A smiling man with glasses and a beard. Is it... Rob? Himself?! No, it's just a doodle. A waving hand. The smiling man is waving his hand at you, and he isn't stopping anytime soon. Is he okay? Should we be worried?

Hey!  

I'm Rob

I'm a programmer who's been working on indie games for 5 years. I love creating juicy, interactive UIs and making games feel good. I've helped ship 2 games and plan on working on many more!

Contact Me
Past Projects

Cross Blitz

Gallery View→

Summary View→

Card Crafting

  • I overhauled the design and animations of the 'Card Crafting' menu.
  • Menu navigation needed to be up to the same standards found elsewhere in the project.

Cutscene Polish

  • I was responsible for fine-tuning the text, animations, and transitions for the three different sets of cutscene UI.
  • With the hefty amount of dialogue within the game, it was important to create a smooth reading experience for the player.

Character Select

  • I created the transition which plays after a character is selected.
  • The colorful characters of Cross Blitz are a pillar of the game's identity, so making that choice exciting was important to me.

Shop Menu

  • I updated the "Card Shop' animations and transitions.
  • The team agreed that purchasing new cards should be a quick yet exciting process.

Main Menu

  • ​I Implemented the "Main Menu" switcher, giving the player a fun way to navigate to their desired game mode.
  • I focused on keeping it snappy, responsive, and playful.

Navigation Polish

  • Throughout development, I was tasked with polishing character movement.
  • Trying to keep the animations looking great while also reducing the time it takes to travel from one point to another was definitely a challenge.
June 2022-December 2023/  Freelance Programmer
  • Developed and implemented gameplay and UI elements to provide a fun and functional user experience in the C# Unity development environment.
  • Assisted with implementing deck-building systems so players can quickly and smoothly update and modify new and existing decks
  • Overhauled the user interface of various game systems, such as cutscenes and shops, to accommodate the changes to the game throughout development.
  • Updated and reformatted all of the text in the project to work with the Chinese and Simplified Chinese languages through thoughtful coordination with our localization liaison
  • Further improved and expanded upon internal cutscene and level design development tools.
Release: Nov. 29, 2023 (Early Access)
Download on Steam
↗

Card Crafting

  • I overhauled the design and animations of the 'Card Crafting' menu.
  • Menu navigation needed to be up to the same standards found elsewhere in the project.

Cutscene Polish

  • I was responsible for fine-tuning the text, animations, and transitions for the three different sets of cutscene UI.
  • With the hefty amount of dialogue within the game, it was important to create a smooth reading experience for the player.

Character Select

  • I created the transition which plays after a character is selected.
  • The colorful characters of Cross Blitz are a pillar of the game's identity, so making that choice exciting was important to me.

Shop Menu

  • I updated the "Card Shop' animations and transitions.
  • The team agreed that purchasing new cards should be a quick yet exciting process.

Main Menu

  • ​I Implemented the "Main Menu" switcher, giving the player a fun way to navigate to their desired game mode.
  • I focused on keeping it snappy, responsive, and playful.

Navigation Polish

  • Throughout development, I was tasked with polishing character movement.
  • Trying to keep the animations looking great while also reducing the time it takes to travel from one point to another was definitely a challenge.

Beak Breakers

Gallery View→

Summary View→

Action-Focused Camera

  • I wanted to create a camera that feels like it's following the action more-so than the player.
  • This creates a dynamic feel that pushes the player forward.

Dynamic Cutscenes

Beak Breakers is an action game first and foremost, but brief and humorous cutscenes help quickly give personality to the many characters in the world.

Chunky Gameplay

It was important for the player to feel the beefy hits in Beak Breakers. In this visual snippet of the project, several abilities available to the player can be seen

Title Screen

An exciting and fun title screen that bursts with a sense of adventure. Showing save slots, difficulty select, and featuring key information/tooltips to help guide the player.

Game Menu

The menus are designed to be navigated through quickly while retaining Beak Breaker's colorful identity.
2016-2020/  Game Designer & Programmer
  • Programmed all features in the game within the GameMaker Studio 2 development environment.
  • Collaborated with the artist to design and develop gameplay ideas.
  • Implemented all artwork with a careful attention to detail to mimic the flourish and polish of the artist's vision.
Release: TBD

Action-Focused Camera

  • I wanted to create a camera that feels like it's following the action more-so than the player.
  • This creates a dynamic feel that pushes the player forward.

Dynamic Cutscenes

Beak Breakers is an action game first and foremost, but brief and humorous cutscenes help quickly give personality to the many characters in the world.

Chunky Gameplay

It was important for the player to feel the beefy hits in Beak Breakers. In this visual snippet of the project, several abilities available to the player can be seen

Title Screen

An exciting and fun title screen that bursts with a sense of adventure. Showing save slots, difficulty select, and featuring key information/tooltips to help guide the player.

Game Menu

The menus are designed to be navigated through quickly while retaining Beak Breaker's colorful identity.

Pocket Squirrel

Gallery View→

Summary View→

Daily Login

  • I implemented this screen that gives the player daily achievements when they start the game.
  • Screen and object shaking is used to make the act of touching the touch screen feel more tactile.

Skill Points

  • I set up this menu where the player can allocate accrued currency to improve their squirrel's abilities.
  • We wanted it to be clear while keeping visual flourish.

Options Menu

  • I created the Options Menu using pre-existing logic.
  • Added interactivity through the bouncy and squishy feeling of the UI.

Furniture Swap

  • Created a feature to let players customize their "Home".
  • To make the world more dynamic, I made the furniture interact with the environment while the player is swapping it around.
September 2020-January 2022 /  Freelance Programmer
  • Built within the GameMaker Studio 2 development environment.
  • Quickly prototyped new gameplay ideas, such as updates to mini-games and core-progression systems.
  • Created an internal level editor tool to accommodate flexible development requirements.
  • Adhered to the development standards set by the lead engineer to create a polished and even project.
Release: TBD

Options Menu

  • I created the Options Menu using pre-existing logic.
  • Added interactivity through the bouncy and squishy feeling of the UI.

Daily Login

  • I implemented this screen that gives the player daily achievements when they start the game.
  • Screen and object shaking is used to make the act of touching the touch screen feel more tactile.

Furniture Swap

  • Created a feature to let players customize their "Home".
  • To make the world more dynamic, I made the furniture interact with the environment while the player is swapping it around.

Skill Points

  • I set up this menu where the player can allocate accrued currency to improve their squirrel's abilities.
  • We wanted it to be clear while keeping visual flourish.

Olympia Rising

Gallery View→

Summary View→

Auto-Save

  • Olympia Rising was originally going to only use a password system to let the player resume their progress.
  • I implemented an auto-save feature knowing a retro-inspired experience should not ignore modern quality of life features.

Jump Chaining

  • Killing an enemy while in air resets the player's jump counter.
  • I polished the system to improve game-feel and display their current chain count.

Enemy Behavior

I was responsible for implementing the behavior of the many colorful creatures found within Olympia Rising.
March 2014-August 2015 /  Freelance Programmer
  • The project was coded in JavaScript and uses the Impact HTML5 Canvas & JavaScript Game Engine.
  • Developed the game’s 2D gameplay systems, user interface, animations, and enemy A.I.
  • Intensively QA tested the game using a strict priority system in order to properly manage time.
  • Responsible for the digital packaging of the game’s release onto the Steam and Humble Bundle marketplaces
Download on Steam
↗

Auto-Save

  • Olympia Rising was originally going to only use a password system to let the player resume their progress.
  • I implemented an auto-save feature knowing a retro-inspired experience should not ignore modern quality of life features.

Jump Chaining

  • Killing an enemy while in air resets the player's jump counter.
  • I polished the system to improve game-feel and display their current chain count.

Enemy Behavior

I was responsible for implementing the behavior of the many colorful creatures found within Olympia Rising.

About Rob

Engines I've worked in are Unity (C#), Gamemaker Studio, and Impact. I'm learning Unreal Engine.
Version Control software I've worked with are Github and Sourcetree.
I'm an excellent collaborator & communicator who's exceptionally organized.
Quick learner who's ready to work on a cool new project.

​I realized breathing life into cute and fun characters brings me so much joy that I left my cushy corporate job to pursue games full-time. Aligning those pixels just right and getting an animation to bobble in the perfect way is one of my favorite parts of the game development process and I think that shows in the work I've done. ​I got my start in game development during my time in university, where I was brought on-board the Olympia Rising team as an assistant programmer. As development progressed I was tasked with bringing the project to the finish line as the lead programmer on the project.

I learned to love working on games with Olympia Rising and started Beak Breakers shortly afterward. It's a project I slowly chipped away at as a way to keep my skills and passion for game development close to my heart.​​ Pocket Squirrel and Cross Blitz taught me a lot over the past 3 years and am excited to move onto a new project. If your team needs a programmer with a great eye for artistic detail, pharmaceutical-level communication skills, and a knack for always coming through to get stuff done, then maybe I'd be a great fit! I'd love to hear from you.

Email me