- 🔭 I’m currently working at Bluepoint Games a Sony (SIE) game development studio
- 🌱 I’m currently learning how to improve the stability of developed tools, by adding uint and basic automated testing
- 👯 I’m looking to collaborate on python APIs and frameworks for creators like Technical Artists
- 🤔 I’m looking for help with building useful
- 💬 Ask me about my 30 years of 3D entertainment and video game developer experience
- 📫 How to reach me: Discord HogJonnyAMZN#4953
- 😄 Pronouns: he/him/his
- ⚡ Fun fact: I wrote a game-like PBR material for the Maya Viewport: GitHub - hogjonny/Maya-PBR-BRDF-VP2: A WIP Implementation of a Physically Plausible (PBR/PBS) HLSL Shader for the Maya Viewport 2.0
- Technical Art Blog at https://www.co3dex.com
Notice: This is my professional Github account, generally associated with employers, teams and development projects. Ask me about 3D Content tools and workflows, Realtime 3D Rendering. No matter who I work for, my opinions are my own. I have many oppinions and thoughts and they are not to be considered to be the oppinions of Bluepoint Games or Sony (SIE).
The first commerical game release I worked on, was Secrets of the Luxor by Mojave, which hit the market April 4th 1996. It wasn't real-time 3D because at the time that was barely a thing in gaming, however that quickly because my focus by the time I worked on my second commercial game release at Parsoft (more on that later.) Prior to that I was working at Start, the makers of Strata Stuido Pro and 3D content creation suite of software popularized by also being the 3D DCC tool that Myst was authored in. I was an intern making 3D clip art, and then moved onto a 3D point and click mini-game set in an egyptian tomb that we we worked on to be displayed in Epoch Center (and other interactive project.) So that's how it all got started, making games in a small historic home in St. George Utah we had outfitted as a small office.
In Oct 2016 I accepted a position with Amazon, Lumberyard - Austin, an org within AWS.
What was Lumberyard, has now become the Open 3D Engine (aka O3DE) https://www.o3de.org/
I started as a Sr. Technical Artist with additional responsibilities as the 'Product Owner' for a new team focused on environments. I started contributing in many ways, including functional designs for environment components, workflows and documentation, so I was promoted to a Product Manager (Technical).
I scaled my job to design intricate and entirely new system and component patterns for procedural world design, such as Dynamic Vegetation (procedural biome design and decorative object placement), and Landscape Canvas a node-graph based visual editor for procedural world design (and these patterns and systems are now being extended to the new terrain system. Then I focused on scaling python across the engine for Technical Artists, automated testing, and editor customization and extensibility. Following that I was tasked with being the rendering PM to get Atom usable, integrated into the engine, complete with content workflows, pipelines and tools, and the goal to ship the first version to our customers and the public.
Design Technology is where the needs of art and technology collide, as a Sr.DT I deep-dive on design, own large parts of our ecosystem, and most importantly act as First Customer ... I use the product like our customers, this is a flywheel that generates unmet customer needs and product improvements.
I've been working in a game dev related field now for nearly 30 years. My experience covers several tracks across my career; from Intern to Producer. My core background is 3D art and technologies, making games on the cutting edge. I have worked with some of the most influential companies in the industry, including EA, Activision, Atari, Take2/Rockstar and Sony (SCEA).
I believe the future is platform agnostic gaming experiences and cross-platform play that focus more on the consumer and their identity, then the identity of the device or service we play through. A web of game experiences spread across all the devices in our life. We may take gaming on the go with our tablets and phones, but come home to an extended HD experience in our living room, or cutting edge PC.
I am a tinkerer at heart, making games fulfills all of my creative desires. During my career, I have directly contributed to the design, art, and development of over 16 titles that have shipped (plus additional platform skews), several canceled or unannounced projects and many demos and showcases.
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The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the postings, strategies, or opinions of my employer AWS, or the Open 3D Foundation (or it's parent the Linux Foundation.) - Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hogjonnyamzn
