Spencer Winson
Specialist in gameplay programming, application architecture, and user experience.

Resume

Spencer Winson

spencer.winson@gmail.com | www.spencerwinson.com | Calgary Alberta Canada

SUMMARY:

With over a decade of experience in Unity game development, Spencer builds on the foundation of a computer science degree, combined with a lifelong passion for game development, to deliver the technical solutions that transform the wildest game design dreams into vivid interactive reality.

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE:

  • Slitherine Software UK Limited: Scramble Team Lead Programmer,  September 2021 - Present

    • Shipped Titles: Scramble: Battle of Britain (PC)

  • Dibs Studio: Senior Unity Engineer,  May 2019 - September 2021

  • Secret Location: Game Programmer, Unity Engine,  April 2017 - May 2019

    • Shipped Titles: World of Peppa Pig (iOS/Android)

    • Ported:  Blasters of the Universe (PC - Viveport store)

  • Scary Wizard Games: Founder, Lead Designer, Lead Programmer, Unity Engine,  June 2016 - February 2017

    • Shipped Titles: Monumental Failure (PC/Mac/Linux)

  • Game Hive: Game Developer, Unity Engine,  June 2012 - June 2016

    • Shipped Titles: Beat The Boss Series (Beat the Boss 1,2,3&4) (iOS/Android), Battle Run (iOS/Android), Super Battle Racers (iOS/Android), Tap Titans (iOS/Android), Tap Tycoon (iOS/Android), Flappy Turd Saga (Android), Kitty Flame Highway Warrior (Android), Dot Monster (Android)

RELEVANT SKILLS:

Unity App Development:

  • As lead programmer on Scramble, ensured that a reliable software product was delivered by refactoring core systems of the application and instituting development processes for the team to follow

  • As the Senior Unity Engineer at Dibs, designed and engineered the underlying code architecture for the client app, while collaborating with back-end engineers to deliver a total technology solution for the game

  • Sole designer and programmer for Monumental Failure, over 1 million views of gameplay on YouTube

  • Sole developer on World of Peppa Pig app as it was brought from soft launch to full release, responsible for spearheading the post release support, responsible for analytics implementation

  • Experience integrating many APIs including Photon, uLink, Rewired, inControl, Google Maps, and 6D.ai

Gameplay Programming:

  • Delivered AI solution for Scramble: Battle of Britain

  • Peg Leg Simulator received honourable mention in game jam competition with over 1000 entries

  • World of Peppa Pig’s target audience, 2 - 4 year olds, required the development of extremely intuitive interactions and interfaces

  • Beat the Boss series created the challenge of coding and designing comical, physics based interactions through a touch screen device, series has received over 50 million downloads

  • Was responsible for developing prototypes for Battle Run and Super Battle Racers which would heavily influence the final design of the respective games

Technical Design:

  • On Scramble, delivered the solution for rendering planes’ flight paths

  • On Scramble, delivered the solution for sea to sky environment rendering 

  • Monumental Failure supports 4 player split screen with a monument for each player, and up to 10 players in split screen competitive co-op mode

  • At Game Hive, collaborated with lead artist and animator to create a Flash SWF to Unity asset pipeline

  • Responsible for network code in Battle Run, Super Battle Racers, and Scramble: Battle of Britain

  • Has experience with authoritative and nonauthoritative multiplayer design patterns

User Interface Implementation and User Experience Design:

  • On Scramble, delivered all menus in the application, including support for a range of standard resolutions to ultrawide resolutions, and support for both mouse navigation and controller navigation.

  • On World Of Peppa Pig, supported the full range of phone and tablet resolutions. 

  • Conducted user testing for World Of Peppa Pig and adapted that information to support wide ranges of input styles.

  • In general, has a true expertise in implementing UI using Unity’s UI system, including support for controller, mouse, and touch inputs.

Collaboration and Teamwork:

  • Instituted development process for the Scramble team, including code style guide, git procedures, and code reviews

  • At Dibs Studio, lead a team of 4 client developers, established a coding style guide, and set up a code review process

  • Was part of Game Hive growing from a studio of 5 developers to a studio of 15

  • Familiar with version control (GIT, Plastic) and task-management software (Notion, Pivotal, Jira, Basecamp)

Appetite for Learning:

  • Taught self how to use Photoshop, 3DS Max, and Valve’s Hammer Editor for hobbyist level design

  • Learned principles of multiplayer networking while working at Game Hive

Passion for Game Development:

  • Interest started in modding The Sims and hobbyist level design for Counter Strike: Source

  • A frequent game jam participant, ensuring the creative side is well exercised

Programming:

  • Experience with C, C++, C#, Java, Javascript, PHP, Prolog, Scheme

EDUCATION:

Carleton University: B.Sc Computer Science, Game Development stream, graduated in 2012 w High Honours