Darrell Christmas
Lead Game Systems Programmer at BioWare- Claim this Profile
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Topline Score
Bio
Hedrick (Rocky) Rivero
Darrell's equipped with the varied skills that are valuable for a game engineer, but it's his experience which sets those skills apart among others in his field. For example, Darrell's a great problem solver, as is desired of many engineers, but he's developed the ability to do it under pressure with multiple deadlines. His confidence in tough situations is that of a veteran. With experience comes knowledge, and Darrell is adept at not only mentoring other engineers, but maintaining his own significant workload. He's a "player's coach" who can establish a respected leadership position while working side by side with his teammates in the trenches. Beyond his depth in engineering skills, Darrell has a great personality, possesses a creative mind, and loves video games with a passion. I'd cherish the opportunity to work with Darrell again in the future. I look forward to seeing the amazing things he achieves for his next employer.
Jay Sternfield
Darrell is one of the best game engineers I know. As a hardcore gamer himself, he has a strong sense for good design too, which further enhances his programming prowess. Over the time that I had the honor of working with him, there wasn't a task he was afraid to take on, all of which he completed efficiently and at a high level of quality. Darrell was the technical owner of more than one system in a AAA game, the most notable of which was Audio. Not only did he lead other engineers in that area, but he managed pipelines and worked closely with designers and artists to bring the features to completion. He also has a great architectural mind, to refactor existing systems or write his own, better ones. Personally, Darrell is one of the most honest, kind-hearted people I've been able to call "friend". I'll always cherish our time working together as well as the personal relationship we developed so quickly.
Hedrick (Rocky) Rivero
Darrell's equipped with the varied skills that are valuable for a game engineer, but it's his experience which sets those skills apart among others in his field. For example, Darrell's a great problem solver, as is desired of many engineers, but he's developed the ability to do it under pressure with multiple deadlines. His confidence in tough situations is that of a veteran. With experience comes knowledge, and Darrell is adept at not only mentoring other engineers, but maintaining his own significant workload. He's a "player's coach" who can establish a respected leadership position while working side by side with his teammates in the trenches. Beyond his depth in engineering skills, Darrell has a great personality, possesses a creative mind, and loves video games with a passion. I'd cherish the opportunity to work with Darrell again in the future. I look forward to seeing the amazing things he achieves for his next employer.
Jay Sternfield
Darrell is one of the best game engineers I know. As a hardcore gamer himself, he has a strong sense for good design too, which further enhances his programming prowess. Over the time that I had the honor of working with him, there wasn't a task he was afraid to take on, all of which he completed efficiently and at a high level of quality. Darrell was the technical owner of more than one system in a AAA game, the most notable of which was Audio. Not only did he lead other engineers in that area, but he managed pipelines and worked closely with designers and artists to bring the features to completion. He also has a great architectural mind, to refactor existing systems or write his own, better ones. Personally, Darrell is one of the most honest, kind-hearted people I've been able to call "friend". I'll always cherish our time working together as well as the personal relationship we developed so quickly.
Hedrick (Rocky) Rivero
Darrell's equipped with the varied skills that are valuable for a game engineer, but it's his experience which sets those skills apart among others in his field. For example, Darrell's a great problem solver, as is desired of many engineers, but he's developed the ability to do it under pressure with multiple deadlines. His confidence in tough situations is that of a veteran. With experience comes knowledge, and Darrell is adept at not only mentoring other engineers, but maintaining his own significant workload. He's a "player's coach" who can establish a respected leadership position while working side by side with his teammates in the trenches. Beyond his depth in engineering skills, Darrell has a great personality, possesses a creative mind, and loves video games with a passion. I'd cherish the opportunity to work with Darrell again in the future. I look forward to seeing the amazing things he achieves for his next employer.
Jay Sternfield
Darrell is one of the best game engineers I know. As a hardcore gamer himself, he has a strong sense for good design too, which further enhances his programming prowess. Over the time that I had the honor of working with him, there wasn't a task he was afraid to take on, all of which he completed efficiently and at a high level of quality. Darrell was the technical owner of more than one system in a AAA game, the most notable of which was Audio. Not only did he lead other engineers in that area, but he managed pipelines and worked closely with designers and artists to bring the features to completion. He also has a great architectural mind, to refactor existing systems or write his own, better ones. Personally, Darrell is one of the most honest, kind-hearted people I've been able to call "friend". I'll always cherish our time working together as well as the personal relationship we developed so quickly.
Hedrick (Rocky) Rivero
Darrell's equipped with the varied skills that are valuable for a game engineer, but it's his experience which sets those skills apart among others in his field. For example, Darrell's a great problem solver, as is desired of many engineers, but he's developed the ability to do it under pressure with multiple deadlines. His confidence in tough situations is that of a veteran. With experience comes knowledge, and Darrell is adept at not only mentoring other engineers, but maintaining his own significant workload. He's a "player's coach" who can establish a respected leadership position while working side by side with his teammates in the trenches. Beyond his depth in engineering skills, Darrell has a great personality, possesses a creative mind, and loves video games with a passion. I'd cherish the opportunity to work with Darrell again in the future. I look forward to seeing the amazing things he achieves for his next employer.
Jay Sternfield
Darrell is one of the best game engineers I know. As a hardcore gamer himself, he has a strong sense for good design too, which further enhances his programming prowess. Over the time that I had the honor of working with him, there wasn't a task he was afraid to take on, all of which he completed efficiently and at a high level of quality. Darrell was the technical owner of more than one system in a AAA game, the most notable of which was Audio. Not only did he lead other engineers in that area, but he managed pipelines and worked closely with designers and artists to bring the features to completion. He also has a great architectural mind, to refactor existing systems or write his own, better ones. Personally, Darrell is one of the most honest, kind-hearted people I've been able to call "friend". I'll always cherish our time working together as well as the personal relationship we developed so quickly.
Credentials
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Transitioning from Technical Professional to Manager
LinkedInOct, 2020- Nov, 2024
Experience
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BioWare
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Canada
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Computer Games
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200 - 300 Employee
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Lead Game Systems Programmer
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Feb 2018 - Present
Lead Game Systems Programmer on Dragon Age Lead Game Systems Programmer on Dragon Age
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Electronic Arts (EA)
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United States
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Entertainment Providers
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700 & Above Employee
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Software Engineer
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Sep 2016 - Feb 2018
Lead Audio Engineer on EA Sports NBA Live Lead Audio Engineer on EA Sports NBA Live
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Electronic Arts (EA)
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United States
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Entertainment Providers
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700 & Above Employee
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Software Engineer
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Aug 2011 - Jun 2016
Lead Audio Engineer - Game logic and Hardware API programmer for NBA Controlled entirety of product audio engineering, including directing elements for speech, sound effects, and music. Managed planning and scoping for audio and presentation product features, partnering with cross-functional team of designers and audio artists. ● Developed features to build and evaluate stories in a contextual manner, to be used cross label. ● Developed shared tool to ease the design of custom logic based on in game statistical data. ● Worked alongside engineers from FIFA and Madden to create shared technology in our games. ● Collaborated with animators to develop a viable lip sync solution for a sports console game. ● Developed a solution for delivering audio updates post ship. ● Worked with cross functional team of designers and audio artists to deliver rich features. ● Involved in planning and scoping for audio and presentation features for the product. ● Credited titles: NBA Live 16(XB1/PS4), NBA Live 15(XB360/PS3) and NBA Live 14(XB360/PS3).
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Software Engineer
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Oct 2010 - Aug 2011
- Worked on bug fixes for various IPhone titles. - Handled UI screen development for Multiplayer portions of Spec Ops: The Line. - Worked on bug fixes for various IPhone titles. - Handled UI screen development for Multiplayer portions of Spec Ops: The Line.
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Electronic Arts (EA)
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United States
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Entertainment Providers
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700 & Above Employee
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Software Engineer
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Nov 2009 - Sep 2010
EASPORTS MMA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ • Owned loading screens in game; set up mode transitions and load threading. • Added to Create-a-Fighter feature development by animating created character during creation process. • Impacted Career Mode user experience with screen development, flow behavior and loading polish. • Bug fixes in the following areas: online screens, in game HUD, in-game pausing, career, CAF. • Designed and developed Rich Presence module and modified Microsoft’s XLAST project accordingly for user experience • Experienced working on new IP with a large but flexible code base. NCAA Football 11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- • Support online development team with UI specific tasks, specifically online dynasty and matchmaking. • Work with QA and designers to maintain existing features through refactoring and bug fixes. • Create new features and UI elements for pregame front end as described by game designers. • Work directly on PS3 and Xbox 360 dev kits to test and debug features.
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Lead Networking Programmer
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Aug 2008 - Dec 2009
· Designed and developed game using the Gamebryo Game Engine in C++. · Designed and implemented networking components of game, including simple lobby system. · Developed C# production tool for character tweaking. Delirium Lead Programmer · Responsible for technical architecture and design of general game play and AI. · Developed 3D Sound Engine with FMOD. · Developed Character Pool system. Notables · Developed custom 3D game engine in C++ with support for XBOX, DirectX 9, and Open GL. · Created dynamically driven via custom XML scripting language for custom game engine. · Co-programmed an OpenGL game, and ported it to XBOX. · Served as solo engineer on 4 rapid prototyped games using Actionscript 3.0, Panda 3D, Torque, and Gamebryo. OTHER PROGRAMMING PROJECTS · Created a chess game and a tic tac toe game using Direct X. · Developed Playlist and mp3 player program using DirectX sound and the MFC API. · Constructed a Java program to use an MS Access, MySQL, and Oracle database.
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Gold Group
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United Kingdom
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Staffing and Recruiting
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1 - 100 Employee
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PHP Developer
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May 2008 - Aug 2008
- Developed php solutions for various clients, both front facing and back-end systems. - Developed php solutions for various clients, both front facing and back-end systems.
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CSC
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United States
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Information Technology & Services
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700 & Above Employee
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Application Associate / Technical Modeler
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Aug 2005 - Feb 2008
· Installed and configured Documentum DCM application for GEHC. · Upgraded Documentum FDA compliant production environment for Bausch & Lomb. · Installed and configured Documentum DCM application for Endo Pharmaceuticals. · Served as an ETL developer on a large Master Data Management (MDM) implementation for J&J. · Installed and configured Documentum DCM application for GEHC. · Upgraded Documentum FDA compliant production environment for Bausch & Lomb. · Installed and configured Documentum DCM application for Endo Pharmaceuticals. · Served as an ETL developer on a large Master Data Management (MDM) implementation for J&J.
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Education
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University of Central Florida
MS, Interactive Entertainment -
Fairleigh Dickinson University
BS, Computer Science -
St. Benedict's Prep School
High School Diploma