Alexander Peck 1174 Midway Court Novato, CA 94947 Cell (415) 250-4241 [email protected]
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Alexander Peck 1174 Midway Court Novato, CA 94947 Cell (415) 250-4241 [email protected] Skills Languages ● C / C++ ● Numerous scripting languages including Lua, Python, Perl, and Javascript ● Java, C# ● Assembly language for various architectures back to 6502 Platforms ● Windows ● Unreal Engine 4 ● some MacOS, web, console and mobile development Experience 2016-present ILMxLAB and Lucasfilm Advanced San Francisco, CA Development Group Engineering manager for ILMxLAB and the Lucasfilm Advanced Development Group. Manage over a dozen engineers, advise on technology, management, and production issues including project bids. Senior programmer on Ralph Breaks VR, a location-based entertainment experience for The VOID. Programmed combat and NPC behavior. Senior programmer on Carne y Arena, a unique high-end VR experience for a museum installation authored with a modified Unreal Engine. Created interactive elements, supported the technical artists, and generally kept development moving smoothly. 2015-2016 Linden Research San Francisco, CA Senior programmer on Project Sansar, a platform for allowing users to create and host virtual worlds. Led a team to create the world editor. Raised the level of project planning on Sansar by proving a team could set and deliver goals over the course of a release. Helped to integrate advanced planning software into the development process and improve communication between the engineering and product teams. 2005-2015 Maxis / Electronic Arts Emeryville, CA Senior Programmer on Spore, a game about the evolution of a single- celled lifeform to a galaxy-spanning empire. Wrote game simulation, locomotion, and pathfinding code for the civilization stage of the game. Also worked on Galactic Adventures, an expansion pack allowing users to create their own missions for the game. Designed and wrote a character behavior system that users could interact with at multiple levels of depth. Senior Programmer for Darkspore, an online multiplayer action RPG based around assembling squads of customized creatures to carry out missions. Worked closely with the designer, animator, and effects artists on creating characters for the game. Wrote character behavior AI and maintained the pathfinding and audio libraries. Profiled and optimized the server-side game engine. Senior Programmer on Sim City (2013), working on user interaction and disaster sequences. In the latter stages, transitioned to Development Director, directing the UI team and the disaster team, scheduling work and providing status reports upwards. During the live service phase led teams of six to eight developers to create eight separate downloadable content packages, including scheduling and budgets. Development Director on multiple prototype and pre-production efforts. Manager of between five and ten direct reports over the last two years, providing career guidance and evaluation for compensation. 2003-2005 Sonic Solutions, Inc. Novato, CA Senior Programmer on DVD It!, a DVD-authoring tool aimed at semi-professionals. The position required quickly learning a vast legacy codebase and adding features without breaking existing functionality across a range of products. Worked on various video-related technologies including editing, DirectShow playback, and image processing. 2001-2003 Maxis / Electronic Arts Walnut Creek, CA Senior Programmer for Sim City 4, a city management game. Redesigned and wrote the traffic simulation aspects of the game as well as city budget, a dynamic system for displaying graphical elements based on simulation conditions, and numerous other small features. Support engineer for The Sims Hot Date, an expansion pack for the best-selling game The Sims. Wrote the installer and maintained the build process for five different SKUs in fourteen different languages. Aided game simulation programmers as time allowed. 2000-2001 Lucas Learning, Ltd San Rafael, CA Senior Programmer for Super Star Wars Heroes, a console project intended for Playstation 2 before its cancellation. This included an exporter plugin for 3D Studio Max, runtime support for much of the exported data, a path-constrained player-tracking camera, and a suite of tools for level designers. Wrote an asset tracking system for art assets similar to Visual Source Safe but designed to work in a web browser. Worked on an R&D project to stitch together discrete islands of 3D geometry with filler polygons. 1999-2000 Human Code, Inc. (Presage Software) San Rafael, CA Hired to bring 3D technology into the San Rafael studio. Evaluated 3D engines and wrote benchmarking programs for testing. Worked on artificial intelligence for a demo of the final engine choice, an advanced spline-based real-time renderer. Took over lead programming position on Mattel's Nickelodeon's Brain Bender in order to see the project to its completion. Lent programming assistance to Computer Sound Morpher, a smart toy product for Intel Play. 1998-1999 LifeLike Productions, Inc. Sausalito, CA Programmer for numerous Sony Playstation demo samplers and CD- magazines. Wrote a class library in C++ for the Playstation which came to be used on all the company's projects. The library included 2D, 3D, sound, and game controller support. Wrote a 3D walk-around demo for the Nuon (Project X) system. Wrote a 3D exporter tool for Playstation, Windows, and Nuon formats. 1997-1998 Independent Contractor Greenbrae, CA Contract employment as software engineer for Level 4 Media Productions, writing a tool to aid in the layout of DVD video discs. Tasks included programming in Java and consultation on user interface design. Education B.S. in Computer Science, San Francisco State University .