Project

Blitz Games, Empire Interactive & Rebellion

Project1998 — 2007

C++
Game Development
Real-Time Graphics
PC (Windows)
PlayStation
Xbox
Nintendo 64
Sega Dreamcast

Nine years, three studios, and a run of published titles across PC and console. It was work in a high-pressure environment, where any given day could throw up a fresh set of problems, and it taught two things quickly: how to write high-performance code (including debugging and optimisation), and how to collaborate efficiently when up against tight schedules. Both carried over intact into everything that followed, outside of games.

Blitz Games (formerly Interactive Studios)

Jul 1998 — Jan 2000

Joined straight out of university and was assigned immediately to a new team working on Frogger 2, part of a long-running and popular video game franchise. The work was primarily the ongoing development of in-house graphics technology across multiple platforms, PC and console alike, alongside other parts of game development — gameplay mechanics, basic AI, scripting systems and similar — and supporting colleagues on other projects as the business needed.

Duties included:

Development of in-house, cross-platform graphics technology in support of multiple projects.
Research and development using new and emerging gaming technologies.
Assisting the lead programmer in producing work plans to meet milestone deliveries.

Technologies used included:

C and C++
DirectX / Direct3D and OpenGL
Proprietary APIs and libraries

Frogger 2 gameplay with a pink frog perilously avoiding rolling balls of stone in an underground cavern. — Frogger 2, developed at Interactive Studios.

Frogger 2 gameplay with a frog attempting to cross a river full of crocodiles, logs and turtles. — Frogger 2 gameplay.

The Frogger 2 menu screen, showing a frog character alongside the various game options. — Frogger 2 menu screen.

Empire Interactive (Strangelite Studio)

Mar 2002 — Nov 2005

One of a handful of programmers working on various PC games, several of them ports from other platforms. Spent a few months porting Crazy Taxi from the Dreamcast to PC, and was part of the team on Starship Troopers, which endured a difficult and compressed development. Also worked on Delta Force: Black Hawk Down – Team Sabre, with smaller contributions to the PC port of Virtua Tennis and the Xbox version of Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller.

Duties included:

Development and support of in-house graphics technology.
Porting of code from one platform to another.
Working on design documents and concept demonstrations.

Technologies used included:

C and C++
Microsoft Visual Studio
DirectX / Direct3D and OpenGL
Cg and HLSL
Proprietary APIs and libraries

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down – Team Sabre gameplay, showing the player holding a gun and advancing through a dense jungle alongside specialist soldiers in full combat gear. — Delta Force: Black Hawk Down – Team Sabre.

Crazy Taxi (PC) gameplay, showing a yellow taxi flying through the air during a rapid descent of a hill, and with a customer in the back of the car. — Crazy Taxi, the PC port.

Starship Troopers gameplay, showing the player firing a weapon from an elevated position in a base, as hundreds of alien bugs attack in hordes across a desert-like planet. — Starship Troopers.

Rebellion (Strangelite Studio)

Dec 2005 — Jul 2007

Many varied and interesting games across PC, PSP, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Directly credited on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Star Wars: Battlefront – Renegade Squadron, and alongside those, contributed to Asura — Rebellion's in-house game and graphics engine, which has since run titles including Alien vs Predator and the Sniper Elite series. Other work covered special effects, UI design, localisation, AI and gameplay mechanics.

Strangelite Studio became Rebellion Liverpool following the acquisition, which is why both names attach to this period.

Duties included:

Development and support of various game projects across multiple platforms.
Regular reports and updates to the lead programmers.
Ongoing support and development of in-house gaming technology, current and future generation.
Working on design documents and concept demonstrations.

Technologies used included:

C and C++
Microsoft Visual Studio
SourceSafe
DirectX / Direct3D and OpenGL
Proprietary APIs and libraries

Star Wars: Battlefront – Renegade Squadron gameplay, showing an X-Wing fighter in combat against a Tie Fighter, set against a backdrop of a huge Imperial Star Destroyer. — Star Wars: Battlefront – Renegade Squadron.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix gameplay, showing the game's main protagonist using his wand in a common room at Hogwarts School. — Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Alien vs Predator gameplay, showing a Xenomorph alien being attacked by the player. — Alien vs Predator, built on Rebellion's Asura engine.

Frogger is a trademark of Konami. Crazy Taxi, Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller and Virtua Tennis are trademarks of Sega. Starship Troopers is a trademark of Sony Pictures / TriStar Pictures. Asura and Sniper Elite are trademarks of Rebellion. All other game names are trademarks of their respective owners. Game imagery on this page is reproduced to illustrate credited work and remains their copyright. The studios and publishers named here are former employers and credits, not clients of Code Concise, and nothing on this page implies their endorsement.

These roles also appear on the career timeline.