Tony Porteous
Technical Designer
Profile
About Me
I am a technical designer with a long history in video games and immersive theatre. I have a well rounded set of game creation skills from creative design to programming to project management. I am well suited to developing and implementing complex, overarching systems, and at coordinating tasks between departments.
Employment Summary
Fire Hazard Games
2016–2020 London, UK
Fire Hazard Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Punchdrunk.
Technical Designer on multiple augmented reality game titles.
- Technical Designer on multiple augmented reality game titles.
- Lead designer for Jekyll/Hyde - 5 star reviewed immersive theatre / narrative adventure game
- Full-stack Rails developer responsible for the technical direction of the company
- Directed the work of coders, artists, writers, and actors
- Designed and implemented the mobile UX/UI for multiple games
NDreams
2015-2016 Farnborough, UK
Technical Designer on The Assembly (VR title)
- Worked extensively with VR technology in both Unreal and Unity
- Designed and directed custom UI and control solutions for VR games
- Successfully pitched games and features for multiple projects
22cans
2012-2015 Guildford, UK
Game Programmer and GUI Developer for Godus and The Trail (Mobile Titles).
- Programmed C++, C#, Lua and Actionscript
- Directed the development of the GUI and all 2D game elements
- Worked with Scaleform, Unity and Unreal to produce gameplay features
Other Employment
2016-2016: Rewind - Programmer at a VR/AR marketing company for 3 months.
2011-2012: Digital Extremes - Junior Technical Designer at a AAA games studio.
2009-2011: Frontier Development - Technical Designer at a AAA games studio.
2006-2009: Exient - Programmer and Junior Designer on multiple mobile titles.
2003-2004: Wow Entertainment - Industrial placement as a trainee game designer.
Education Summary
University of Bath
2001–2005 Somerset, UK
BSc. Computer Science: 2.1 honours degree
Sample modules include:
- Advanced Computer Graphics
- Human Computer Interaction
- Digital Signal Processing
- Software Engineering
- C++ and Algorithms
Winchester College
1996-2001 Winchester, UK
A-Levels: English [A], Maths [A], Physics [A], Art [B]
GCSEs: 3 grades at A*, 5 grades at A, 1 grade at B
Achievements
The Journey Deck - A Kickstarter
Successfully launched a Kickstarter for a custom card game system.
- £10K+ raised
- Unique, highly detailed design with in-depth lore
- Directed team of artists in development
- 10K words of creative storytelling written
- Unique game system designed for the project
Triage - Live Immersive Gaming Series
Designed and lead a team on a series of intense roleplay events.
- 72 hour events including catering and accomodation
- 40+ players and 30+ crew per event
- 50K+ words of creative storytelling written
- Lead development of custom electronic devices, movie-grade prosthetics, theatrical scenes, props and costumes
- Unique game system designed for the project
The Broken World - Storytelling Events
Designed and lead a team on a 1 year social roleplay project.
- 40+ players and 6 crew per event
- 200K+ words of creative storytelling written
- Designed and managed hundreds of interlinking plotlines
- Unique game system designed for the project
Skills
Gameplay and System Design
- A broad understanding of all areas of game design
- Advanced skill in UX, UI and player psychology
- Advanced skill in gameplay and systems design
- Advanced skill in non-linear content design
- Advanced skill in AR / VR design
- Strong understanding of multi-discipline content pipelines
- Strong understanding of broader strategic goals
Programming
- Full-stack Rails developer (Ruby, Javascript, CSS)
- Professional level skill in event/narrative scripting (Lua, Ruby, Javascript)
- Professional level skill in game/system programming (C#, C++)
- Experience with Arduino programming and electronics
- Demonstrable skill at learning new languages quickly
Teamwork and Communication
- Managed teams on complex, high-stakes live events
- Directed work of coders, artists and writers
- Excellent communication and listening skills
- Track record of cross disciplinary collaboration
- Chronic team player
Level Design, Art, Writing
- Professional level skill with level editing tools (Unity, Unreal)
- Professional level skill with Adobe Suite
- Professional level skill at narrative design
- 500K+ words of game content written
Documentation and Content Management
- Produced design briefs for multi-discipline content creators (Art, Animation, Code, Writing)
- Professional level skill with source control systems (Git, Perforce)
- Professional level skill with data architecture tools (Excel, SQL, Firebase)
- Skilled in the use of multimedia tools to communicate design concepts
- Created successful design pitches
Further Study
Explored a diverse range of disciplines to advance my skills.
- Completed online courses in game theory, social psychology and gamification
- Consumed multiple books on game design, psychology, storytelling and management
- Maintain a manual of game design principles and practises
- Ongoing study in cinematography and storytelling