About Me

I'm Andrew, a programmer and game developer specializing in gameplay systems and graphics. I studied at Carnegie Mellon University, earning a degree in mathematics (discrete math and logic) and a minor in game design. I was initially interested in math research at school, but I eventually decided to focus more on computer science because I enjoyed modding games like Minecraft.

I decided to try out the Godot game engine one time because I was fed up with insufficient documentation for modding Call of Duty, and I reasoned that it might be easier to make my own games than try to mess with someone else's. I'm not sure if this ended up being true, but I've certainly had more fun.

A friend eventually convinced me to join my school's Game Creation Society, where I really fell in love with game development. I learned to use Unity and Unreal, making games for PC, mobile, XR, and I pivoted to focusing on games full-time.

Work History

This past summer, I was an intern on Fortnite's Cosmetic Tech team at Epic Games. I worked closely with experience developers and was a core engineer on the cosmetics side for a currently-unreleased feature, building new systems and providing documentation and assistance to other teams/disciplines, integrating with existing cosmetics systems (in particular, frontend item previews), and generally contributing to the design and maintenance of Fortnite's features and codebase. Our team (and most of the company) was completely remote, so active communication via Slack and consistent syncs on Zoom were necessary to keep up a rapid pace.

Before that, I was a research assistant at CMU's School of Design, developing a mixed-reality welding training app using Unity, Quest headsets (Pro, then later 3), and various USB sensors.

You can read my resume for more structured information.

Education

At CMU, I've studied a variety of mathematical topics such as linear algebra, combinatorics, set theory, and calculus, as well as various theoretical CS courses on data structures, algorithms, and systems.

I wanted to take the Computer Game Programming course, which required studying Computer Graphics first. These ended up being my favorite two classes I've taken at CMU and are the reason I've started focusing more on graphics in personal work (my final project in Game Programming in particular was very influential).

Hobbies/Interests

I like to go to the gym! I don't do enough cardio; I usually focus on strength training instead. I'm not a huge body builder or anything (no disrespect), I just like how it feels to really exert myself.

I used to go bouldering a lot, but as I've become busier I've mostly replaced it with regular gym workouts. I still like to go every once in a while.

My recent obsession has been cosplay and costume-making, which started after I was roped into CMU's club in my senior year. I used to make prop weapons from COD Zombies when I was a kid so it's been fun to revisit that type of creative work, which is a nice change of pace from my usual computer-oriented interests.

And obviously, I love playing games. Lately it's been a dangerous amount of Overwatch 2, but my favorite games of all time probably consist of Outer Wilds, Tunic, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Minecraft, Terraria, and COD: Black Ops III.