I've been developing software applications for over 15 years starting with Microsoft Access and evolving into modern cloud-based solutions. As an AWS certified solutions architect, I've developed everything from simple websites, event management, calendar and booking systems, shopping carts to video game AI, high availability digital transaction systems, full stack APIs and enterprise level embedded solutions.

AWS

For over a decade, I've been deploying all projects using Amazon Web Services. Their reliability has been rock-solid, and the tools provided make deployment quite easy. In addition, I've worked with Github, Bitbucket, Jenkins, Codepipeline and Perforce for CI/CD.

C++ Game Development

I've worked on three video games, all written in C++. Insurgency and Day Of Infamy were built using Source Engine, and Insurgency Sandstorm was built using UE4. For Insurgency, I used the Nextbot system designed for Left 4 Dead, and enhanced it for the advanced combat needs of Insurgency. This included enhanced spatial awareness, pathfinding, and combat analysis.

I also developed a behavior stack system that was proven to be a formidable opponent. In short, behaviors formed a stack, with the highest behavior working as a finite state machine. What differed from a pure FSM, was the stack, and the ability to query the stack for an answer, such as 'Should I Retreat'. What made it so effective, was the difference in answers received, depending on the contents of the stack. One layer of the stack was always the classification of weapon and that led to different results. This unpredictability, and tailored behavior, led to an AI opponent that is revered to this day.

"Oh yeah: the AI. Insurgency has a co-op mode where you clear the level of competent and sometimes-vicious bots, which is good practice. To their credit, I learned a fair bit about the art of concealing myself as I was playing against the automatons."

That same AI was re-used for Day Of Infamy with a new objective behaviors, but the original enhancements and combat stack remained.

Web Development

I started programming websites and web applications right out of high school. My interest in online-based gaming led me to start working on informational sites related to these games. Not too long after I had my first official website release for Global FX Radio, an online subscription site that utilized Joomla! and Paypal to purchase and manage user subscriptions to online podcasts. My ability to produce a usable site gave me the confidence and experience to grow to where I am now. Since then, I've completed well over a dozen website projects.

I build every site fully responsive, using the latest releases of Bootstrap and JQuery, and minimal CSS. While I am a highly proficient front-end developer, my best work has been in conjunction with artists. I have great understanding of UI and UX principles, but an artist I am not. Data-driven websites have become my greatest talent as a result.

Hardware and Networking

At the start of it all was a love for computers, and what they represent. I am old enough to remember the internet pre-AOL, and have been utilizing digital communication in my social life well before any social networks existed. I've built just about every computer I've owned, and many more for friends, family and clients. Over time, I've learned a lot about computer hardware and networking for the video games, as I was in charge of setting up the workstations and networks. I've gained intimate knowledge of hardware performance since, and recently was able to expand my knowledge into the enterprise networking arena. My last networking project was a development studio consisting of 10Gbe networking, SFP28 & SFP+ Fiber Optics, and full Active Directory domain control.