cv

Joe Bain - Curriculum Vitae

Glasgow, UK  •  07708 413 751  •  hi@joeba.in  •  http://joeba.in

I am a freelance game programmer and producer with 7 years of Unity experience. I also run a small studio, Hairy Heart Games.

Work

Crackernuts

Tech Lead & Co-producer

August 2023 - January 2024

Crackernuts is a narrative fairy-tale game using hand-made puppets and models, scanned using photogrammetry and animated using motion capture. I was tech lead on the project and responsible for supervising the development work as well as contributing code. I also helped produce the project, including arranging contracts, pitching for funding and reporting to our grant supervisor.

Lucky Mountain Games

Senior Programmer

June 2023 - Current

Working on a VR title for Quest and PSVR2. The game is a retro-styled shooter with a time travel theme. I have worked on a gameplay scripting system, network code, animations, and AI logic for enemies. The game is being written in Unity.

Rallyallyally

Lead Programmer & Producer

2019-2023

Rallyallyally is a party racing game and was an internal project for Hairy Heart. We published the game on Steam and Switch. I was lead programmer on the project and also producer. My production role included scheduling and overseeing work from other staff, applying for grants, managing payments, managing store pages and the submission process.

Sony IVT

Senior Programmer

August 2022 - May 2023

A VR application showing a virtual Earth which allows users to explore weather patterns, climate change and explains how the world has changed over the 20th century. The app is created in Unity and will be released on Playstation VR and VR2 as well as Oculus Quest.

Keyser Swaps

Lead Programmer

January 2022 - June 2022

This was a work-for-hire project for Hairy Heart which I pitched for and lead. The game was an online trading card game for the Joylina’s Cantina cards. The game is made in Unity and runs as a multiplayer webgl build. I have been acting as producer on the project as well as lead programmer.

ISO Design

Lead Programmer

April 2021 - December 2021

An AR app to guide museum visitors, present 3D objects and detailed information on museum objects. I was lead programmer on the project, developed in Unity.

Moonmode

Programmer

November 2020 - September 2021

I was working on Spacefolk City, a light-hearted city builder game for Oculus Quest, Rift and SteamVR. The game is made in Unity and I worked on a range of things including shaders, editor scripts, UI and general bug-hunting.

Anagram

Programmer

March 2020 - July 2021

Working on Goliath, a VR experience telling the story of a gamer with Schizophrenia who finds relief and friendship through games. I have been working on various gameplay elements, shaders and tools for the project. The experience targeted Oculus Quest and was made in Unity. Goliath won the Interactive selection at the 2021 Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy in 2022.

Lucky Mountain Games

Programmer

March 2019 - June 2020

Working on a prototype for an unannounced new IP targeting Oculus Quest VR in Unity.

Flooid

October 2019 - Jan 2020

An interactive presentation tool made using Unity and a unique raymarched rendering technique.

ISO Design

June 2019 - December 2019

A series of touchscreen interactives for a new museum in Plymouth (The Box). Made using Unity and MegaBook.

IKM Visual

February 2019 - November 2019

Creating a 3D training application for a petrochemical client in Scotland. The app features a 3D walkthrough of the real-world site, helping new engineers become familiar with operating procedures and how to spot problems. I am responsible for planning, drawing up a spec, meeting with the client, as well as developing the app in Unity.

Horizons

August 2017 - January 2019

Working on a VR music creation app for the band OKGo. The app features rich character animation, song-lyric generation, voice detection, song structure and chord auto-suggestion. Primary development platform was Oculus and the app was developed in Unity. [preview]

Pool Panic

November 2016 - June 2017

Unity gameplay programming and level design for a 2.5D arcade pool game. Hand-drawn art mixed with 3D physics. I created custom levels, behaviours, and graphics solutions. Working under a lead programmer with a small art team. Released on Switch and published by Adult Swim in 2018.

Unit 9 

November 2016

I worked on tools and support for a Unity-based VR/AR app, involving an Oculus and custom camera solution to produce a mixed reality driving simulation with an advertisement as the final product. [youtube]

Permanent Positions

OMG Life

Senior Software Developer, April 11 - May 14

I developed a photo management application for the Autographer wearable camera. Mainly Javascript with some C++. Important features were silent updates managed by a CI server, cloud integration, video processing, hardware detection and map data plotting.

Realtime Worlds

Junior Software Engineer, Sept 09 - June 10

I worked on MyWorld, an MMO game based on real world mapping data. I used C# and wrote test code and tools for the game.

Education

BSc Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence, First Class, Edinburgh University, graduated 2009. A-Levels in English Literature (A), Maths (B) and Philosophy (B)

Personal projects

A selection of some of my personal games projects.

Rallyallyally

Rallyallyally is an online racing game where 8 player compete to create tracks and then drive them. It is currently in early development and has been awarded a grant from the UK Games Fund. Initial development is targeting mobile platforms and development is in Unity.

Yucatan

Yucatan is a Mexican-themed arcade racing game featuring innovative gravity mechanics, a variety of powerups, and a bold low-poly style. It has so far been selected for the Leftfield Collection at EGX 2017, Arcadia Festival 2017, and been featured in Eurogamer, RPS, Gamesmaster and others. Development is currently on hold. The game is made in Unity, with programming in C#.

Mole Whack

Mole Whack is a simple AR whack-a-mole game made with Vuforia in Unity. Download here.

Tower 10,000

Tower 10,000 is a minimalist puzzle game written in Javascript using Phaser. You can play it online.

Uprok

Uprok is an experimental 5-player one-button game written in Javascript with procedural graphics and reactive sound.

Uprok has been shown at the Stattbad Gallery in Berlin, at Wild Rumpus in London, at 2012 GDC party All Other Parties Are Trite And Dull, at the Norwich Gaming Festival, and the Games Science Centre in Berlin. You can play a single player demo online (Chrome only).

Kaptilo

Kaptilo is a 2d puzzle game made for Android. I did programming (in Java) and game design and collaborated with artist Amy Wiseman. APK download