Matthew Cervantes

Game Programmer
PO Box 407 Yuba City, CA 95992
Phone: (530) 588-5177
mattcervantes25@gmail.com

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OBJECTIVE

A programmer position that challenges and inspires my passion for creating engaging and entertaining games


EDUCATION

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Masters in Entertainment Technology, 2008
Course Concentration: Entertainment Projects Emphasizing Team Building And Creativity
Website: www.etc.cmu.edu

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHICO, Chico, California
Bachelors of Science in Computer Science, 2006
Course Concentration: Computer Graphics Programming; Minor in Mathematics
Honors: Recipient, Mary M. Aaron Memorial Trust Grant; Recipient, National Science Foundation Scholarship; Member, Dean's List
Website: www.ecst.csuchico.edu/__depts/csci/Computer__Science


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

DIVIDE BY ZERO GAMES, Seattle, Washington

June 2008 - October 2008

Game Engineer
• Worked as part of a small startup team for an unannounced MMO game.
• Wrote foundation code base for multiple subsystems.
• Presented game iterations to potential investors.
• Communicated with team members and department heads via daily scrum meetings.

ACTIVISION, Foster City, California

January 2008 - May 2008

Game Designer Intern
• Worked as part of a design team on unannounced AAA console game.
• Wrote and documented gameplay script files using proprietary scripting language.
• Communicated with team members and team leads via daily srum meetings and level reviews.

SUNGARD BI-TECH, Chico, California

June 2006 - Feb 2007

Application Programmer & Analyst
• Worked as part of a development team using Agile Software Development Methodology.
• Developed and documented new functionality for software and web applications.
• Programmed in Visual Studios.NET development environment
• Ensured system worked across databases.
• Communicated with product owners/current clients
• Delivered project updates to senior management team.

HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY, Roseville, California

May 2005 - Aug 2005

Software Product Engineer Intern
• Designed, implemented, and tested a methodology to automate the process of generating, sending, and receiving detailed product reports to and from different manufacturing sites.
• Implemented the "Software Simplification Project" using Visual Studios.NET 2003 development environment; wrote using Managed C++ and Perl scripts to contact manufacturing sites via HTTP requests.


SKILLS

Fluent: C/C++, C#, Python, HTML/XHTML
Experienced: XNA, Ogre 3D, OpenGL, PHP, Lightwave 3D, ActionScript 3, Radiant
Some Experience: Java, Maya 7, Oracle, Informix, SQL Server, mySQL, and Access
Software: Visual Studios .NET, SourceSafe, Perforce, Subversion, MS Word, Outlook, VPN, RDP networking


PROJECTS

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Hatch - www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/globalimagination
Client based project consisting of six ETC students. We worked with Global Imagination's "Magic Planet", a spherical projection screen with unique potential. Our goal was to take full advantage of the Magic Planet's one-of-a-kind display, creating eye-catching, useful, and fun applications that showcased information in a worldwide context. Hatch delivered interactive experiences that explored the possibilities of a truly 3-D interface. We developed for the Magic Planet in a partnership with Global Imagination, and created content for a Magic Planet that is on display at the Entertainment Technology Center's main campus in Pittsburgh. Participated in brainstorming, game design, and as programmer.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Context - www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/context
Collaborative project consisting of five ETC students. The goal of the project is to explore new and innovative techniques to emotionally invest game players in games. We developed four distinct game prototypes, each of which emphasized different techniques for emotionally investing players. All prototype development was done in Flash CS3, and is web-accessible. Participating in brainstorming, game design, and as programmer.
Touch Typist Prototype - The third prototype produced. An attempt at using comedy to evoke emotional responses in games.
Not So Super Mario - The fourth prototype produced. An attempt at a satirical game using a well known game franchise.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Second Life Project - www.etc.cmu.edu.au/velocity
Collaborative project consisting of four ETC students. The goal of the project was to create an ETC campus in Second Life. During the course of the semester we were able to aquire a virtual island from Linden Labs, and populate the island with four distinct structures to showcase the many kinds of projects ETC students work on during their first semester. Participated in brainstorming and website development.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Building Virtual Worlds - www.etc.cmu.edu/bvw
Thφdol – 3D maze game on revolving sphere. Played using keyboard interface. Participated in brainstorming, game design and as programmer.
First Flight – Flight simulation as a baby bird following mother bird. Played using wings which were strapped to players' arms. Participated in brainstorming, game design and as programmer.
Hindenburg – Guided virtual tour of Hindenburg airship. Played using two joysticks, which controlled players body, and head movement. Participated in brainstorming, game design and as programmer.
Bad Robot – Networked multi-player story-based game. Each player interacted with the game through distinct control stations, each of which used various input devices. Participated in brainstorming, game design and as programmer.
Rainbow High – Mini-game driven story world. Each mini-game was played using a different input device (i.e. Pomp-pomps, Guitar Hero guitar, Wacom Tablet, etc.). Participated in brainstorming, game design, programming, and team management.

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHICO
Senior Project
Escape 3D – 3D maze game with FPS characteristics and level loading capabilities. Brainstormed, designed, and implemented all game code and content.


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