Stewart Needham

Stewart Needham Email and Phone Number

Studio Engineering Director at Dambuster Studios @ Dambuster Studios
Oakham, GB
Stewart Needham's Location
Oakham, England, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Stewart Needham's Contact Details

Stewart Needham personal email

About Stewart Needham

Software engineering director with 22 years professional games industry experience. I have a genuine passion for developing games technology and building effective teams. Published Games 2023 - Dead Island 2 (XBone/XboxSX/PS4/PS5/PC)2016 - Homefront The Revolution (XBone/PS4/PC)2013 - Crysis 3 (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)2010 - Blur (Xbox 360/PS3)2005 - Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360)

Stewart Needham's Current Company Details
Dambuster Studios

Dambuster Studios

View
Studio Engineering Director at Dambuster Studios
Oakham, GB
Website:
dsdambuster.com
Employees:
199
Stewart Needham Work Experience Details
  • Dambuster Studios
    Dambuster Studios
    Oakham, Gb
  • Dambuster Studios
    Studio Engineering Director
    Dambuster Studios Nov 2017 - Present
    Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Gb
    Providing strategic and engineering leadership across all of our studios technical departments which are currently developing the next title in the Dead Island series. Ultimately responsible for the viability of the studios technical output, I define the vision and philosophies behind the development processes and technology choices which ensure stability, performance and quality in our output. Core Responsibilities- Team structure and organisation- Recruitment, Retainment & Employee development- Ensuring that the engineering team overall well being and positive mental health are prioritised. - Lead, Support and mentor the engineering leadership team- Shaping and defining the future technical roadmaps and requirements for the studio- Embody and drive the overall engineering culture within the studio- Work closely with project leads to define the titles' technical requirements, constraints, risks and opportunities- Facilitate the sharing of technical knowledge and learnings across the studio's engineering teams- Overseeing the technical architecture of the runtime systems used by our games- Identify and manage technical dependencies and risks for the studio- Define and develop the processes to ensure that the high standards of technical viability are upheldWorking as part of the wider director group and in partnership with the studio head to encourage an open and transparent culture where our colleagues thrive in a safe and supportive environment.
  • Dambuster Studios
    Director Of Gamecode
    Dambuster Studios Aug 2014 - Present
    Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Gb
    Currently leading development of Homefront - The Revolution
  • Oakham C Of E Primary School & The Parks School
    Chair Of The Board Of Governors
    Oakham C Of E Primary School & The Parks School Sep 2019 - Present
    Responsible for overseeing the strategic management of a school, holding the senior leadership team to account and making decisions about a wide range of issues. As chair of the governing body I coordinate the wider board of governors, made up of representatives from the school, the parents, the local authority and the local community, in our core responsibilities of:Ensuring accountabilityWorking with the Head Teacher to promote and maintain high standards of educational achievement. Acting as a ‘critical friend’ to the Head TeacherMonitoring and evaluating the school’s progressBudgetary allocation and controlShaping plans for school improvement and overseeing their implementationSetting a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction for the school
  • Crytek
    Lead Programmer
    Crytek Feb 2013 - Aug 2014
    Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen, De
    Leading the gamecode development on the sequel to Homefront. I work with a team of highly skilled and passionate engineers, directly managing the group which architect the systems and pipelines that define the final game experience. My role is as much about efficient system design and providing workflows for content creators as it is about developing the individual members of my team and implementing processes to ensure that we deliver on our goals and remain efficient at all times.Other responsibilities include recruitment, retainment, employee development, performance, setting the direction for current and future technology, planning, scheduling and occasionally writing somecode too.
  • Crytek
    Technical Director
    Crytek Feb 2011 - Aug 2014
    Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen, De
    Led the development effort of Crysis 3 Multiplayer. A title created in conjunction with Crytek Frankfurt. Worked closely with the Electronic Arts production group & global online services in the successful delivery, execution and post release support of a number of key deliveries.Gold (PC/Xbox360/PS3)Open Beta (PC/Xbox360/PS3) -3 Million downloadsClosed Alpha (PC)Numerous Tech 200 Trials (PC/Xbox/PS3)Oversaw the development of several key areas:- The transition to Blaze & Nucleus. EA's online service infrastructure and game lobby solution. - The iteration of our bespoke anticheat/DRM strategy- Technology & infrastructure to support live patching of assets & data without the need of a title update.- System's to automatically create, assign and track in game friend challenges.- Systems to support an in game dynamic news feed containing friend challenge/progression updates as well as RSS style global broadcasts.- New gameplay features (Pinger, VTOL, Rip & Throw mechanics)
  • Bizarre Creations
    Lead Gameplay Programmer
    Bizarre Creations Jan 2009 - Feb 2011
    Gb
    At Bizarre I worked with and managed the game code team on the unannounced AAA racing sequel to Blur. As leader of this team I directed the design and delivery of all new game systems as well as being part of the team which worked to evolve the codebase in preparation for future racing titles. New systems included Traffic, Race Scripting and a completely reworked AI/Track data system. Any system that required exposure to non-programmers has been supported with strong tools written with rapid iteration in mind and problem finding features built in. Building a strong team was key to our successful delivery of major milestones. To Facilitate this I spent a lot of time developing my staff through team training, personal mentoring & peer reviewing. An area I focus on a great deal is good engineering practices and code design. Through group discussions, directed reading and engineering challenges I was able to improve the skillset of the team as a whole in areas such as API design and writing efficient yet decoupled code. For almost a year the team mobilised to assist in delivering the Blur multiplayer experience. During this period I developed the game cameras used in the on track experience along with associated effects.Part of my role also included project planning, scheduling, and being involved in the recruitment process at Bizarre. I worked closely with our shared technology and tools teams, directing work where necessary and ensuring constant communication between all sub-teams.
  • Free Radical Design
    Senior Software Engineer/Acting Lead Engineer
    Free Radical Design Jun 2007 - Dec 2008
    Nottingham, Gb
    I joined Free Radical Design in Summer 2007, taking a role as the initial engineer on a prototype for a new Timesplitters game. Over time I helped grow the team to 8 software engineers. After setting up the codebase and integrating it with our cross-platform engine and tool chain I have focussed on integrating in Havok physics and player gameplay code. In later months I was gradually taking over responsibility for the software team on the project. Duties included scheduling, system architecture design and liaising with the other software leads on the future direction of the shared codebase. Part of my role involved inducting all new engineers onto the team.
  • Rare Ltd
    Senior Software Engineer
    Rare Ltd Jul 2006 - Jun 2007
    Twycross, Warwickshire, Gb
    Worked on an undisclosed prototype game for Xbox 360. Developed new gameplay ideas and mechanics. This also involved evaluating third party middleware. As a senior engineer I also spent time working for the in house shared technology group developing, and later supervising a new visibility system and its associated tools.
  • Rare Ltd
    Software Engineer
    Rare Ltd Jul 2001 - Jul 2006
    Twycross, Warwickshire, Gb
    As a game engine programmer I worked as part of the team which delivered Perfect Dark Zero ready for the launch of the Xbox 360 in November 2005. I saw the project through its entire lifecycle which included two platform changes and a team growing to over 50 people. Key responsibilities included building and maintaining the game framework, writing tools (editors, debugging, cpu profiling) and vehicle dynamics. Apart from development, I also spent time acting as an artist liaison and mentoring less experienced programmers as they joined the team.
  • Investment Alchemy
    Software Engineer
    Investment Alchemy Oct 1999 - May 2001
    While studying for my degree I worked for a small company that specializes in applying advanced dsp techniques to real-time financial market data. My primarily role involved developing software for a web based platform using PHP which would attempt to predict the short term performance of futures commodities. The software generates buy/sell signals using processed historic data. This also involved writing socket based network clients to collect and store this information.

Stewart Needham Skills

Xbox 360 Ps3 Gameplay Directx Game Development Video Games Xbox Perforce Scripting C# Console Wii Havok Game Engines Xna Network Programming Mel Maya Multiplayer Cross Platform Development Objective C Win32 Api

Stewart Needham Education Details

  • University Of Bradford
    University Of Bradford
    Telecommunications Electronics And Computer Engineering
  • South East Derbyshire College
    South East Derbyshire College
    Maths

Frequently Asked Questions about Stewart Needham

What company does Stewart Needham work for?

Stewart Needham works for Dambuster Studios

What is Stewart Needham's role at the current company?

Stewart Needham's current role is Studio Engineering Director at Dambuster Studios.

What is Stewart Needham's email address?

Stewart Needham's email address is st****@****ail.com

What schools did Stewart Needham attend?

Stewart Needham attended University Of Bradford, South East Derbyshire College.

What skills is Stewart Needham known for?

Stewart Needham has skills like Xbox 360, Ps3, Gameplay, Directx, Game Development, Video Games, Xbox, Perforce, Scripting, C#, Console, Wii.

Who are Stewart Needham's colleagues?

Stewart Needham's colleagues are Luke Willis, Adam Moss-Carbert, Millie Shaw, Matthew Chambers, Pedro Silva, Kieran Sawford, Lydia Cockerham.

Free Chrome Extension

Find emails, phones & company data instantly

Find verified emails from LinkedIn profiles
Get direct phone numbers & mobile contacts
Access company data & employee information
Works directly on LinkedIn - no copy/paste needed
Get Chrome Extension - Free

Aero Online

Your AI prospecting assistant

Download 750 million emails and 100 million phone numbers

Access emails and phone numbers of over 750 million business users. Instantly download verified profiles using 20+ filters, including location, job title, company, function, and industry.