Skills
Creative Producer - 2k Games, Novato, CA November 2019 – December 2021
Providing publishing support for game development studios. Tracking milestone progress, roadmap planning, and creating reports. Providing game design, UI/UX, animation, art and build feedback to the studio for implementation. Establishing clear channels of communication with the developer and internally at 2K. Providing support to the developer with marketing, quality assurance, customer service, and other business essentials as needed. Creating competitive analysis documents, breaking down the competition for key takeaways. Directing voice over recordings and mastering audio.
Producer - PlayStudios, Burlingame, CA June 2017 – June 2019
Lead a cross-functional team of 25 people to create over 18 slot machine games in one year based on the King IP. Outlined an aggressive roadmap to hit our goals and worked with an overseas satellite studio to achieve it. Worked with leadership across departments to ensure live ops, marketing, and game creation were all in sync. Started communication and progress tracking best practices that were adopted by the company. Ran daily scrum and planning meetings. Created touchpoints for the team to always be in sync and working in parallel.
Senior Art Coordinator - Pocket Gems, San Francisco, CA June 2014 – June 2017
Created technical and visual styles guides - sped-up review process and allowed game to be finished in a 3-month cycle. Provided art direction to outsource studios - created a new tracking process adopted by the company that improved workflow by 50%.
Fixed production processes - Managed internal multi-disciplinary team tracking asset creation and timeline. Pushed for improvements based on my timeline to put us 1 month ahead of content instead of scrambling the last minute each week. Set the pace for several titles before moving on to the next to touch every game in the company and improve its workflow: War Dragons / Campus Life / Night at the Museum: Hidden Treasures / Paradise Cove / Secret Passages / Hidden Agendas / Wild Beyond.
Senior Artist - Zynga, San Francisco, CA September 2009 – June 2014
Saved over 400 hours a quarter by advocating for process changes and tool improvements. Received an award for driving these tool improvements. Worked cross-discipline to ensure quality art on schedule using agile / scrum methodologies. Oversaw handing off the entire game to the satellite India office. Traveled to India for a month to teach the team on the Farmville brand and technical aspects of game creation. Managed a team of artists as direct reports. Trained 2 interns and 3 junior artists on the art style, brand, and animation. Created art and animation for several assets that made over $1,000,000 alone.
Lead Artist – Warm and Fuzzy Logic October 08 – September 2009
Created 3D assets and props for PC games GoPets & GoDance. Designed UI wireframes and art for Book of Secrets. Interacted with the community, moderating the forums. Wrote and designed quests for GoPets weekly.
Education
Bachelor of Arts Digital Animation & Game Design - Ferris State University, Grand Rapids, MI 2009
Associate of Arts Graphic Design - Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids, MI 2005
- Agile / Scrum - leading multi-disciplinary internal and external teams using flexible agile methodologies. Running daily meetings and scrum.
- Scheduling / Roadmap Planning - Planning around risk, breaking roadblocks, and setting the cadence for an entire team on multi-million dollar projects on time with all goals met.
- People Management - Provided career advice, weekly 1on1s with team members. Resolved disputes, interviewed candidates for best team dynamics.
- Pipeline Process - Created my own game, Doggo Dungeon, solo on iOS & Android. I understand how to make games from start to finish for all disciplines. Been in the industry 12 years on several successful products.
Creative Producer - 2k Games, Novato, CA November 2019 – December 2021
Providing publishing support for game development studios. Tracking milestone progress, roadmap planning, and creating reports. Providing game design, UI/UX, animation, art and build feedback to the studio for implementation. Establishing clear channels of communication with the developer and internally at 2K. Providing support to the developer with marketing, quality assurance, customer service, and other business essentials as needed. Creating competitive analysis documents, breaking down the competition for key takeaways. Directing voice over recordings and mastering audio.
Producer - PlayStudios, Burlingame, CA June 2017 – June 2019
Lead a cross-functional team of 25 people to create over 18 slot machine games in one year based on the King IP. Outlined an aggressive roadmap to hit our goals and worked with an overseas satellite studio to achieve it. Worked with leadership across departments to ensure live ops, marketing, and game creation were all in sync. Started communication and progress tracking best practices that were adopted by the company. Ran daily scrum and planning meetings. Created touchpoints for the team to always be in sync and working in parallel.
Senior Art Coordinator - Pocket Gems, San Francisco, CA June 2014 – June 2017
Created technical and visual styles guides - sped-up review process and allowed game to be finished in a 3-month cycle. Provided art direction to outsource studios - created a new tracking process adopted by the company that improved workflow by 50%.
Fixed production processes - Managed internal multi-disciplinary team tracking asset creation and timeline. Pushed for improvements based on my timeline to put us 1 month ahead of content instead of scrambling the last minute each week. Set the pace for several titles before moving on to the next to touch every game in the company and improve its workflow: War Dragons / Campus Life / Night at the Museum: Hidden Treasures / Paradise Cove / Secret Passages / Hidden Agendas / Wild Beyond.
Senior Artist - Zynga, San Francisco, CA September 2009 – June 2014
Saved over 400 hours a quarter by advocating for process changes and tool improvements. Received an award for driving these tool improvements. Worked cross-discipline to ensure quality art on schedule using agile / scrum methodologies. Oversaw handing off the entire game to the satellite India office. Traveled to India for a month to teach the team on the Farmville brand and technical aspects of game creation. Managed a team of artists as direct reports. Trained 2 interns and 3 junior artists on the art style, brand, and animation. Created art and animation for several assets that made over $1,000,000 alone.
Lead Artist – Warm and Fuzzy Logic October 08 – September 2009
Created 3D assets and props for PC games GoPets & GoDance. Designed UI wireframes and art for Book of Secrets. Interacted with the community, moderating the forums. Wrote and designed quests for GoPets weekly.
Education
Bachelor of Arts Digital Animation & Game Design - Ferris State University, Grand Rapids, MI 2009
Associate of Arts Graphic Design - Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids, MI 2005
