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Suggestions for useful programs for Windows

 
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Kerr Avon
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 PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:16 am    Post subject: Suggestions for useful programs for Windows Reply with quote Back to top

I was asked to recommend a couple of programs (which happens enough to make me wish I had a fiver for every time!), and I didn't know offhand either type of program, but since work is slow ATM, I've tried a few, and UK's Kalender and Free Youtube Download seem to do what was asked for. So I thought that since we've not had a "Useful Windows programs" thread in a while, that I'd create one now.

Please post any Windows programs (not games, but anything else that you find interesting, please), preferably free, but also shareware or professional if they're worth the cash. And if you post something that you think is better than a similar program in someone else's post, then please post why you think it's better.

Here are some programs that I use (except for the first two listed, I'm new to those), and that I put on new/fixed PCs that go through my hands, if needed. All of these are either free or have free versions that contain the functions that you need. Just google for them.



UK's Kalender - displays a calander on boot up (and whenever you want to see it, of course) and can be used to set reminders, even in the form of an event that's every x days (or weeks).

Free Youtube Download - allows you to queue up Youtube videos to download, and then to automatically convert them to different formats.


7Zip - archiver/dearchiver (uses the usual formats, such as zip, 7z, rar, etc).

VLC - Movie player.

WinAMP - Music player (yes, it's ancient, but it does what I want it to, so whay change?).

Irfanview - image viewer.

Format Factory - movie/music converter.

Calibre - ebook viewer and converter.

FileLocator Lite - searches for files on your discs, a better file finder than Windows' own.

Treesize - shows you how much space different folders and files take up on your hard drive.

Unlocker - deletes or moves files that Windows refuses to.

Avast! - anti-virus and anti-malware software.

Malwarebytes Anti-malware - use this with Avast! (they don't clash, don't worry) so you have two great products protecting your PC from infection.

Zone Alarm - firewall.

CCleaner - clears unwanted data from your PC, to speed up your PC and save hard drive space.

Foxit - PDF reader.

Internet Download Accelerator - for queueing up and downloading files.

DoubleKiller - Duplicate file finder.

Folder Sort - alters the order of files on a drive, which I use to order songs alphabetically on my mp3 player.

SmartDisk Fat32 Format Utility - allows you to format USB sticks/external drives to FAT32 for media players etc that need FAT32. Windows does this, but has severe limitations on the size of the drives it will format, so use this program instead.



Warning:

You're probably aware of this already, but some programs (including some above) have the nasty modern habbit of installing stuff that you don't want, such as a new search bar, or changing your home page, etc. All of the programs in my list (if they do that) allow you to select an option NOT to do that, but they might be set to install them by default, so when you run the installer, ALWAYS click custom install if it is an option, and ALWAYS read what the installer says (well, maybe not the long text itself (I never do), but always the click-able options) and make sure there is no tick inside the box of any option that you son't want.
 
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acceptable67
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 PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Hmm... You really covered some great ones. I'll view my desktop and see which applications I can throw in.

HexEdit - Simple fast hex editor

Fraps - Probably the best program for recording anything, whether it be desktop or games, but not the best for file output size, so further compression is imperative.

VMware Workstation - Handy dandy for virtual machines

Clover - Creates Google Chrome-like tabs for Windows Explorer. For many this would be a hard adjustment but you get used to it.

WinSCP - FTP handling work. FileZilla is a good alternative!

Microsoft Office Suite 2013 - Many things encompassed here: SQL server, Word processor, Email application, SkyDrive, PowerPoint, Excel spreadsheets, note taking etc. Generally all interconnected by your Microsoft Account.

Notepad++ - Great text editor with syntax highlighting.

Gyazo - Instant desktop screenshot/.gif creator. Handy for those who don't want to have to go to a website manually and upload their photo.

Eclipse - Simple Java IDE

Visual Studio CT 14 - Perhaps the best C/C++/C#/D IDE known, although a matter of opinion.

Audacity - Solid music editing application/recorder.

Adobe Dreamweaver - Webpage creation application

Adobe Photoshop - Arguably the best photo editing application out there (maybe hardware intensive.)
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 PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

I only got one, that is video pad editor.
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 PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Bandicam! It's what I use to record my level reviews. Smile
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 PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Here quite a few for those who want a "Personal" touch to there windows computers.

Classic Shell: Entirely free and very well useful for any operation system from Windows 7 to Windows 8/8.1. Fantastic for those who want the good old Windows 95 feel or to bring back the start menu from Windows 95 style straight up to Windows 7 style along with an option to change there start button orb.

MiniTool Partition Wizard: This program is design to help ease the pain for those who likes to make many partitions within Windows itself. Windows really does not handle partition making really well. Well in other words, it can be horribly dreadful to work with Windows Partition maker. So with this tool I use it to help making dual Operation booting way easier.

Now to just throw in a opinion, Avast Virus protector is by far not any good at all. I've lost many files from it needing to delete it to save my system from having issues. I would personally choose any other Virus protector over Avast any day. I consider Microsoft Windows Defender to be quite impressive and very well updated, because it can save my files from ever needing to delete anything but the Virus itself. So it's quite fantastic. Even though Kaspersky is consider the best virus protector around though.

Another useful program would be Teamviewer, this program is fantastic for those who likes to help others who are very far away or to help and share some helpful computer tech guiding with ease.
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 PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

My computer runs Windows 2000 so I have some pretty old stuff on here (stuff which I'm not even sure is still available out there).

Here's some of what I still use today:

CoffeeCup FreeFTP (an older version, I think 2.something)

Zoom Player - a free media player with a nice user interface

JPEG Optimizer 3.15 - a free jpg converter which allows you to convert a bmp, jpg, or tif file to a jpg file. You can set a compression setting between 1 and 100 and do things like greyscale, extra color, and extra compression for just certain parts of your bmp file. The preview screen is constantly updated with every change you make.

VLC Media Player - Easily the best "modern" media player out there. Version 2 is still the best

WinLame Light - great little .wav to .mp3 converter

GoldWave 4.26 - I prefer this to Audacity for audio editing

ImgBurn - simple utility for creating .iso files from CDs and writing .iso files to blank CDs

ISO to USB - simple little utility for making bootable USB flash drives out of bootable ISOs.

TomComm Unzip - obviously unnecessary with any modern version of Windows, but Windows 2000 can't natively read zip files, this is a simple utility for extracting zip files

DVDStyler - my favorite DVD authoring program

FreeRAR Extract Frog - freeware for extracting RAR files

Phatsoft JoyMouse - for mapping mouse controls to a Game pad.

ScummVM - plays a lot of the older Adventure/Point and click games
 
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Trevor
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 PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Anim8or - Free 3D modeler I use for GE Modeling

Pixleformer - free Texture/Icon paint program I use for GE Modeling

Lithunwrap - free UV Unwrapper for 3D models I use for GE Modeling

Obj2An8 - Subs tool for importing obj files to an8 with lots of customising options.

...
PerfectGold - need I say anything else hahaha, an absolute must for GE/PD developers

Trev
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gc_artuso87
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 PostPosted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 11:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Since this section has not been updated for 5 years, I'll share what programs I used on my PC;

OS: Windows 10 Enterprise x64 (Volume Edition - latest build release)

==Commercial Applications==
- Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2019 x64 (Volume Edition - also includes Project Pro and Visio Pro)
- VMware Workstation Pro 15.5
- Adobe Photoshop CS6
- AnvSoft Any Video Converter Ultimate

==Freeware / Open Source==
- 7-Zip (64-bit)
- Adblock Plus
- Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
- Audacity
- AVG AntiVirus FREE
- Captura (open source screen recorder)
- CDBurnerXP
- GIMP
- Google Chrome
- ImgBurn
- IrfanView (64-bit)
- Microsoft Edge Chromium
- Mozilla Firefox (64-bit)
- Mozilla Thunderbird (64-bit)
- O&O ShutUp10
- O&O AppBuster
- OBS Studio (64-bit)
- Ookla Speedtest for Desktop
- Open-Shell (a classic start menu replacement, formerly Classic Shell)
- OpenShot Video Editor
- Paint.net
- PicPick
- ShareX
- Skype
- SumatraPDF
- VLC Media Player
- Winamp
- Windows 10 Firewall Control by Sphinx

==IT-related Applications==
- Avanset VCE Exam Simulator Pro
- Avanset Visual CertExam Suite
- Cisco Packet Tracer (network simulator from Cisco Netacad)
- GNS3 (simulates real router and switch images from various vendors)
- Notepad++
- Npcap
- PuTTY
- Python 3
- SolarWinds Solar-PuTTY
- SuperPuTTY (a frontend for PuTTY to enable tabbing)
- Tftpd64
- UltraVNC
- VcXsrv (a Windows X Server to forward Linux/UNIX applications to Windows desktop)
- VirtViewer (used for GNS3 for SPICE VNC)
- WinSCP
- Wireshark
 
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MultiplayerX
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 PostPosted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 3:53 am    Post subject: This is awesome Reply with quote Back to top

I had no idea this thread existed. Very Happy I use an AWESOME model conversion program called NOESIS. It can handle almost any model type you throw at it. FBX and 3DS depends on your skills optimizing in AutoDesk since they keep changing versions all the time conversion can lose accuracy. I use it to convert .OBJ to .SMD so I can compile models that Source Engine can use. It's really good with older model types specifically QUAKE and earlier graphics based crap. I've become friends with the programmer Rich Whitehouse. He's a really good dude and used to work for VALVE and knows what he's doing when it comes to programming and conversion. Hope this helps. Multi

NOESIS MODEL CONVERTER:
https://richwhitehouse.com/index.php?content=inc_projects.php&showproject=91

Just for reference, here is his history in the gaming industry. I'll mention what we do here for GE and PD in the setup editor the next time we email. I'm sure he'd find our small group of Rogue HACKERS intriguing either way. Lol. Laughing

Resume
Rich Whitehouse
Document created October 24, 2004.
Last updated August 18, 2019.
Experience Summary
Over twenty years of experience in video game programming and development.
Experience on numerous commercial titles for Windows/PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, GameCube, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and various other platforms. Titles include Star Wars: Jedi Knight II, Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy, Soldier of Fortune Gold, Soldier of Fortune II, X-Men Legends, Prey, ReCore, Fortnite, and others.
Functioned as multiplayer/network programmer on two commercial Quake III engine titles, as well as one DOOM III engine title.
Experience instructing and educating employees, as well as working professionally with third parties.
Contracted and managed multiple employees, as the owner of a small video game development studio.
Worked directly with publishers and thirdparty developers, as an independent contractor.
Performed lead and management roles at well-established studios.
Experience in maximizing performance and visual fidelity on a large variety of devices and platforms, from limited embedded/mobile systems to cutting-edge PC/console systems.
Experience developing and maintaining complex software tools for a public audience.
Experience debugging and problem-solving in high-pressure scenarios, often called upon to address extremely difficult/evasive bugs.

Skills
Extensive knowledge of C/C++ and other low-level/high-level languages.
Excellent knowledge of x86 assembly for optimization and debugging.
Excellent knowledge of MMX/SSE/SSE2/etc. SIMD instruction sets.
Excellent knowledge of ARM (with NEON) assembly.
Experience working with Objective-C and Cocoa on Apple platforms.
Experience working with PHP (with MySQL) and Python. (in a variety of implementations, including with Pylons and Shotgun)
Experience working with C#.
Brief experience working with other scripting/programming languages (as needed) such as Pascal, Java, JavaScript, Perl, MIPS assembly, PPC assembly, and many more. I'm comfortable with learning new languages on the job, and am able to pick them up very quickly.
Extensive knowledge of modern rendering techniques, from working on cutting-edge rendering technology in a variety of API's, including Direct3D and OpenGL.
Extensive knowledge in the area of network optimization and architectural design.
Extensive knowledge of general Microsoft Windows programming and associated API's, including MFC and GDI. Low-level experience with Kernel-level/driver programming, working with thread contexts, etc. as well.
Implementation experience spanning virtually all technical aspects of game development, including:
General rendering architectures on a variety of platforms, each with unique requirements and limitations.
Real-time per pixel lighting (using an assortment of shading models) and shadowing techniques, as well as numerous static/pre-calculated lighting approaches.
Numerous approaches to weighted (skinned) models with skeletal transforms, on a variety of platforms and architectures.
Particle systems.
Sound systems in both software and hardware on a variety of platforms.
2D and 3D software rendering.
Physics/collision with various primitives and meshes.
Networking with a client/server architecture. (as it applies to multiplayer games and many other uses)
AI/path-finding systems, including a number of pre-calculated and dynamic approaches.
Reverse engineering on a variety of software and data formats.
Excellent debugging and problem-solving skills.
Excellent team and leadership skills.
Excellent technical writing skills.
Knowledge of what makes a game feel solid and fun, having been responsible for game logic and design on a number of critically-acclaimed titles.

History

2018 - Present
Owner and Engineer at Swinecrafters LLC
Reverse engineering under several different embedded systems for an unannounced project.
Original design and programming for an unannounced video game project.
Implemented custom volume rendering, supporting numerous popular medical imaging standards including DICOM, for an unannounced project.

Independent
Created DOOMBA, a tool which tracks a Roomba and uses that tracking information to generate a DOOM map. With its unique blend of design and technology, this project received coverage from PC Gamer, Variety, Engadget, Polygon, Digital Trends, Hackaday, Gizmodo, SYFY WIRE, The Verge, and dozens of other press outlets.
Published an article on Motherboard, discussing the future of video game streaming technology and the problems it creates by endangering open data ecosystems.
2013 - 2018
Principal Engineer at Armature Studio, LLC
Lead engineer on The Unfinished Swan for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
Lead engineer on a partner project with Riot Games. Project details cannot be provided at this time.
Lead engineer on an optimization team for an external PlayStation 3 title. Implemented SPU-based rendering (building of the commandbuffer) and culling, and coordinated efforts to develop SPU-based postprocessing and other game/animation-related tasks. Additional project details cannot be provided at this time.
Engine and pipeline work on Fortnite, including fixes and additions to Unreal Engine 4.
Engine and optimization work on the Borderlands: The Handsome Collection post-release performance patch for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Engine and optimization work on Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita.
Engine work on Injustice: Gods Among Us for PlayStation Vita.
Engine and optimization work on ReCore.

Contracting
Reverse engineering and content pipeline work on Battlezone 98 Redux for Rebellion.
Model and animation content pipeline work for TNB Games.

Independent
Published an article on the Video Game History Foundation blog, performing an extensive technical analysis of Disney's Aladdin for the Sega Genesis. This also involved re-implementing lost enemies and features in Motorola 68000 assembly.
2011 - 2013
Pipeline Engineer at Sony VASG
Worked on a proprietary technology related to realtime motion capture.
Worked on an unannounced internal video game project.
Developed a client-facing web interface with server/database support.

Contracting
Model and animation pipeline work for MachineWorks Northwest.
Worked on motion capture, content pipeline, and rendering technology for the Mirror.ly project at Cloud Cliques, Inc.

Independent
Added dozens of additional formats and features (including FBX support) to Noesis.
2010 - 2011
Contracting
Worked with a lab at California Institute of Technology, in order to implement a stereoscopic rendering solution in Unity with quadbuffering.

Independent
Created a personal motion capture solution using the Microsoft Kinect with OpenNI/NITE libraries. One of the videos for this project went viral, and was featured across various web sites and television networks.
Added a Python implementation to Noesis, providing a fully translated plugin API and numerous example scripts.
Started working on a MIPS R5900 CPU emulator.
Continued to maintain personal tech and content pipelines.
2009 - 2010
Owner and Engineer at Swinecrafters LLC
Shipped a self-funded, multi-platform video game title, with the assistance of several industry-professional contract employees under Swinecrafters LLC. The title, Corporate Fury, was initially released for the iOS platform, and received with great critical praise from a variety of major gaming media outlets:

"There are a ton of wacky characters, plenty of crude humor, and enough fighting to satisfy any gamers needs in Corporate Fury, and it stands out as one of the more unique offerings for the iPhone." -TouchArcade.com (front page article)

"The iDevice did not have a proper brawler that delivered until Corporate Fury came along. With a funny (yet crude) premise, and a well deserved 17+ rating, this game is easy to recommend for those who love mindless violence." -nodpad.com (4/4 stars)

"Corporate Fury has just about everything that I could want in a video game." -148apps.com (4/5 stars)

Corporate Fury maintained a 4-5 star average on iTunes through its entire lifespan.

Continued maintenance on my own game engine and content creation/import/export pipelines. (added support for 10-15 new geometry/animation formats, including COLLADA import/export)
Created Noesis, a free asset processing/conversion tool which handles translating data between hundreds of unique file formats.
2008 - 2009
Contracting
Worked on contract for ngmoco:), developing a robust general game and rendering technology solution for the iOS platform.

Independent
Created and released AVALANCHE, an unofficial and free fan-game set in the Final Fantasy VII universe. The game was very well-received, and was featured in numerous physical and online publications. Among these publications was the internationally published magazine Retro Gamer, which featured AVALANCHE with the caption "Avalanche: If a new Final Fantasy VII was released today, chances are it might look a little like this."
Worked on several hobby projects for Sony's PlayStation Portable, learning about ideal storage and rendering formats for the device in the process.
2007 - 2008
Senior Programmer at Human Head Studios, Inc.
Implemented new game/technology systems and rendering features for an unannounced title. Rendering features included:
Robust texture streaming. (with real-time texel area determination)
Hardware vertex blending/animation.
Shadowmaps with dynamic frustum grouping/LOD.
Adapting a variety of old OpenGL/fragment program functionality to Direct3D 9 with HLSL shaders.
All rendering features were developed on the Xbox 360 and PC concurrently, dealing with the needs of each platform. (resolving, predicated tiling, and EDRAM limitations among them)
2005 - 2007
Programmer at Human Head Studios, Inc.
Technology programmer on Prey - various low-level systems and SIMD optimizations, also responsible for getting Prey portals to work in the DOOM III engine.
Multiplayer and gameplay programmer on Prey - handled networking code and gameplay systems related to multiplayer.
Wrote numerous Windows applications to assist in debugging and bug-finding on the project, including an application to do stack walking on a given process, which could also sift through stack memory and check pointer memory to recover otherwise-lost context records.
Worked with third party Digital Interactive Streams, Inc. for Triton integration in Prey.
Worked remotely on Prey patch issues, and began work on an unannounced title.

Independent
Released a demo game using my proprietary game engine technology, which is now featured in several games.
Developed a Quake engine featuring various "next-gen" (at the time) features.
2004 - 2005
Independent
Homebrew programming with the Gameboy Advance. Developed a working sidescroller engine and made a sample game with it, in addition to other games and applications.
Developed a full-featured game engine, with a client-server networking architecture, OpenGL-based renderer, proprietary collision/physics systems, various per pixel and pre-baked lighting methods, and other at-the-time cutting-edge features. Development continued periodically up until beginning employment at Human Head Studios, Inc.
2001 - 2004
Programmer at Raven Software, Inc.
Multiplayer Programmer on Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Responsible for everything relating to the multiplayer codebase, including all network/game code, and feature parity with the network-incompatible singleplayer codebase.
Multiplayer Programmer on Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy. Carried over responsibilities from Jedi Knight II, and worked on various engine/technology systems.
Programmer on Soldier of Fortune II. Worked on game systems, and provided foundation for multiplayer codebase.
Programmer on X-Men Legends. Technology and effect work.
2000 - 2001
Contracting
Worked on AI and path-finding for Crytek, on a game called Engalus. This was one of Crytek's very first titles, but it was never completed.
Worked with Raven Software, Inc. remotely, in order to develop the hidebot, a multiplayer AI opponent for the original Soldier of Fortune. The bot was later included in the retail distribution of Soldier of Fortune Gold. (and Platinum Edition)
1996 - 2000
Independent
After experience with various Quake mods, developed and released the Famkebot, the first publicly available Quake II multiplayer AI opponent.
Developed the Jumbot, still often hailed as the number one Half-Life Deathmatch/Teamplay bot. This project saw millions of downloads worldwide, and is primarily what kicked off my career in game development.
Continued development of various mods and freeware applications. Some notable projects include Head Soccer and Scientist Hunt.

Self-summary

I've been making games for most of my life now. I've worked in a wide range of roles within the confines of my job as a programmer, from high-level logic and design, to low-level debugging and optimization. I've enjoyed the unique aspects of each of these roles, and am glad to take on any challenge presented to me. I do most of my work in C and C++, but have experience with a wide variety of programming languages. My love for low-level assembly coding has repeatedly proven valuable for the purposes of optimization and debugging.

Having a broad knowledge of both technical and general production aspects of video game development has also made me a valuable asset in project evaluations and planning. I've performed many unique assessments across a wide variety of projects, creating detailed documentation, charting out milestones, and identifying risks. These assessments have proven to be exceptionally accurate, and have played a big part in establishing efficient budgets and timelines across projects of varying scope.
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oldyz
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 PostPosted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:10 am    Post subject: Re: This is awesome Reply with quote Back to top

MultiplayerX wrote:
I had no idea this thread existed. Very Happy I use an AWESOME model conversion program called NOESIS. It can handle almost any model type you throw at it. FBX and 3DS depends on your skills optimizing in AutoDesk since they keep changing versions all the time conversion can lose accuracy. I use it to convert .OBJ to .SMD so I can compile models that Source Engine can use. It's really good with older model types specifically QUAKE and earlier graphics based crap. I've become friends with the programmer Rich Whitehouse. He's a really good dude and used to work for VALVE and knows what he's doing when it comes to programming and conversion. Hope this helps. Multi

NOESIS MODEL CONVERTER:
https://richwhitehouse.com/index.php?content=inc_projects.php&showproject=91

Just for reference, here is his history in the gaming industry. I'll mention what we do here for GE and PD in the setup editor the next time we email. I'm sure he'd find our small group of Rogue HACKERS intriguing either way. Lol. Laughing

Resume
Rich Whitehouse
Document created October 24, 2004.
Last updated August 18, 2019.
Experience Summary
Over twenty years of experience in video game programming and development.
Experience on numerous commercial titles for Windows/PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, GameCube, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and various other platforms. Titles include Star Wars: Jedi Knight II, Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy, Soldier of Fortune Gold, Soldier of Fortune II, X-Men Legends, Prey, ReCore, Fortnite, and others.
Functioned as multiplayer/network programmer on two commercial Quake III engine titles, as well as one DOOM III engine title.
Experience instructing and educating employees, as well as working professionally with third parties.
Contracted and managed multiple employees, as the owner of a small video game development studio.
Worked directly with publishers and thirdparty developers, as an independent contractor.
Performed lead and management roles at well-established studios.
Experience in maximizing performance and visual fidelity on a large variety of devices and platforms, from limited embedded/mobile systems to cutting-edge PC/console systems.
Experience developing and maintaining complex software tools for a public audience.
Experience debugging and problem-solving in high-pressure scenarios, often called upon to address extremely difficult/evasive bugs.

Skills
Extensive knowledge of C/C++ and other low-level/high-level languages.
Excellent knowledge of x86 assembly for optimization and debugging.
Excellent knowledge of MMX/SSE/SSE2/etc. SIMD instruction sets.
Excellent knowledge of ARM (with NEON) assembly.
Experience working with Objective-C and Cocoa on Apple platforms.
Experience working with PHP (with MySQL) and Python. (in a variety of implementations, including with Pylons and Shotgun)
Experience working with C#.
Brief experience working with other scripting/programming languages (as needed) such as Pascal, Java, JavaScript, Perl, MIPS assembly, PPC assembly, and many more. I'm comfortable with learning new languages on the job, and am able to pick them up very quickly.
Extensive knowledge of modern rendering techniques, from working on cutting-edge rendering technology in a variety of API's, including Direct3D and OpenGL.
Extensive knowledge in the area of network optimization and architectural design.
Extensive knowledge of general Microsoft Windows programming and associated API's, including MFC and GDI. Low-level experience with Kernel-level/driver programming, working with thread contexts, etc. as well.
Implementation experience spanning virtually all technical aspects of game development, including:
General rendering architectures on a variety of platforms, each with unique requirements and limitations.
Real-time per pixel lighting (using an assortment of shading models) and shadowing techniques, as well as numerous static/pre-calculated lighting approaches.
Numerous approaches to weighted (skinned) models with skeletal transforms, on a variety of platforms and architectures.
Particle systems.
Sound systems in both software and hardware on a variety of platforms.
2D and 3D software rendering.
Physics/collision with various primitives and meshes.
Networking with a client/server architecture. (as it applies to multiplayer games and many other uses)
AI/path-finding systems, including a number of pre-calculated and dynamic approaches.
Reverse engineering on a variety of software and data formats.
Excellent debugging and problem-solving skills.
Excellent team and leadership skills.
Excellent technical writing skills.
Knowledge of what makes a game feel solid and fun, having been responsible for game logic and design on a number of critically-acclaimed titles.

History

2018 - Present
Owner and Engineer at Swinecrafters LLC
Reverse engineering under several different embedded systems for an unannounced project.
Original design and programming for an unannounced video game project.
Implemented custom volume rendering, supporting numerous popular medical imaging standards including DICOM, for an unannounced project.

Independent
Created DOOMBA, a tool which tracks a Roomba and uses that tracking information to generate a DOOM map. With its unique blend of design and technology, this project received coverage from PC Gamer, Variety, Engadget, Polygon, Digital Trends, Hackaday, Gizmodo, SYFY WIRE, The Verge, and dozens of other press outlets.
Published an article on Motherboard, discussing the future of video game streaming technology and the problems it creates by endangering open data ecosystems.
2013 - 2018
Principal Engineer at Armature Studio, LLC
Lead engineer on The Unfinished Swan for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
Lead engineer on a partner project with Riot Games. Project details cannot be provided at this time.
Lead engineer on an optimization team for an external PlayStation 3 title. Implemented SPU-based rendering (building of the commandbuffer) and culling, and coordinated efforts to develop SPU-based postprocessing and other game/animation-related tasks. Additional project details cannot be provided at this time.
Engine and pipeline work on Fortnite, including fixes and additions to Unreal Engine 4.
Engine and optimization work on the Borderlands: The Handsome Collection post-release performance patch for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Engine and optimization work on Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita.
Engine work on Injustice: Gods Among Us for PlayStation Vita.
Engine and optimization work on ReCore.

Contracting
Reverse engineering and content pipeline work on Battlezone 98 Redux for Rebellion.
Model and animation content pipeline work for TNB Games.

Independent
Published an article on the Video Game History Foundation blog, performing an extensive technical analysis of Disney's Aladdin for the Sega Genesis. This also involved re-implementing lost enemies and features in Motorola 68000 assembly.
2011 - 2013
Pipeline Engineer at Sony VASG
Worked on a proprietary technology related to realtime motion capture.
Worked on an unannounced internal video game project.
Developed a client-facing web interface with server/database support.

Contracting
Model and animation pipeline work for MachineWorks Northwest.
Worked on motion capture, content pipeline, and rendering technology for the Mirror.ly project at Cloud Cliques, Inc.

Independent
Added dozens of additional formats and features (including FBX support) to Noesis.
2010 - 2011
Contracting
Worked with a lab at California Institute of Technology, in order to implement a stereoscopic rendering solution in Unity with quadbuffering.

Independent
Created a personal motion capture solution using the Microsoft Kinect with OpenNI/NITE libraries. One of the videos for this project went viral, and was featured across various web sites and television networks.
Added a Python implementation to Noesis, providing a fully translated plugin API and numerous example scripts.
Started working on a MIPS R5900 CPU emulator.
Continued to maintain personal tech and content pipelines.
2009 - 2010
Owner and Engineer at Swinecrafters LLC
Shipped a self-funded, multi-platform video game title, with the assistance of several industry-professional contract employees under Swinecrafters LLC. The title, Corporate Fury, was initially released for the iOS platform, and received with great critical praise from a variety of major gaming media outlets:

"There are a ton of wacky characters, plenty of crude humor, and enough fighting to satisfy any gamers needs in Corporate Fury, and it stands out as one of the more unique offerings for the iPhone." -TouchArcade.com (front page article)

"The iDevice did not have a proper brawler that delivered until Corporate Fury came along. With a funny (yet crude) premise, and a well deserved 17+ rating, this game is easy to recommend for those who love mindless violence." -nodpad.com (4/4 stars)

"Corporate Fury has just about everything that I could want in a video game." -148apps.com (4/5 stars)

Corporate Fury maintained a 4-5 star average on iTunes through its entire lifespan.

Continued maintenance on my own game engine and content creation/import/export pipelines. (added support for 10-15 new geometry/animation formats, including COLLADA import/export)
Created Noesis, a free asset processing/conversion tool which handles translating data between hundreds of unique file formats.
2008 - 2009
Contracting
Worked on contract for ngmoco:), developing a robust general game and rendering technology solution for the iOS platform.

Independent
Created and released AVALANCHE, an unofficial and free fan-game set in the Final Fantasy VII universe. The game was very well-received, and was featured in numerous physical and online publications. Among these publications was the internationally published magazine Retro Gamer, which featured AVALANCHE with the caption "Avalanche: If a new Final Fantasy VII was released today, chances are it might look a little like this."
Worked on several hobby projects for Sony's PlayStation Portable, learning about ideal storage and rendering formats for the device in the process.
2007 - 2008
Senior Programmer at Human Head Studios, Inc.
Implemented new game/technology systems and rendering features for an unannounced title. Rendering features included:
Robust texture streaming. (with real-time texel area determination)
Hardware vertex blending/animation.
Shadowmaps with dynamic frustum grouping/LOD.
Adapting a variety of old OpenGL/fragment program functionality to Direct3D 9 with HLSL shaders.
All rendering features were developed on the Xbox 360 and PC concurrently, dealing with the needs of each platform. (resolving, predicated tiling, and EDRAM limitations among them)
2005 - 2007
Programmer at Human Head Studios, Inc.
Technology programmer on Prey - various low-level systems and SIMD optimizations, also responsible for getting Prey portals to work in the DOOM III engine.
Multiplayer and gameplay programmer on Prey - handled networking code and gameplay systems related to multiplayer.
Wrote numerous Windows applications to assist in debugging and bug-finding on the project, including an application to do stack walking on a given process, which could also sift through stack memory and check pointer memory to recover otherwise-lost context records.
Worked with third party Digital Interactive Streams, Inc. for Triton integration in Prey.
Worked remotely on Prey patch issues, and began work on an unannounced title.

Independent
Released a demo game using my proprietary game engine technology, which is now featured in several games.
Developed a Quake engine featuring various "next-gen" (at the time) features.
2004 - 2005
Independent
Homebrew programming with the Gameboy Advance. Developed a working sidescroller engine and made a sample game with it, in addition to other games and applications.
Developed a full-featured game engine, with a client-server networking architecture, OpenGL-based renderer, proprietary collision/physics systems, various per pixel and pre-baked lighting methods, and other at-the-time cutting-edge features. Development continued periodically up until beginning employment at Human Head Studios, Inc.
2001 - 2004
Programmer at Raven Software, Inc.
Multiplayer Programmer on Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Responsible for everything relating to the multiplayer codebase, including all network/game code, and feature parity with the network-incompatible singleplayer codebase.
Multiplayer Programmer on Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy. Carried over responsibilities from Jedi Knight II, and worked on various engine/technology systems.
Programmer on Soldier of Fortune II. Worked on game systems, and provided foundation for multiplayer codebase.
Programmer on X-Men Legends. Technology and effect work.
2000 - 2001
Contracting
Worked on AI and path-finding for Crytek, on a game called Engalus. This was one of Crytek's very first titles, but it was never completed.
Worked with Raven Software, Inc. remotely, in order to develop the hidebot, a multiplayer AI opponent for the original Soldier of Fortune. The bot was later included in the retail distribution of Soldier of Fortune Gold. (and Platinum Edition)
1996 - 2000
Independent
After experience with various Quake mods, developed and released the Famkebot, the first publicly available Quake II multiplayer AI opponent.
Developed the Jumbot, still often hailed as the number one Half-Life Deathmatch/Teamplay bot. This project saw millions of downloads worldwide, and is primarily what kicked off my career in game development.
Continued development of various mods and freeware applications. Some notable projects include Head Soccer and Scientist Hunt.

Self-summary

I've been making games for most of my life now. I've worked in a wide range of roles within the confines of my job as a programmer, from high-level logic and design, to low-level debugging and optimization. I've enjoyed the unique aspects of each of these roles, and am glad to take on any challenge presented to me. I do most of my work in C and C++, but have experience with a wide variety of programming languages. My love for low-level assembly coding has repeatedly proven valuable for the purposes of optimization and debugging.

Having a broad knowledge of both technical and general production aspects of video game development has also made me a valuable asset in project evaluations and planning. I've performed many unique assessments across a wide variety of projects, creating detailed documentation, charting out milestones, and identifying risks. These assessments have proven to be exceptionally accurate, and have played a big part in establishing efficient budgets and timelines across projects of varying scope.


Wow, that is quite a lot, probably does not sleep.

MultiplayerX, please check you PM, maybe you can help me on a quest for a OPenGL problem
 
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