Paul Sinnett

First Floor Flat 5, The Waldrons CROYDON Surrey CR0 4HB (UK) Home: +44 (0)2086805011 Mobile: +44 (0)7905071175 map e-mail

Profile
Freelance video game programmer with 8 years professional experience in console game development. Skilled in C++, C, and assembler coding for all the major gaming platforms. Knowledgeable in all areas of the game development lifecycle. Currently seeking the opportunity to help development companies bring original and exciting video games to the market, on time, and on budget.

Achievements

 * Led an in-house team at Acclaim in creating tools which allowed the artists and designers to substantially increase the speed and quality of their work on the games Forsaken and Re-Volt.


 * Recovered and shipped the overdue game ESL at Virgin Interactive by relocating the in-house team to Coyote's offices, and encouraging pair programming among the developers.


 * Helped to design and build Coyote's in house game libraries, which have been successfully used in most of Coyote's game projects to date, saving months of development time.

2006: Lionhead Studios Limited
9 month full-time contract leading the conversion of The Movies to PS2. This contract ended after 1.5 months when the publisher cancelled the project.

2005: Coyote Developments Limited
3 month part-time contract helping to develop an original game on the Gizmondo platform using the Conflict: Vietnam license.

2005: Avalanche Studios Limited
6 month full-time contract helping to develop the PS2 version of the game Just Cause up to alpha release.

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.

The Movies PS2
9 month contract with Lionhead to lead the PS2 programming team with responsibility for optimisation, compression, and TRC compliance. This contract was terminated by the publisher for financial reasons after 1.5 months. The project used the Renderware graphics library with a source license. I modified the Renderware DMA packet generation and VU programs to compress and decompress the vertex format of the geometry.

Conflict: Vietnam Gizmondo
3 month part-time contract creating AI, particle effects, and a scripting system for a game on the Gizmondo platform based on the Conflict: Vietnam license. The project used the OpenGL ES graphics library and fmod audio library.

Just Cause
6 month contract for helping with a cross platform development on PC, Xbox, and PS2. Responsible for optimising memory, performance, and tool chain. Mostly working on the PS2 using the performance analyser tool. Also wrote some small VU programs.

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

 * Available for part-time or full-time immediately.

Resources
Download PDF file for printing in, , or format. Where is the Word version?