Zak Whaley

Zak Whaley Email and Phone Number

Seattle, WA, US
Zak Whaley's Location
Seattle, Washington, United States, United States
Zak Whaley's Contact Details

Zak Whaley work email

Zak Whaley personal email

About Zak Whaley

• Steward Leader - Empowers teams to make their own decisions by providing them with transparent information, structure, and guidance. • Passionate Technologist - Develops and establishes best practices and tools for teams working with cutting edge technology and diverse needs. • Engineering Mentor - Provides encouragement and support and establishes clear expectations, coding standards, and growth opportunities that uplift and cultivate team members into more effective contributors.

Zak Whaley's Current Company Details
International Game Developers Association (IGDA®)

International Game Developers Association (Igda®)

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Chair Emeritus
Seattle, WA, US
Website:
igda.org
Employees:
135
Zak Whaley Work Experience Details
  • International Game Developers Association (Igda®)
    Chair Emeritus
    International Game Developers Association (Igda®)
    Seattle, Wa, Us
  • Playeveryware
    Director Of Engineering
    Playeveryware Feb 2022 - Present
    Seattle, Washington, Us
  • International Game Developers Association (Igda®)
    Treasurer
    International Game Developers Association (Igda®) Dec 2022 - Present
    San Francisco, Ca, Us
  • Zak Whaley Consulting
    Owner
    Zak Whaley Consulting Apr 2019 - Present
    Advise and create custom engineering solutions for various clients while developing and exploring additional projects including a custom engine, build infrastructure, and tools.Arkitek Scientific (Unreal 4, Oculus)• Developing an interactive VR experience for a quantum research lab for science communication• Created controls and systems for the experience in Unreal 4 including interactivity, event sequencing, state machines, VR dialogue engine, localization, etc.• Collaborated in design of project, guiding its technical capabilities to be more interactive Blockhouse Studios (Unreal 4, Unreal 5EA, Quest 2)• Developed projects for the VR visualization of projective light shows with complex surfaces and massive video textures for artistic development iterations and client approval• Created a flexible template in UE5 for this process to be easily applied to new locations and projects to reduce the creative development overhead
  • Magic Leap
    Lead Software Engineer
    Magic Leap Feb 2017 - Apr 2019
    Plantation, Florida, Us
    Perception Framework (C/C++, Linux / Lumin OS (AOSP))• As acting Manager, led a team of 7 to create frameworks, build systems, documentation, and educational materials to unite Magic Leap’s development efforts• Led team through a requirements milestone including device / PII security, platform stability, persistent coordinate frames, 6 DoF control fidelity, and calibration services• Cultivated a culture of open communication and proactive problem solving that empowered team • Helped resolve conflicts between team members and across teams through directed evaluation, compromise, and establishing understanding • Supported external facing API release cadence maintaining scheduled ABI and API compatibilityGoat_Labs / Unreleased Location Based Experience (C/C++, Unity, Unreal)• Prototyped multiplayer shared experiences and interactions for Location-Based Experience that combined and demonstrated the efforts of multiple teams• Developed an object system for synchronizing mesh primitives with Unity, a C# <-> C++ logging system, and integrated our debugging framework (GLDS D.E.R.P.) into Unreal
  • Magic Leap
    Senior Software Engineer
    Magic Leap Oct 2014 - Feb 2017
    Plantation, Florida, Us
    Perception Framework (C/C++, Linux / Lumin OS (AOSP))• Upon recognizing the need, formed team with original manager to meet the needs of the company to facilitate the collaborative development efforts of the rest of the company• Developed cross-platform IPC system for advertising / connecting to services• Built third party library binary system which expedited typical PC build process by ~90%• Assisted developing framework for algorithm developers to test features on PC in a runtime environment logically consistent with the device runtime for rapid prototyping• Established team as key resource for software excellence and platform knowledge across company, greatly reducing the frequency of critical • Simplified build system while incrementally migrating developers from the deprecated prototyping framework without downtime• Collaborated on cross-team efforts of exposing perception features to end-user developers• Produced training materials for a multi-repo rebase workflow for colleagues only familiar with a single-repo merge workflow when systems were migrated to Gerrit from GitHub
  • Microsoft
    Software Development Engineer
    Microsoft May 2011 - Oct 2014
    Redmond, Washington, Us
    Project Spark (C++/C#, Win 8.1, Xbox One/360, Havok)• Empowered artists, animators, and designers to quickly add and iterate on content in the game through the creation and optimization of tools, pipelines, and standards• Designed and authored locomotion system for land, water, and air transitions robust enough for user-controlled parameters such as dynamic scale, velocity, and gravity • Built foundation for mesh and animation export pipeline• Architected animation engine, including blend pipeline, event handling, body type/head retargeting, facial animation, audio/FX/locomotion integration framework• Co-authored Hierarchical Finite State Machine controlling behavior flow for managing locomotion, attacks, and emotes with override overlays for weapons, attachments, etc.• Oversaw and polished development for Kinect character recording studio for user-animation capture used in custom emotes, including Full-Body IK for use in arbitrary rig retargeting, Kinect audio commands, animation recording/playback, and custom texture generation• Constructed initial “infinite” and continuous world terrain undo system• Developed the initial equipment and object attachment system
  • Digipen Institute Of Technology
    Teacher'S Assistant
    Digipen Institute Of Technology Jan 2011 - Apr 2011
    Redmond, Wa, Us
    CS460/CS560: Advanced Animation & Modeling Techniques• Grading, tutoring, and lecturing for skinned animation, blending, speed-correct pathing, and Inverse KinematicsCS391: Code Analysis & Optimization• Grading and tutoring for crash handlers, memory debuggers, and profilers
  • Aerotek Professional Services
    Product Tester
    Aerotek Professional Services Jun 2008 - Sep 2008
    Hanover, Maryland, Us
    • Verified the stability of 3 independent projects to ship• Focused on writing thorough, clear bug documentation• Used technical background to aid in communication with developers
  • Arkitek Studios
    Engine Programmer
    Arkitek Studios Dec 2006 - Sep 2007
    Busted! (C++, Win XP/Vista, OpenGL, OpenAL, SQLite, COLLADA)• Wrote core game tech, graphics engine, audio engine, and behavior system• Automated telemetry recording, analysis, and visualization• Created 3DS Max asset export and processing pipeline

Zak Whaley Skills

Development Ps3 Directx Computer Games C Win32 Api Unit Testing Game Engines Visual Studio Animation Game Programming Unreal Engine 3 Gameplay Xbox Game Design Opengl Beer Xbox 360 Level Design Artificial Intelligence Game Development Perforce C++ Video Games Unity3d Software Development Craft Beer Lua Tequila

Zak Whaley Education Details

  • Digipen Institute Of Technology
    Digipen Institute Of Technology
    Tools
  • Bellevue College
    Bellevue College
    Web Programming

Frequently Asked Questions about Zak Whaley

What company does Zak Whaley work for?

Zak Whaley works for International Game Developers Association (Igda®)

What is Zak Whaley's role at the current company?

Zak Whaley's current role is Chair Emeritus.

What is Zak Whaley's email address?

Zak Whaley's email address is za****@****ail.com

What schools did Zak Whaley attend?

Zak Whaley attended Digipen Institute Of Technology, Bellevue College.

What are some of Zak Whaley's interests?

Zak Whaley has interest in Graphics, Creating Apis, Research Projects, Developing For Developers, Engine Architecture.

What skills is Zak Whaley known for?

Zak Whaley has skills like Development, Ps3, Directx, Computer Games, C, Win32 Api, Unit Testing, Game Engines, Visual Studio, Animation, Game Programming, Unreal Engine 3.

Who are Zak Whaley's colleagues?

Zak Whaley's colleagues are Maharram Gurbanov, Rogerio Gomes, Costantino Motta, Muthidy Banten, Joshua Sherman, Andy Bro, Muhammad Riza Khairani.

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