work

Thesis Advisor

NYU Tandon School of Engineering

January 2019 – present

• Advised both Bachelor and Master students in the Integrated Digital Media program
• Helped students discover and improve their thesis, proven by a 100% pass rate
• Served as external reader during thesis defenses

Director of Interactive Content & Product Engineering

Arkadium

November 2018 - present

• Directed a team of 10+ product engineers in NY and Russia, leading them to grow their technical knowledge and project management skills.
• Improved task management tools, production processes, and art pipelines, leading to 50% boost in project delivery time.
• Created R&D culture that activated strong innovations for the company including adoption of PixiAnimate and industry-leading web technology.

Adjunct Professor of Game Design

Bloomfield College

August 2017 – June 2018

• Co-taught the Game Design program's Senior Capstone Project class.
• Led 30 students on 15 different projects to develop games from scratch and publish their finished products to the public.

Senior Game Developer & Team Lead

Arkadium

July 2014 – November 2018

GAME DEVELOPMENT
• Implemented Agile processes into the development team, enabling us to deliver high quality games with high team ownership under tight deadlines and small budgets.
• Developed The Daily Crossword, syndicated on hundreds of news publication websites and drove the majority of the company’s web-based revenue in the last four years.
• Project managed the development of several HTML5 games, including Solitaire, Sudoku, Jigsaw, Mahjongg Dimensions, Bubble Dragons, and Sweet Shuffle. All games are published cross-platform on multiple websites including Washington Post, CNN, LA Times, AARP, Discovery, and AOL.

INTERACTIVE CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
• Oversaw production of full-stack interactive applications (called "factives") that propelled Arkadium’s new proprietary platform (Inhabit) to 3 million impressions per quarter.
• Lead team to experiment with new technology, build internal tools and improve processes, reducing development time from 3 months per project to about 1 month.

Game Developer

Arkadium

February 2011 – July 2014

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
• Lead game developer of Research and Development team. Designed and programmed 50+ game prototypes in Flash, Unity, and HTML5, each on a 2–4 week development cycle. Most prototypes are published under a sub-brand and many went on to be released as production games (Twisty Hollow, Stunt Armadillo, Match & Merge, and Tumble Tiles).
• Managed and trained multiple interns to build game prototypes on the same rapid development cycle, several projects of which were greenlit for production.

GAME DEVELOPMENT
• Lead programming on Ice Cream Blast, a highly polished match-3 game published on iOS, Android, Facebook, and various publisher sites.
• Programmed Konami's Twilight Carnival, Publisher Clearing House's Bingo Charms, and an unreleased home decoration game for the Facebook platform.
• Programmed the UI for Microsoft Solitaire Collection and Microsoft Minesweeper, both of which were Windows 8 OEM games.

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES
• Pioneered, taught, and managed peer-to-peer game development classes within the company.
• Organized multiple company-wide game jams across offices in NY, Toronto, and Ukraine.
• Organized several outdoor games designed by employees (Super Secret Spies, Spaghetti Standoff, Light Fight, Octopus Wars, Legato, and Wink No More) at game festivals such as Come Out & Play and Indiecade. The first 3 games were awarded Official Selections by Indiecade.

Co-owner & Website Developer

Lee House Chinese Restaurant

November 2009 – April 2014

• Co-owner of a Chinese restaurant, located in Brandon, Florida.
• Developed and maintained website.
• Designed menus and promotional materials.

Software Engineer & QA Lead

Massive Incorporated

February 2008 - October 2010

• Designed and programmed internal tools in C# used for content pipeline. Tools functionality include generating Excel templates for bug data entry, parsing Excel sheet data into e-mail summaries to send to game developers, and capturing and exporting videos.
• QA Project Lead on over 15 video game titles including EA’s NHL09 and Madden 09; Ubisoft’s Far Cry 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction; THQ’s Saints Row 2 and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010; Neowiz’s R2Beat; Midway’s Wheelman; TakeTwo’s NHL2K10 and NBA2K11; Activision’s Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone.
• Tested in-game advertisements and produced documentation on bugs into Test Track Pro.

Website Designer & Developer

DesignAttic, Multimedia

June 2007 – November 2007

• Designed database and developed an educational web-game for Kingsborough Community College’s Hotel Management department. Built in Flash with a LAMP backend.
• Website and database developer for several projects including DJ Reymo, RM Graphics, Style Bermuda, Hell’s Kitchen NYC, and Opulence Group.

Programmer & Level Designer

Barbara Confino

March 2007 – February 2008

• Programmer & level designer (Genetic Wars) - a multi-screen video game installation built using Torque Game Engine.
• Built 3D models using Blender that showcases the artist's contemporary work.

3D Production Manager, Technical Writer, Website Developer, & Live Video Performer

Dansology, Inc

November 2006 – March 2010

• Worked collaboratively with director to integrate video game elements into several modern dance projects.
• 3D production manager (Blocks of Continuality/Body, Image, and Algorithm) - a multimedia dance project performed in Tallahassee, Chicago, and NYC. Managed a team of 3D artists to produce content for virtual worlds that dancers would interact with. Performed live with a mechanical installation that read brainwaves from the musician.
• Live video performer (mech[a]OUTPUT) - a dance performance featuring a 3D virtual environment and multi-screen video installation. Performed at Japan Society in June 2007.
• Developed website and database using PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript.
• Regularly revises the company’s grant proposals and press releases.

Production Assistant

Premium

Summer 2006

• Helped 2nd Assistant Director with creating daily call sheets from the production schedule
• Assisted cast and crew on set with production needs

certifications

Certified Accessible Player Experience Practitioner

AbleGamers Charity

October 2020

• Rolled out accessible player experience best practices and processes at company

Certified Scrum Product Owner

Scrum Alliance

August 2015

• Rolled out Scrum and Agile project management practices to the games team

awards

Best Custom Advertising

Digiday Publishing Awards

September 2019

• Awarded for the NBA Tip-Off campaign in collaboration with NBA and Spark Foundry
• Uses Arkadium's innovative Inhabit platform and factive technology
• Beat out large companies such as WarnerMedia, Google, McDonalds, and Bloomberg Media for the honor
• Role: product owner

Microsoft's On Cloud 9

Global Game Jam 2019 Microsoft & Playcrafting

January 2019

• Awarded to Home is a Good Book for the best use of cloud technology (Microsoft Azure)
• Built in Unity in 48 hours with a team of 4
• Role: programmer, game concept, game design

Indiecade Official Selection

Indiecade Festival

October 2014

• Awarded to Light Fight, a 2-on-2 turn-based tactical playground game played with 4 flashlights and some cardboard boxes
• Also won Best in Fest Grand Prize Winner at Come Out & Play 2014
• Shown at Come Out & Play 2014, Indiecade 2014, and Indiecade East 2014

Audience Choice Award

Super Love Jam

June 2014

• Awarded to Fuck or Don't Fuck, a comedy game about sexual identity, relationships, and promiscuity
• Built in Flash in 48 hours with a team of 4
• Role: programmer

Best Audio

Global Game Jam 2014 NYU

January 2014

• Awarded to Toybox Trouble, a simplified 2-player fighting game with the theme of a little girl violently playing with her toys
• Built in Flash in 48 hours with a team of 6
• Role: programming, game concept, balancing

Indiecade Official Selection

Indiecade Festival

October 2013

• Awarded to Super Secret Spies, a team-based playground game where players must make their way across the field to their secret rendezvous point, trying to catch other spies in the act while preventing themselves from being caught
• Shown at Come Out & Play 2012, Copenhagen Play Festival 2013, and Indiecade 2013

Indiecade Official Selection

Indiecade Festival

October 2013

• Awarded to Spaghetti Standoff, a quick playground game played with uncooked pieces of spaghetti
• Also won Best Family Game at Come Out & Play 2013
• Featured in the documentary, Game Loading: Rise of the Indies
• Shown at Come Out & Play 2013, Indiecade 2013, and Indiecade East 2014

Best in Show

AT&T Sphero Hackathon

April 2013

• Awarded to The Sphast & The Sphurious, a mutli-player game where players drive Spheros across a small obstacle course by tilting their mobile phones, while trying to take pictures of other players' Spheros
• Built in Unity in 24 hours with a team of 6
• Role: programmer, game concept, obstacle course construction

Best in Show

AOL Games.com Hackathon

March 2013

• Awarded to Jimmy Blastoff: Launch to Adventure, an Asteroids-like arcade game played only with the mouse and themed as a 1940's children's television show
• Built in Flash in 24 hours with a team of 4
• Role: programmer, game concept

Audience Choice Award

Global Game Jam 2013 NYU

January 2013

• Awarded to Shoplifter Shuffle, a 2-player game where one player secretly plays a shoplifter hidden in a crowd of AI customers and the other players plays a security guard trying to catch the thief
• Also nominated for Most Innovative Game
• Built in Flash in 48 hours with a team of 4
• Role: programmer, game concept

Most Beautiful Game

Global Game Jam 2011 NYU

January 2011

• Awarded to Root, an art game about a seed traversing through the soils of a post-apocalyptic world
• Built in Processing and Construct in 48 hours with a team of 6
• Role: programmer

education

Master of Science in Integrated Digital Media

New York University - Polytechnic School of Engineering

September 2006 - December 2007

• 4.0 Cumulative GPA for MS
• Graduated Summa Cum Laude
• Developed a design theory, Ludological Design, for the master’s thesis. Created several projects that incorporated video game elements into non-gaming media such as commercial websites, personal blogs, educational programs, VJ performances, and professional presentations.

Exchange Student

Hong Kong University

Spring 2006

• Exchange student under the Global Engineering Education Exchange Program

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

New York University - Polytechnic School of Engineering

September 2003 - December 2005

• 3.6 Cumulative GPA for BS
• Graduated Magna Cum Laude
• Finished Bachelor's degree in a record 5 semesters
• Awarded the Board of Trustees full scholarship
• Member of the Othmer Honors College (Offices held: President)

Student

Bronx High School of Science

September 2003 - June 2007

• Graduated with Magna Cum Laude honors
• Qualified for President's List every semester

organizations

Festival Volunteer & Student Challenge Mentor

Games For Change

June 2018

• Volunteer to help the Games For Change Festival run smoothly
• Responsible for running the registration booth, prepping speakers, running the VR stations, and event tear down
• Mentored high school students on their impact game built for the annual Games for Change Student Challenge competition

Conference Associate

Game Developers Conference

March 2014 - Present

• Volunteer to help the Game Developers Conference run smoothly
• Responsible for scanning attendees' badges before a session, prepping speakers, managing the show floor, and helping attendees get their questions answered

Brother

Lambda Chi Alpha International Fraternity

December 2004 - Present

• Brother of Theta Upsilon chapter at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
• Offices held: Vice President, Academic Advisor, Risk Management Advisor