Description

Hi! I have been working in Game Development / Digital Art Production for over 10 years. I am currently working full-time as Art Director and Lead Animator with Rocketcat Games. We're developing a First-Person Rogue-like game, 'Dad by the Sword'. We have been in full development for over a year. (pre-production / R&D for 2 years before that.)

My day to day includes creating high quality animations, art direction, and communicating with team members on their tasks / scheduling. Answering any artistic direction questions, which may include doing concept art, sketches, or helping develop visual libraries. My own development tasks include : animation, level layout / design, gameplay and game feel adjustments.

Before that, I led a small team in completing, 'The Song of Seven', an adventure / narrative title on PC. Since then, I have been finishing the 'Director's Cut' which features upgraded visuals, performance fixes, controller support, bug fixes, and more.

Making games is my passion. I hope to be creating interesting projects for the rest of my life!

Portfolio -

Languages

English
Native or bilingual
Japanese
Conversational

Workplace preferences

Remote only

Primarily works remotely

RocketCat Games
Lead Animator and Art Director
June 2017 - Today (9 years)
Currently developing Dad by the Sword - A 3D First-Person, Rogue-Like, dungeon crawling, sword based combat game for PC and consoles.
-Directed and led a team of 10 members across all disciplines to adhere to our art style.
-Designed and created unique animation sets for a first person player camera, enemies, bosses and environments.
-Directed and animated in-game cinematics for boss introductions.
-Rigged and Skinned characters for Animation production.
-Developed a specific style of animations to enhance the games quality and readability in gameplay.
-Planned and communicated with the projects programmers to assist in creating animation tools and systems for efficient workflow and quality.
-Solved difficult design challenges for unique animation and gameplay systems. -Worked directly with junior artists to help guide and develop their skills.
-Reviewed all assets and animation before engine implementation.
-Brought NPC and enemies characters to life from concept to production. -Implemented all animations into the game engine.
-Tweaked values for the best possible game feel. Other responsibilities include : Lighting, 3D Modeling, Level Design, Game Design, Game Feel, Production, Task Management and Milestone scheduling.

http://www.rocketcat-games.com/
Northwestern University
Adjunct Professor
January 2024 - Today (2 years and 5 months)
Evanston, IL, USA
Classes Taught : Game Animation

I taught absolute beginners how to 3d animate a character. Utilizing the 12 principles of animation and game animation principles to set the necessary foundations of learning to create professional quality animations for games.
Flower Twig
Game Director
February 2013 - Today (13 years and 4 months)
Oak Park, IL, USA
From 2013-2016 I led a team of young developers to releasing "The Song of Seven" on Steam. A puzzle / adventure game. I created and nurtured a growth focused culture, where I focused on putting every team member I hired in a position to succeed. On top of my normal skillsets such as animation, art direction and design, I guided our team on a production schedule from start to finish. Despite its limited budget, we were able to create a visually striking and heart-warming tale about a boy looking for a new life.