![]() ![]() I also dabbled in HTML and Python for various backend support tools such as metrics logging, score validation and crunching, and user-generated-content curation. My work at Zachtronics wasn't limited to C# gameplay coding, oh no. ![]() With a heavy heart, I left to be a full-time Zachtronics programmer and implement and support the complex 2D animation pipeline and custom toolset for Ironclad Tactics (among many other things!) This was a radically different type of work and I took to it immediately. I had spent the vast majority of my time investigating and deeply probing through Visio's code to solve some of its nastiest bugs, and while this was somewhat rewarding, I wasn't learning much new and my design skills were atrophying. This was a radically difficult decision for me - I loved my coworkers and situation at Microsoft, but as the product cycle was wrapping up I realized that I wasn't up for another. Later that year, I decided to leave Microsoft and join him in his indy endeavors. In 2012, Zach left Microsoft to pursue game development full time and launched Zachtronics as a business. Ironclad Tactics wasn't quite as warmly received, though it does have an incredible amount of art and polish, a compelling story told through a graphic novel, and is a unique mix of card and tactics game. I'm also extremely proud to say that SpaceChem was rated as Gamasutra's #1 indie game of 2011. If you prefer, you can also read about SpaceChem from Gamasutra, the SciencePunk Blog and Metacritic. If you aren't familiar with SpaceChem, Rock Paper Shotgun and provide some reviews to give you a taste of the awesome, genre-defining gameplay to be found in SpaceChem. Most notably, Zach designed and I led implementation of the Zachtronics Industries's hit indie titles SpaceChem and Ironclad Tactics. After tossing some prototype code around for a while, we both realized that the other was exceptionally skilled and competent, so we decided to moonlight together on a few side projects. I met my friend Zach on Visio and he introduced me to indie game development and to the C# language. While working at Microsoft was both a challenging and rewarding experience, I also found a passion for projects with a more humble scope. You just don't get a chance to use them in small projects, but in a product the size of Visio I was able to see them ALL and even use a few myself in production code, much to my horror/delight. ![]() I enjoy nothing more than learning new cool things, and there are just so many nasty/brilliant opportunities in C++. In a playground of this size, I was able to observe many arcane features of the C++ language in action and had lots of examples of good (and bad) coding styles and practices to learn from. While Visio isn't a particularly sexy application or model of good software design, it gave me the opportunity to stretch my C++ legs in a multi-million-line codebase. As you might imagine, being it's a member of the Office suite, Visio is a massive C++ project with (perhaps too) many features. ![]() C++ and Visioįrom 2008 to 2012, once I graduated, I was hired on and progressed to the rank of Software Developer Engineer II on the Microsoft product Visio. Not having to design and fab a new part to test an idea was such a time and money saver! I discovered this in college, and once I had, the course of my professional life was changed forever. Though I started out planning to major in computer engineering and robotics (since that's what I did all through my high school years in independent study and through several International Science and Engineering Fairs), I found that the time lag between understanding a problem and implementing its solution were much shorter in the world of software than in the world of hardware. ![]()
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