The reason I got into programming and Computer Science was video games and I am lucky enough to earn my living at the moment as an indie game developer.

Currently, I am working on the game Star Command Galaxies, a spiritual sequel to our original mobile game, Star Command. I also occasionally work on various mobile apps or websites as a freelance contractor.

Previously, I worked with a startup group inside Microsoft developing a a location aware shopping app and service across where I did work on all three native mobile platforms at the time, Android/iOS/WP7.

When Apple announced the iPhone SDK I immediately found the cheapest used Mac (a Mac Mini) and jumped into learning to develop for the platform.

I’ve also worked in the past on websites, web applications and intranets, managed SQL databases, and administered both Linux and Windows systems.

Recently I completed my Masters of Computer Science (MCS) at Colorado State University (CSU), where I also received a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science.

Github | Twitter | Stackoverflow

This website is a place for me to present my ongoing works of digital and physical art: the code written, apps developed, graphics created, designs rendered, assembly assembled, languages learned, art drawn, photos taken, places traveled, and probably other random bits.

When not writing code I enjoy skiing, hiking, running, soccer, snowboarding, rafting, tubing, backpacking, brewery tours, riding roller coasters, sand volleyball, camping, golfing, watching movies, listening to music, video games, drawing, reading, and playing piano.

Computers, technology, and software has always fascinated me and I enjoy working in this ever-changing field that has recently brought us the incredible advancements of fully functional prosthetics, working artificial eyes and ears, genome sequencing, and LTE, to name a few. I feel lucky to have been old enough to have experienced the raw and exposed computers of the industry in its infancy having built my own computers, programmed in op code and assembly language, and using only the keyboard as input. I also feel lucky that I am young enough to experience the iPhone revolution, a ubiquitous internet, landing the curiosity on Mars, and knowing that I will likely see self-driving cars become commonplace.

Background

As with most kids born in the Nintendo generation I grew up learning about computers only as a means to play games. Insert the MS-DOS disk, swap with the game disk, type a few commands and bam you were playing Jeopardy, Double Dare, or Pac-Man.

Later on I discovered a game on the school computers called Logo. A few of us enjoyed seeing what we could get the little triangle “turtle” to perform. We eventually were able to create mazes with a more advanced version of LogoWrite and allowed the player to control the turtle with arrow buttons to move through various portals to other sections of the maze until they reached the end. Later it became apparent I wasn’t really playing a game, per se, but rather was learning simple programming. Concepts such as algorithms, subroutines, input, output, and simple graphic drawing.

A few years later my 5th grade teacher nudged me in the right direction where she presented me with HyperCard on the Mac, and a book on the BASIC programming language. Using QBasic on our PC at home I would learn by reading and modifying the sample games with help from the interactive help.

Sometime during my early teen years I bought the book Game Programming in 21 Days and proceeded to start writing a game based loosely off Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda, which I lovingly called Meepers. Reading this and its spiritual successor Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus, helped to bring me up to speed with C/C++, low-level graphics programming, vector math, sprites, frame-based animation, ray-casting, artificial intelligence, TSR programs, file loading, maps, tiles, optimization, and more.

Games I’ve Enjoyed Playing

Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Final Fantasy VII, and Portal 2., FTL, The Witness,

Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Mega Man 2, Bubble Bobble, Final Fantasy 4, Kings Quest V, Math Blasters, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Tecmo Bowl, Ice Hockey, RBI Baseball, Contra, TMNT, Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, A Link to the Past, Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Halo, Gears of War, Mass Effect, BioShock, Pro Skater 3, FIFA, Command & Conquer, Star Craft, WarCraft III, Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, SimCity, SimCity 2000, The Sims, and many others of course.