RYAN BELDESSI
R.BELDESSI@GMAIL.COM
250.893.3845

EXPERIENCE & PROJECTS

Senior Engineer - PrecisionOS

Victoria, BC — April 2021 - Present
https://www.precisionostech.com/

At PrecisionOS I build industry leading virtual reality surgical simulations using Unreal Engine. This includes leading design and implementation of new systems and features; refactoring legacy code and blueprint to improve reliability, scalability, and performance; building tools to improve productivity across various teams; and contributing design work on core product functionality. Some of my most notable work is the construction of our localization system; the foundations of our UI systems; and our player and related systems. However, my biggest contribution to PrecisionOS is driving the company’s engineering teams from primarily developing in blueprint to C++.

Duties

  • Design and implement systems which take advantage of platform specific features while still allowing for cross-platform multiplayer.

  • Construct networked systems to allow joining in-progress operations.

  • Design, build, and maintain designer, engineer, and partner focused tools; this includes a localization system.

  • Optimize for performance across a variety of hardware.

  • Debugging both in editor and at runtime on devices.

  • Driving engineering culture forwards by example and through mentorship.

Programmer - Lightning Rod Games

Victoria, BC — April 2019 - February 2021
http://lightningrodgames.com

I worked full-time as a programmer at Lightning Rod Games. My duties include implementing new systems and mechanics, crushing bugs, building tools, and occasionally I contributed design work on things like creating touch controls for A Fold Apart. I also did quite a bit of work on expanding the save system for post-release content and working with iCloud. After releasing A Fold Apart I also did some work on rapid prototyping and constructing pitch decks for future projects.

Duties

  • Implement UI, gameplay, animations, data structures for saving, and build designer focused tools.

  • Debugging both in editor and at runtime on devices.

  • Design and implement unit tests for A Fold Apart.

Lead Unity Developer - Ametsa Media

Victoria, BC — October 2018 - January 2019
https://ametsamedia.com/

I worked as a contracted programmer on an unreleased children’s book application. My work involved constructing a system for saving user data, dynamically replacing book assets (text, sprites) based on user data, advising on design decisions, and determining technical specifications for and optimizing art. I also mentored and reviewed the work of junior developers.

Duties

  • Implement UI, gameplay, animations, and data structures for saving.

  • Determine technical specifications for art assets.

  • Provide advice on gameplay and UI design.

Programmer - Pretty Weird Games

Victoria, BC — June 2017 - April 2018

I worked as a contracted programmer on Pretty Weird’s unannounced debut strategy title. I can’t go into many details because of my NDA, but I advised on design decisions, and was responsible for all of the programming up to this point. My work involves me working with the Unity serializer, writing Unity editor extensions, designing and creating tools for designers, and writing code that can manage thousands of simultaneous game objects.

Duties

  • Implement UI, gameplay, and design tools.

  • Determine technical specifications for art assets.

  • Provide advice on gameplay and UI design.

Lead Programmer - 88 Digital

Toronto, Ontario — November 2016 - May 2017
http://88digital.io

I worked part time as a contracted programmer on 88 Digital's debut mobile title Sugar. My job consisted of more than programming though; it was up to me to determine technical requirements of assets, advise on design decisions such as the choice to add obstacles, and in general provide guidance on how to launch an app (what needs to be prepared for cert, what features need to be included in apps with IAP, content update cycle, etc.).

Duties

  • Implement the UI and game play.

  • Determine technical specifications for art assets.

  • Program animations.

  • Provide advice on design and additional features, for example cloud saves to persist character purchases across devices when using the in game currency.

  • Schedule post-release updates to optimize visibility.

  • Integrate native code libraries and SDKs for features such as Cloud Kit and Google Play Games Services.

Lead Design & Programming - Double Jump (formerly Dockyard Games)

Victoria, British Columbia — April 2014 - October 2014
http://doublejump.com

During my time at Double Jump I essentially worked as a one man development team. I would design games and take them from concept to release almost entirely without help because of the tiny size of the company. I wrote 100% of the code for my projects, concepted out the artwork myself, and wrote the marketing materials myself. While at Double Jump I designed and developed the game Grappling Garry.

Duties

  • Design mobile games from scratch including mechanics, characters, concepting art, designing UIs, and naming the game.

  • Program games and systems in C# with Unity.

  • Write native code for Android and iOS platforms.

  • Write marketing materials for the games.

EDUCATION

BSc. in Computer Sciences, University of Victoria

September 2010 - April 2016

Notable areas of study included:

  • Networking

  • Database design & relational algebra

  • 2D & 3D graphics

  • Simulations

  • Concurrency

  • Machine learning

  • Music information retrieval

  • Product design

  • Project management

SKILLS & INTERESTS

  • Experienced with different languages and environments, notably C#, Python, and Java.

  • Experienced with version control tools like Git.

  • Comfortable in both Windows and Unix environments.

  • Interested in game design and development with an emphasis on music and virtual reality games.