Experience:

Independent Contractor | July 2024 to Present
Graphic Designer / Game Designer / Student – Learn and Grow | Blood, Sweat, Tears                             

  • Freelance Graphic Design services offering Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing “A+” content to indie authors
  • Indie game design and Blueprint scripting for Unreal Engine projects on Fab and Steam
  • Advanced Learning – Epic Games Game Design Professional Certificate via Coursera.com
  • Advanced Learning – Project Management Professional (PMP) certification

Stray Kite Studios | January to June 2024
Lead Producer – Wartorn | Unreal Engine                             

  • Drove Proof of Concept phase for Wartorn, a promising new IP developed in UE5. Successfully executed on plans for a prototype build to pitch to publishers, receiving high praise and interest
  • Designed, optimized, and executed efficient new team-wide production processes, including backlog handling, milestone scheduling, and risk management, utilizing Jira, Slack, Gather, and Coda in collaboration with a distributed team
  • Mentorship and career guidance for a dynamic young production team, fostering talent and skill development. Supported one AP to lead his first internal project through a successful prototype greenlight
  • Leveraged UE Blueprint knowledge to support the design team in unit creation and implementation

Epic Games | November 2022 to October 2023
Producer – Online Marketplace Distribution Team (Epic Games Launcher)                                                         

  • Led a critical Priority 0 compliance documentation audit with internal and external teams under tight deadlines for consumer and child protection initiatives, reporting to Epic’s C-Suite and Senior Legal teams, ensuring company-wide adherence to legal standards
  • Spearheaded a Priority 1 initiative, reporting directly to Epic’s C-Suite. Successfully optimizing the cold startup time of the Epic Games Launcher, achieving a reduction of over 10 seconds
  • Designed and executed a major overhaul of the Distribution team’s operational procedures. Optimized and drastically improved backlog grooming workflow,  cleaning up hundreds of invalid or incomplete tickets. Streamlined an asynchronous planning strategy allowing 20+ developers around the world to quickly and efficiently plan sprints that aligned with leadership’s goals

Gearbox Publishing | August 2021 to October 2022
Senior Producer – Relic Hunters Legend | Unity | Steam                                                 

  • Orchestrated the successful development and implementation of the Gearbox SHiFT community tool, collaborating with internal backend and external game teams to integrate it into a Unity project for the first time.
  • Drove external development planning, design goals, and publishing requirements for Relic Hunters: Legend. Directed future development through detailed milestone feedback, risk assessment, and focus testing in collaboration with Gearbox Publishing leadership culminating in an early access launch that exceeded expectations
  • Developed and leveraged a strong relationship with external development partners, leading to a successful merger with GBX Publishing

Harebrained Schemes | January 2019 to July 2021
Lead Producer – The Lamplighter’s League | Unity | Xbox Series X/S and PC

  • Lead a newly created team to a wildly successful Proof of Concept greenlight on the ambitious original IP, The Lamplighter’s League
  • Mentorship and career guidance for a talented young Production team; all of whom are now highly successful Senior Producers around the industry
  • Expanded and strengthened the publishing partnership with parent company, Paradox Interactive. Lamplighter’s success set new standards for how the greenlight process worked within all of Paradox
  • Spearheaded the voice talent production, carrying out due diligence to secure a SAG talent scout, coordinating the recording schedule for 50,000+ lines across 12 actors, overseeing budget management, and ensuring all voice assets were delivered on time for game implementation

Six Foot | January 2017 to December 2018
Senior Producer – Live Producer (PC) – Dreadnought | Unreal Engine | Steam

  • Planned and executed all PC live maintenance downtimes, as well as on-call response direction; drove major workflow enhancements in collaboration with QA, DevOps, and Publishing to drastically reduce required downtime from 2+ hours to 10 minutes. Drove development decisions through data analysis to increase overall retention and revenue
  • Directed regular and concise communication across all development and publishing departments including C-Suite and Senior Leadership increasing visibility and understanding of current objectives and open issues
  • Mentored junior production staff, including the very successful inaugural ‘Production Embed’ program for QA staff resulting in multiple promotions

Previous Roles:

  • Talent Development Manager – Yager Development GmbH, August 2013 to July 2015
    • Employee retention and career development
  • Lead Producer – Yager Development GmbH, April 2010 to May 2012
    • Spec Ops: The Line | Released June 2012 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC
  • Senior Producer, Large Animal Games, May 2012 to April 2013
    • Multiple Facebook and iOS projects


Additional Experience:

  • Lead Producer – Monolith Productions/WB Games
  • Director of QA – Testing Testing 123

Education:

Bachelors of Science in Technology: Commercial Graphics
Pittsburg State University – Pittsburg, KS