Thoughts from the trenches.
Seeing the matrix
Debug isn't just for finding bugs. It's a way of seeing the game nobody else on the team gets to see. Here's why it might be the closest thing programmers have to a superpower.
Leaving gameplay made me a better gameplay programmer
Gameplay felt like the only part of the game that mattered. UI and AI taught me otherwise. Here's what changed when I stopped thinking my discipline was the center of the experience.
Nobody was coming
For years, I thought working hard would naturally move my career forward. It took me much longer than I'd like to admit to realize that nobody was steering it except me.
The best compliment I never received
Two and a half years working on Assassin's Creed Origins, reworking a system that no one noticed. Or perhaps they did?
Keeping the flame
Six years in on Echo from the Void. Full-time job, West coast hours, East coast mornings. Here's what actually kept me going.
The stupidest and most fun bug I ever chased
A 10% repro rate. An NPC dying for no reason next to a helicopter. And absolutely no idea why.
What robotics taught me about game AI
One year at Aldebaran, making robots behave. It turns out making an NPC feel alive isn't so different, until the robot burns its engine.