A lifetime of
building
play.

I've been in the game industry since 1988. One of my key roles was joining VRChat in early 2016 as their Chief Creative Officer. I helped build the team and launched it on Steam a year later, on February 1st, 2017. I spent 7.5 incredible years with VRChat before taking a well-deserved career break in July 2023 to ponder my next adventure. For more about me and my projects read on...

Spawnpoint: First off, I was born in Scotland and lived there until I was 8 at which point we moved to the South East of England to a small town called Bexhill in East Sussex. When I was 12 we immigrated to California in the USA. There were a few years of back and forth to the UK until around 15 when our family became permanent residents of the United States. All this is to say that, (a) Even though I sound American I have access to multiple accents and (b) That upbringing meant I was able to see the start of arcades and home computer gaming from the UK and the USA at a time when it was just getting going. I of course tried my best to learn any coding, art and other skills to make my own. Which was a struggle back in those days.

BBS > Game Industry: It also placed me in the heart of Orange County, California which was a hotbed of gaming company goodness that I managed to become a part of at 18 years old. Mostly due to being part of a dial-up (with your phone line and a modem) multiline BBS that many of the people around my age were part of back then. Some people on the BBS were employed at Virgin Games in Irvine, CA as an Artist and Producer. It was from them that I was able to get a job as an Artist and Animator working on Gameboy titles. And then eventually Silicon & Synapse which became Blizzard Entertainment. Yeah, that Blizzard. :)

Music & Sound Design I've also always been into music creation and sound design. I was big into synthesizers and early days making music with computers. Sequencers, Amiga Trackers, Visuals to go along with it all. Or taking tape recorders to record foley and then playing with the audio in a tascam portastudio to make soundscapes. That has all persisted until the present. I also played in some (not very good) bands and found ways to buy or access music gear that was cutting edge for the time. You'll see in my work experience I've been part of music and sound (and even voice acting) for a variety of projects. It's something I've always enjoyed but I enjoy the larger Product Direction more.

The Spark: Ever since I can remember, I've had a wild imagination and a love for creating things. I credit my father who was an electronic engineer and programmer. He enjoyed fixing the earliest arcade games, so we had 'em in the house back in the day. He also was a fun guy with a good imagination. I also thank my mother for taking me to see Star Wars. I left that day with lego cars and airplanes on the floor and came back to building robots, spaceships and a lightsaber. I was forever changed. Also, try being stuck in boring British towns as a kid - especially when the weather is grey all the time and you're on a tight budget for any hobbies you might enjoy. You quickly find inventive things to do in order to occupy yourself inside. And things like the inventing your own games, drawing comic books and tinkering with the computer were all good escapes.

The Why: As a creative builder and product director, I've been lucky enough to contribute to some well-known games, apps, and platforms. When I was a kid I enjoyed watching my friends play my creations. That small start got me hooked on wanting to build more fun stuff for my friends to play. I knew then that's what I wanted to do as a career. Since then I've been fortunate enough to work on some major things like WarCraft and VRChat where I know it's had a positive impact on people's lives. That's really been at the heart of why I do what I do. I love entertaining people and giving them ways to connect more. In summary, my true passion is crafting fun, immersive experiences that bring people together.

How: It's one thing to have an idea, and as you know, another thing to execute on it. To bring it into being. From experience I think I've learned some solid methods to achieve that. Working with other like minded adventurers is a large part of that journey. I absolutely love collaborating with others to develop meaningful and successful products. Especially when it feels like you're all vibing on the same wavelength. Some of my fondest memories are of tinkering on fun prototypes with amazing people—you might even recognize some of them! Over the years, I've spent decades honing my skills across a variety of innovative teams. I thrive on solving problems and discovering the fun in every project, especially when working closely with the community of players or users. I think I've been fortunate to also always enjoy learning and changing. I believe that's a key part of the process. It doesn't hurt that game industry (and related) keeps giving us new a fun ways to both build and enjoy things. Better computers, mobile devices, Virtual Reality, Mixed Realty, Faster more connected networks, new tools, new tech... Artificial Intelligence! I've always enjoyed exploring the latest and greatest tech to see how to make it fun.

As a small example, this website came to life after I spent a few days diving into React, Node.js, and playing around with AI using Cursor https://www.cursor.com/.

Product Design: I have had the pleasure of working with a diverse range of teams—from solo projects and small groups to teams comprising hundreds of people. I've helped startups I'm involved with secure funding and have worked diligently to steer them toward success. Wearing multiple hats has given me a wealth of experience in team building, production, design, marketing, data science, creator communities, and company strategy.

My work with VRChat particularly expanded my experience in building a large-scale, live social platform featuring user-generated content. More importantly, it taught me how to shift my perspective from viewing something as just a game, an app, or a project to understanding it from a product point of view.

While I'm capable of diving in and building things hands-on, I now possess extensive experience in analyzing and directing a company's product—whatever it may be—and guiding it to success.

What's Next? I'll be exploring some projects of my own and seeking a Product Design / Game Design / Creative role(s). If you're interested in contacting me you can do so on LinkedIn or X using the links on this page.

Thanks for reading. Hope you have a great day!