digdan.com

About Me

Strong coding, scripting, and markup language skills
Strong 2D and 3D art skills
Strong leadership and interpersonal skills
Strong analytical and problem solving skills
Strong cross-department communication skills
Avid game player and game dev hobbyist
Usability Analysis

Professionalism, versatility, and a deep passion for making games are the attributes that have marked my career in the games industry. I am interested in the full spectrum of game development. I experiment with all aspects of it. Wherever I am assigned, I aim to improve collaboration between disciplines. I relish being the guy my colleagues turn to when they want something done right, and I enjoy setting a positive example with my "can do" attitude.

2009.04.15 - Current Project: Dragon Age: Origins

I am currently the Lead Tech Artist on Dragon Age: Origins, at BioWare ULC. My work on this project consists of:

Advising project leadership on critical art issues and risks
Managing the tech art team
Managing the art pipeline
Art training and support for console artists
Conducting art pipeline post-mortems and implementing follow-up plans
Prototyping new game features
Maintaining asset standards
Identifying and addressing asset optimization opportunities
Bridging gaps between art and other departments on Dragon Age
Interviewing and mentoring new tech artists.

News

2008.12.15 - XNA Spaceship Build and Battle Game

My second foray into XNA and C# was to try and develop a sprite-based spaceship build and battle game. Major hurldles for this project included more extensive data-driven game pieces, full linear and rotational kinematics, real-time attaching and detaching of ship pieces (affecting moment of inertia and mass), and per-turret tracking and firing AI. Read more about it on the Build and Battle page.

2008.07.25 - My Treasure Chest

Freshly returned from our trip to Scotland, I've found a suitable vessel for my treasure. We've searched low and high, in and out of shops on two continents, and a small shop in Chester had what I was looking for. Just the right size to hold the coins I have now. Phase one is complete. Read more about it on the My Loot page.

2006.11.09 - XNA Sprite Asteroids Game

First crack at XNA. Been using C# a lot at work for art tools prototyping, and I'm seduced by its simplicity over C++. More time coding the stuff that matters to me, less time bookkeeping and learning arcane symbology. It's been a learning process so far, teaching me about scene graphs, XML serialization, and how expensive collision systems in an asteroid field can be. Read more about it on the Sprite Asteroids page.

Contact Me