Mike Tanfield
6820 Preston Road #1018, Plano, TX 75024
http://guildhall.smu.edu/portfolio/Highwind7/
mtanfield@hotmail.com
mtanfield@smu.edu
(970) 227-2143

Education


The GuildHall at Southern Methodist University          December 2009

      Certificate in Digital Game Development

      Specialization in Software Development  

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO               2006 - 2007

Front Range Community College, Fort Collins, CO           2001 - 2004

 

Game Experience

 
Lead Programmer, DreamFly Studios    July 2009 – September 2009

MinuteMan

	· Implemented Kismet-driven Bullet-Time triggers in Unreal Tournament 3 Engine

	· Bullet-time triggers slow down and speed up time according to script

	· Imported six custom character and a weapon model into code

	· Removed default game properties from code, such as announcer and “gibs’

	· Assisted in technical issues and aspects of level design

 

Programmer, SMU GuildHall             June 2009 – December 2009

Play Soldier!

	· Implemented Parachute mechanic that would pick the player up and allow the player to float down safely to the ground

	· Implemented T-Rex mechanic that would spawn a toy Tyrannosaurus Rex in front of the player, destroying everything in its path

	· Implemented breakable blocks on impact

	· Implemented “Excitement Meter” to power main character’s special attacks

	· Imported T-Rex model into code for use with T-Rex mechanic

 

Programmer, SMU GuildHall                 March 2009 – May 2009

Harvest

	· Implemented Pounce mechanic that allowed player to leap from location to location

	· Implemented Teleportation husk that a player could teleport back to the location that the husk was left at

	· Imported 20+ particle effects into code

	· Added all final sound effects to code

	· Added some HUD elements, like custom target reticle

 

Sole Programmer, SMU GuildHall      October 2008 – December 2008

ROM’s Hard Drive to Silicon Valley

	· Implemented first level of game in my own custom engine

	· Added “wall-walking” code to TorqueX GameBuilder Platformer Starter Kit

	· Created SVN repository for game

	· Created installer for executable


 
Game Technology  
 

2-D Engine using Win32 API

	o Double buffering to remove flicker

	o Implementation of collision detection and resolution

	o Importing of bitmap sprites and animation

	o Playing sound and music using FMOD API

	o Use of tiled levels for simpler collision and better performance

 

3-D Engine using OpenGL and Direct3D

	o Engine is API agnostic; only need to change one line in config file to switch API’s

	o Vertex and pixel/fragment shaders using GL assembly and HLSL

	o Bump, parallax, and light mapping using shader programs

	o Tangent-space calculation for bump mapping

 

Custom math libraries

	o Vectors (in 2-D and 3-D space), Matrices (4x4), Quaternions, Fixed Point

 

Scripting Language Compiler

	o Creation of my own C-style custom grammar

	o Function calls with arguments and return values

	o Local variables

	o Weakly-typed variables, including numbers, strings and vectors

	o Variable assignments

	o Conditional statements (if/while)

	o Return statements

	o Most standard arithmetic and logical operators

 

Quake 3 BSP Parsing & Rendering

	o Vertex, index, and face data

	o Texture data

	o Raycasting using front-to-back tree traversal

	o Occlusion culling using PVS

	o View-frustum culling

 

Terrain Engine

	o Level of detail using distance from camera to terrain

	o Intrinsic detail for typically flat surfaces (such as water)

	o Stitching of lower detail to higher detail to remove gaps

 

3DS Max Exporter

	o Exported into file format compatible with my 3-D engine

	o Includes vertex/index data and textures

	o Loaded into importer with one file read and pointer match-up

	o Calculation of exact minimal bounding sphere onexport (not calculated at run-time)

 

Math-related tech

	o Lambert and Phong lighting

	o “Yo-yo” simulator using mass-spring damper system

	o Spline-camera motion simulation

	o Simulations of numerical methods, such as Forward/Backward Euler and Runge-Kutta

	o Swept sphere collision demo using a cube being rotated by rigid-body dynamics system


Related Experience               

Administrative Assistant I                  June 2007 – December 2008

Human Resource Services, Colorado State University

 

Skills  

Microsoft Office, Word, Access, PowerPoint, Excel, Project, Outlook, Visio, Publisher, Dreamweaver, Visual Studio 2008, Adobe Photoshop CS3, 3DStudio Max, C/C++, C#, Javascript, XML, HTTP, TCP/IP, UDP, WinSOCK, Unity, Subversion, TorqueX, Unreal Tournament 3, Windows, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Emotiv SDK, Microsoft .NET, Nintendo DS Programming