming, notably building the RMA system (Visual Basic with a Microsoft Access database).
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  • Computers Canada Inc.
    Computer Technician
    Computers Canada Inc. Jan 1998 - Jun 1998
    London, Ontario, Canada
    A local computer store. After finishing my high school co-op, I was hired to continue working as a computer technician. My primary role was building, upgrading, and diagnosing computer problems. Occasionally I helped customers "out-front", or did graphic design for promotions.

Mike Kasprzak Skills

Game Development Video Games Mobile Games Iphone Opengl Casual Games Game Design Programming Lua C++ Android Sound Mobile Devices Game Programming Gameplay Object Oriented Design Scripting Ios Development Unity3d Computer Games Objective C Community Organizing User Interface Actionscript Double Jump Regeneration Fire Ball Software Development Open Source Software Php Linux Javascript User Datagram Protocol Android Development Socket Programming Console Games Video Game Production Assembly Language Squirrel Html5 Mobile Game Development C (Programming Language Gnu Compiler Collection Gnu Make Graphics Processing Unit Opengl Shading Language Opengl Es Retro Technical Architecture

Frequently Asked Questions about Mike Kasprzak

What company does Mike Kasprzak work for?

Mike Kasprzak works for Interactive Snacks Limited

What is Mike Kasprzak's role at the current company?

Mike Kasprzak's current role is Distraction.Engineer; 90's GameDev; Systems, Software, Web Architect; "Ludum Dare" guy.

What is Mike Kasprzak's email address?

Mike Kasprzak's email address is mi****@****ail.com

What skills is Mike Kasprzak known for?

Mike Kasprzak has skills like Game Development, Video Games, Mobile Games, Iphone, Opengl, Casual Games, Game Design, Programming, Lua, C++, Android, Sound.

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