Chris Chapman

Profile
I am a highly motivated and energetic programmer with five years experience in the games industry, as well as many years during education doing hobby work programming games. While my primary experience is with C/C++, I also have some experience with assembly language programming and more academic languages (ML, Prolog, etc.). During my time at VIS entertainment I have touched on most areas of game development, from basic game-engine systems and tools to content creation and integration. I am skilled at building systems from scratch, or diagnosing and refactoring systems already in place. In all of my previous jobs I have developed a reputation as someone who 'gets the job done', regardless of difficulties in the way.

Much of my work has been building engine components from scratch, making them as flexible and powerful as possible for others to create content with; this has always been my most competent and enjoyable area, and that is why I would enjoy contracting doing similar jobs for other companies. The systems I create are always extensively designed, specified and documented; code and systems produced are deliberately simple and well commented to make for ease of maintenance.

I now run my own company (Black Company Studios), which is available for contracting work, as well as developing its own games into the future.

Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer
Joining a team of relatively inexperienced programmers in 2002 shortly after the beginning of the project, I was responsible for designing and programming a large portion of the Brave engine. My level of experience and knowledge of all the underlying systems meant that I was most often the first port of call for the artists and designers needing to ask questions about the engine. I continued to work on the project right up until the point it passed PAL submission in late March 2005.

I-Race
I-Race (http://www.irace.com) was an ambitious project undertaken by Vis-ITV, a spin-off from VIS entertainment. It was a system capable of simulating a virtual horse race, and rendering out television quality footage in real-time using a render-farm of high-end desktop PCs. Although the end product failed to do well in the market-place, the underlying system was a solid and well designed product, developed by a team of 4 programmers. I was the only programmer on the team for the entire project,and was responsible for most of the key systems.

Employment history

 * 2005-present: Black Company Studios Ltd.
 * 2000-2005: VIS Entertainment Ltd.

Availability

 * Currently available for full-time contracts, to work remotely (based in Edinburgh).

Rates
Rates are negotiable depending on contract nature and duration.