Paul Sinnett

From GameContractor

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Contents 1 Profile 2 Experience 3 Achievements 4 Ludography 5 Contract history 5.1 2009: Just Add Water 5.2 2008: Attractive Games 5.3 2008: Coyote Studios 5.4 2007: Oxygen Studios 5.5 2006: Razorback Developments 5.6 2006: Lionhead Studios 5.7 2005: Coyote Developments 5.8 2005: Avalanche Studios 6 Employment history 7 Detailed project responsibilities 7.1 Oxygen Studios 7.1.1 Pirates: Duels on the High Seas 7.1.2 Cheggers' Party Quiz and Hansen's Sports Challenge 7.1.3 Ozone Engine 7.2 Razorback Developments 7.2.1 Xiaolin Showdown DS 7.2.2 Unannounced DS title 7.3 Lionhead Studios 7.3.1 The Movies PS2 7.4 Coyote Developments 7.4.1 Operation Vietnam 7.5 Avalanche 7.5.1 Just Cause 7.6 Coyote 7.6.1 Vietcong: Purple Haze 7.6.2 I-Ninja / BIONICLE 7.6.3 ArmyMen: RTS 7.6.4 ZooCube 7.6.5 Cactus 7.6.6 European Super League 7.7 Acclaim 7.7.1 Armorines: Project SWARM 7.7.2 Forsaken / Re-Volt 7.7.3 Habitat 8 Education 9 Interests 10 Availability and rates 11 Resources

Profile

• contract video game programmer with 15 years professional experience in console video game development

• knowledgeable in many areas of process improvement and the game production life-cycle

• helps development companies realise their game designs and get them published on time and on budget

• currently also teaching video game programming at London South Bank University

Experience

Hardware:	Kinect, PS3, Wii, DS, Xbox, PS2, Gizmondo, GC, DC, PC, PSX, N64
Languages:	C++, C#, C, Javascript, Java, Assembler, VU, Lua
Operating systems:	Windows, Linux
Software:	Visual Studio, Perforce, Unity3D, SourceSafe, GCC, CVS, SVN
Libraries:	STL, WPF, SDL, DX, fmod, Alchemy, RW, OpenGL ES, MFC, Logik State sound
Design methods:	Test Driven Design, Design Patterns, UML
Process:	Scrum, Spiral, Evolutionary Delivery, XP
Coding practices:	Refactoring, Unit Testing, DBC, Pair Programming
Management practices:	risk management, pair programming

Achievements

• helped ship over 20 titles
• Designed the programming unit for the BA (Hons) Game Cultures degree course at London South Bank University
• founded Powered Up Games
• designed and built game libraries for Oxygen and Coyote
• led Acclaim's tool pool in the London Studio

Ludography

Title	Platforms	Developer	Publisher
Gravity Crash	PS3	Just Add Water	Sony
Agent Hugo: Hula Holiday	Wii, PS2	Attractive	NDS
Wonderworld	Wii	Attractive	Majesco
Pirates: Duels on the High Seas	DS	Oxygen	Oxygen
Alan Hansen's Sports Challenge	Wii, PS2	Oxygen	Oxygen
Cheggers' Party Quiz	Wii, PS2	Oxygen	Oxygen
Xiaolin Showdown	DS	Razorback	Konami
Operation Vietnam (Conflict: Vietnam)	DS (Gizmondo)	Coyote	Majesco
Just Cause	PC, Xbox, PS2	Avalanche	Eidos
Vietcong: Purple Haze	PS2, Xbox	Coyote	Take Two
I-Ninja	GC	Coyote / Argonaut	Namco
BIONICLE	GC	Coyote / Argonaut	Lego
ArmyMen: RTS	GC	Coyote	Global Star
ZooCube	GC	Coyote	Acclaim
European Super League	PSX, DC, PC	Coyote / VIE	VIE
Armorines: Project SWARM	N64	Probe	Acclaim
Re-Volt	PC, PSX, N64, DC	Probe	Acclaim
Forsaken	PC, PSX, N64	Probe	Acclaim

Contract history

2009: Just Add Water

title	Gravity Crash
duration	12 months
hours	full-time
payment	hourly rate paid monthly
status	submission

2008: Attractive Games

titles	Wonderworld Agent Hugo: Hula Holiday
duration	2 months
hours	full-time
payment	hourly rate paid monthly
status	complete

2008: Coyote Studios

title	Match Day Poker
duration	3 months
hours	full-time
payment	hourly rate paid monthly
status	shelved

2007: Oxygen Studios

titles	Pirates: Duels on the High Seas Cheggers' Party Quiz Alan Hansen's Sports Challenge
duration	10 months
hours	full-time
payment	hourly rate paid monthly
status	complete

2006: Razorback Developments

title	Xiaolin Showdown
duration	7 months
hours	full-time
payment	by milestone
status	complete

2006: Lionhead Studios

title	The Movies
duration	9 months
hours	full-time
payment	daily rate paid monthly
status	cancelled after 1.5 months

2005: Coyote Developments

title	Conflict: Vietnam (Operation Vietnam)
duration	3 months
hours	part-time
payment	hourly rate paid monthly
status	complete

2005: Avalanche Studios

title	Just Cause
duration	6 months
hours	full-time
payment	hourly rate paid monthly
status	complete

Employment history

1999-2004: Coyote Developments Ltd.

• Led programming teams that produced the games: ESL, ZooCube, ArmyMen, BIONICLE, I-Ninja, and Vietcong.

• Set-up and managed the Coyote Linux network, including firewall, Internet proxy server, and sendmail e-mail server.

• Introduced flex-time, pair-programming, unit testing, collective code ownership, and test first design to the company.

1996-1999: Probe Entertainment Ltd. (Acclaim Studios London)

• Led the programming team that produced the game Armorines: Project SWARM, including the design tools for the project.

• Led the in-house tool team.

Detailed project responsibilities

Oxygen Studios

He helped to design and build Oxygen's in house game library, Ozone, and provided technical support for the 2 quiz games that were using it. Then he helped with the Pirates games and extended Ozone to support DS specific networking options.

Pirates: Duels on the High Seas

• support for game engine and tools
• networking

Cheggers' Party Quiz and Hansen's Sports Challenge

• support for game engine and tools

Ozone Engine

• cross platform build system for DS, Wii, and PS2 including automated testing
• memory management library including STL allocation tracking
• fixed and floating point mathematics library
• buffered file system
• shared resource management
• 3D rendering and tools
  • viewports
  • matrix palette skinning
  • texture animation
  • material sorting
  • scene management
• 2D GUI system and tools
  • fonts
  • kerning
  • transitions
• particle system and tools
• DS specific networking
  • multi card
  • single card
  • file serving
  • clone boot

Razorback Developments

He helped bring the game Xiaolin Showdown to completion. He also worked on the core technology and provided tool and game engine support for a DS game still in development.

Xiaolin Showdown DS

• resource management including VRAM layout
• 3D projection
• mixing 2D and 3D systems with a depth buffer
• high level audio interface to Logik State middleware
• 2D collision map
• bitmap processing tools in Lua
• tri-stripping tools in Lua and C++
• file-handling
• performance optimisation tools
• memory usage reporting
• memory fragmentation and leak detection tools
• extending the scripting system with Lua callbacks
• 4 mini games
• defect analysis, reporting, and fixing
• makefile build process
• Subversion branch management

Unannounced DS title

• added soft skinning with matrix palettes
• improved the accuracy of the animation system
• added quad stripping

Lionhead Studios

He helped on the PS2 specific parts of The Movies console port. This project used Renderware graphics with a source license. This contract was terminated before completion.

The Movies PS2

• Renderware DMA packet generation and compression
• Renderware VU decompression
• distributed asset building on PS2 workstations
• memory usage reporting
• compiler version control via Perforce

Coyote Developments

He helped complete the game Conflict: Vietnam. Although this project was completed, the manufacturer went out of business before the game was published. However, the game code was later ported to DS and released by Majesco as Operation Vietnam.

Operation Vietnam

• additional AI and animations
• HUD elements
• particle effect optimisation
• cut scene scripting
• OpenGL ES optimisation
• fmod audio maintenance

Avalanche

He helped with the development of the PS2 specific parts of the studio's cross platform game engine. He also provided a small amount of technical support for the game team.

Just Cause

• defect analysis over PC, Xbox, and PS2
• PS2 VU shadows and bird rendering effects
• PS2 Bink movie player integration
• PS2 memory optimisation
• PS2 performance optimisation with PA
• PS2 DMA chain management
• PS2 Scons and makefile build tools
• PS2 Perforce build branch and build machine

Coyote

Vietcong: Purple Haze

Conversion (with some additional material) from PC to PS2 and Xbox. Reduced memory requirements from 256MB on PC to 32MB on PS2 using the tools developed on ArmyMen: RTS. Rewrote the collision system.

I-Ninja / BIONICLE

Cross platform development of an engine to support these two titles (and other in-house Argonaut projects.) Converted low level PS2 rendering commands to GameCube. Fixed bugs in low level memory cache, collision system, and audio system. Adapted memory card and Nintendo standards code from ZooCube. Wrote all standards related scripts for the both games.

ArmyMen: RTS

Conversion from PC and PS2 to GameCube. Adapted GameCube hardware and Nintendo standards code from ZooCube. Reduced memory requirements from 32MB to 24MB. Developed tools to work with Cactus memory library for detecting memory fragmentation. Wrote automated build scripts configurable by SKU.

ZooCube

Development of an original GameCube game from a PC prototype. Converted PC Renderware prototype to Intrinsic Alchemy middleware on GameCube. Wrote all GameCube hardware and standards code. Designed and developed a custom video streaming system for game background.

Cactus

Development of cross platform in-house code library. Wrote automated unit test framework, debug library, 3D rendering via Renderware, and controllers. Developed game prototypes: Rex the Runt, Slipstream, Slot Racers, and Doctor Who.

European Super League

Cross platform development for PC, PSX, and Dreamcast. Wrote Dreamcast renderer and upgraded PC renderer to DX8. Introduced pair programming and refactoring to the team. Fixed bugs in AI, ball physics, PSX rendering, tournament code, substitution scripts, and JAVA tools.

Acclaim

Armorines: Project SWARM

Original game for N64 using Turok engine and tools. Managed the programming team. Rewrote renderer and tools to support per-vertex lighting. Fixed bugs in the collision system, weapons code, and Nintendo standards. Created automated build scripts.

Forsaken / Re-Volt

• tools and technical support

Habitat

Development of PC tools for art and resource management on these two projects. Managed the team of six programmers and the project schedule. Wrote database system, texture editor and animation system, MFC user interface, merge system, and automated installer scripts.

Education

Educated to A level in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Technology.

Interests

• Reviewer for the SWEBOK project
• Contributor for wiki, wikipedia, wikibooks, and GameDeveloper
• Member of the IGDA
• Runs this wiki
• Ubuntu Linux

Availability and rates

• See Powered Up Games.

Resources

You can download this CV in various formats:

• 1 page PDF
• 2 page PDF
• full CV PDF
• Microsoft Word