Simon Hallam

Nov 2001 - Present

Lead Programmer, Reflexive Entertainment Inc. As lead programmer my responsibilities include design, implementation & extension of key systems in Reflexive’s proprietary game development system, while ensuring that these systems retain cross project compatibility. I have developed character control & weapon management systems, an expression evaluation extension which allows designers to easily modify variables controlling all aspects of game play tuning & balancing, plus a modular plugin system allowing designers to build or extend characters & objects from separate behavioural systems, creating completely new runtime classes of objects which would normally require complex custom programming using multiple inheritance in an object oriented language. I also developed a realtime 3D model rendering system which utilizes Rad Game Tools’ Granny animation library.

Jan 2001 - Sep 2001

Senior Lead Programmer, Virtue Arts Inc. My responsibilities include leading development of projects & promotions demonstrating Virtue Arts’ component based rapid application development system, plus researching & developing new components to complement their current system, including 3D special effect rendering, high speed 3D terrain rendering & interfaces to external hardware 3D tracking systems.

Jul 1999 - Dec 2000

Senior Lead Programmer, The Collective Inc. I lead development of “Deep Space Nine: The Fallen” published by Simon & Schuster Interactive. I implemented visual effects, weaponry, gameplay systems using the Unreal scripting language & optimized various elements of the Unreal engine in C++. Towards the end of the project I also assumed the role of Producer. I was required to liase with Simon & Schuster’s upper management, external quality control groups, as well as provide information & interviews for the press & TV.

Jan 1999 - Jul 1999

Freelance Programmer / Consultant, after moving from England back to Southern California, I worked as a freelance programmer / consultant:

I contracted with the Ridgeback Technical Group, developing a PC application in Visual Basic for a ground based shipping company. I developed user input dialogs & information viewers, which created & utilised data contained within an SQL database.

3D Graphics Programming Consultant for Stealth Productions, I aided the design of 3D rendering technology "XSIV3D", was on call to answer questions & offer advice on systems design, plus provide sample sourcecode to other development groups. I also developed a prototype for their PC based videogame "Stealth Force".

Mar 1994 - Jan 1999

Senior Engineer, Zono Inc. I moved from England to Southern California to develop software on prototype Sega Saturn hardware, I was lead programmer on “mrBones”, designing & developing systems to manage each of the Saturn’s processors, the main DSP & user input microcontroller, as well as leading the 6 programmers on the internal development team. I designed & developed the game’s 3D render engine, motion capture tools, the main game character & 4 game levels. I developed a new video compression system & a hierarchical animation system known as “NodeMixer”, both of which were integrated into mrBones.

I helped design & develop prototype hardware for a handheld LCD videogame product, which used an innovative projection system to create images much larger than in competing products.

Project manager & lead programmer on “RingMan” targeted for Sega DreamCast. I designed & coded the DirectX 3D render engine, object movement system & main character. I interfaced directly with the project’s producer & the development team designing DreamCast’s hardware & software systems.

I designed & developed the 3D render engine for the game “MetalFatigue”, which switches between utilising DirectX, OpenGL, Glide & SGL libraries to attain maximum render performance on a PC. I designed & developed the AI pathfinder, object movement system, main robot characters, all of the games visual special effects plus many game objects. When key members of the team relocated from California to the U.K. I managed Zono’s small U.K. office.

May 1992 - Feb 1994

C.E.O. Hazelnut Design Ltd. My responsibilities included providing system design for our Sega Genesis game engine & hero character, to design & develop an Acorn Archimedes based Genesis development tool set, design & fabricate eprom cartridges for the Genesis target machine, plus develop & maintain relationships with U.K. & U.S. publishers.

Sept 1990 - May 1992

Proprietor, Vision Quest, I designed & developed “PaintBox”, a painting package for the ARM powered Acorn Archimedes range of personal computers which I published myself, "Grievous Bodily ‘ARM”, the first beat-‘em-up style videogame for the Archimedes, published by The Fourth Dimension. I developed “Picture Book”, a suite of educational games published by Triple ‘R’ Education, I converted “Picture Book” to PC & Atari ST formats, plus “Target Maths” to Atari ST format, all of which were published by Triple ‘R’ Education. I developed “ARCtist” (an enhanced version of PaintBox) which was published by The Fourth Dimension.

Jan 1988 - Jul 1990

Software Engineer, Rare Ltd. I developed hardware & software for a PC based graphics digitising system, developed an operating system for Rare's arcade hardware "The Razz Board" & developed the arcade game "Fokker" for The Razz Board. I was project leader & programmer on "One On One" & "Timelord", both rom based videogames for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Assistant programmer on "Marble Madness" & "Pinbot", both also for the NES. I designed & co-developed a wireframe 3D viewing system, which ran on the NES, plus designed the videogame concept "Screwballs Superleague" for the NES & lead its development.