Paul Sinnett

First Floor Flat 5, The Waldrons CROYDON Surrey CR0 4HB (UK) Home: +44 (0)2086811403 Mobile: +44 (0)7794649923 map e-mail

Profile

 * contract video game programmer with 11 years professional experience in console game development


 * knowledgeable in many areas of studio development and the game production lifecycle


 * seeks to help development companies bring original and exciting video games to the market, on time, and on budget

Achievements

 * helped ship 14 titles in 11 years
 * founded Powered Up Games
 * designed and built game libraries for Oxygen and Coyote
 * led Acclaim's tool pool in the London Studio

2007: Oxygen Studios
He was initially contracted to help design and build Oxygen's in house game library, Ozone, and provided technical support for the 2 quiz games that were using it. When that work was substantially completed he stayed on to help out with the Pirates games and extended Ozone to support DS specific networking options.

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.

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

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

The Movies PS2
This project used Renderware graphics with a source license.
 * Renderware DMA packet generation and compression
 * Renderware VU decompression
 * distributed asset building on PS2 workstations
 * memory usage reporting
 * compiler version control via Perforce

Conflict: Vietnam Gizmondo
This game was originally designed for Gizmondo but that console went out of business before it was published. The code was later ported by Coyote to DS and released by Majesco as Operation: Vietnam.
 * additional AI and animations
 * HUD elements
 * particle effect optimisation
 * cut scene scripting
 * OpenGL ES optimisation
 * fmod audio maintenance

Just Cause

 * defect analysis over PC, Xbox, and PS2
 * PS2 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

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.

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
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
Download PDF file for printing in [[Media:Paul Sinnett CV 1.pdf | 1 page]], [[Media:Paul Sinnett CV 2.pdf | 2 page]], or [[Media:Paul_Sinnett_CV_3.pdf | 3 page]] format. Where is the Word version?