Jacob Garbe
Technical Narrative Designer at DJ2 Entertainment Inc.- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Dan Clegg
Jacob is a narrative design prodigy. His understanding of storytelling, as it pertains to game design and gameplay mechanics, is almost preternatural. His capacity to imagine and realize elaborate narrative systems—while maintaining a keen focus on both the macro and micro—is borderline intimidating. While his talent and experience are impressive, what makes Jacob such a truly unique and valuable team member is his patience, generosity, and positivity. He will always make time to offer advice and support, and walk through every inscrutable feature of the game engine du jour. He is a natural teacher and mentor, offering hands-on guidance, while sourcing and sharing materials to provide more context. Jacob is a champion of every member of his team, and has some of the most calming Zoom backgrounds I have ever seen. I very much hope we get to collaborate again soon.
Garrett Stevens
Jacob is a truly rare find. He has a very unique mixture of skills and insights that make him an asset to any team he is on, as well as a joy to work with on any creative or technical problem. His academic background gives him a deep well to draw on, but his creative instincts allow him to use that depth of knowledge in exciting and surprising ways. Jacob knows how to work well with a team of very different creatives, and he knows what he is good at. I think any team would be very lucky to have Jacob.
Dan Clegg
Jacob is a narrative design prodigy. His understanding of storytelling, as it pertains to game design and gameplay mechanics, is almost preternatural. His capacity to imagine and realize elaborate narrative systems—while maintaining a keen focus on both the macro and micro—is borderline intimidating. While his talent and experience are impressive, what makes Jacob such a truly unique and valuable team member is his patience, generosity, and positivity. He will always make time to offer advice and support, and walk through every inscrutable feature of the game engine du jour. He is a natural teacher and mentor, offering hands-on guidance, while sourcing and sharing materials to provide more context. Jacob is a champion of every member of his team, and has some of the most calming Zoom backgrounds I have ever seen. I very much hope we get to collaborate again soon.
Garrett Stevens
Jacob is a truly rare find. He has a very unique mixture of skills and insights that make him an asset to any team he is on, as well as a joy to work with on any creative or technical problem. His academic background gives him a deep well to draw on, but his creative instincts allow him to use that depth of knowledge in exciting and surprising ways. Jacob knows how to work well with a team of very different creatives, and he knows what he is good at. I think any team would be very lucky to have Jacob.
Dan Clegg
Jacob is a narrative design prodigy. His understanding of storytelling, as it pertains to game design and gameplay mechanics, is almost preternatural. His capacity to imagine and realize elaborate narrative systems—while maintaining a keen focus on both the macro and micro—is borderline intimidating. While his talent and experience are impressive, what makes Jacob such a truly unique and valuable team member is his patience, generosity, and positivity. He will always make time to offer advice and support, and walk through every inscrutable feature of the game engine du jour. He is a natural teacher and mentor, offering hands-on guidance, while sourcing and sharing materials to provide more context. Jacob is a champion of every member of his team, and has some of the most calming Zoom backgrounds I have ever seen. I very much hope we get to collaborate again soon.
Garrett Stevens
Jacob is a truly rare find. He has a very unique mixture of skills and insights that make him an asset to any team he is on, as well as a joy to work with on any creative or technical problem. His academic background gives him a deep well to draw on, but his creative instincts allow him to use that depth of knowledge in exciting and surprising ways. Jacob knows how to work well with a team of very different creatives, and he knows what he is good at. I think any team would be very lucky to have Jacob.
Dan Clegg
Jacob is a narrative design prodigy. His understanding of storytelling, as it pertains to game design and gameplay mechanics, is almost preternatural. His capacity to imagine and realize elaborate narrative systems—while maintaining a keen focus on both the macro and micro—is borderline intimidating. While his talent and experience are impressive, what makes Jacob such a truly unique and valuable team member is his patience, generosity, and positivity. He will always make time to offer advice and support, and walk through every inscrutable feature of the game engine du jour. He is a natural teacher and mentor, offering hands-on guidance, while sourcing and sharing materials to provide more context. Jacob is a champion of every member of his team, and has some of the most calming Zoom backgrounds I have ever seen. I very much hope we get to collaborate again soon.
Garrett Stevens
Jacob is a truly rare find. He has a very unique mixture of skills and insights that make him an asset to any team he is on, as well as a joy to work with on any creative or technical problem. His academic background gives him a deep well to draw on, but his creative instincts allow him to use that depth of knowledge in exciting and surprising ways. Jacob knows how to work well with a team of very different creatives, and he knows what he is good at. I think any team would be very lucky to have Jacob.
Experience
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DJ2 Entertainment Inc.
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United States
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Entertainment Providers
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1 - 100 Employee
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Technical Narrative Designer
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Apr 2022 - Present
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Funomena
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United States
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Entertainment Providers
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1 - 100 Employee
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Senior Systems Designer
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Aug 2018 - Feb 2022
Design and implementation of narrative and game systems in Unreal, Unity, and Roblox. Some highlights: -Natural language interactions with dynamic dialogue NPCs (players can talk normally with game characters) -Creation of human-controlled NPCs to lead mini-games in a live MMO event setting, as well as a graph-driven quest generation system -Spatial VR puzzle design and implementation Design and implementation of narrative and game systems in Unreal, Unity, and Roblox. Some highlights: -Natural language interactions with dynamic dialogue NPCs (players can talk normally with game characters) -Creation of human-controlled NPCs to lead mini-games in a live MMO event setting, as well as a graph-driven quest generation system -Spatial VR puzzle design and implementation
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University of California, Santa Cruz
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United States
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Higher Education
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700 & Above Employee
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Computer Science PhD
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Jun 2013 - Aug 2020
In the course of my work in the Expressive Intelligence Studio, I developed three unique dynamic narrative systems, making use of three broad approaches. Ice-Bound used a combinatorial narrative approach with contextual meta-data tagging, StoryAssembler used a hybrid "HTN and forward state-space planner" approach, and Delve used an "HTN-like" planner approach coupled with an attribute grammar system for text realization and coherence.My dissertation evaluated how to pragmatically author for such systems in a production-minded context, so that dynamic narrative could maximize expressiveness, while keeping the authorial burden manageable.
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Digital Arts / New Media MFA
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Aug 2011 - Jun 2013
Created installations utilizing augmented reality, projection mapping, ARG social mechanics, and interactive narrative. Also experimented with Kinect hacking, mechatronic spice cabinets, hardware hacking webcams, and a variety of web technology experiments.
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Magic Leap
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United States
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Computers and Electronics Manufacturing
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700 & Above Employee
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Interaction and Tools Engineer
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Jun 2017 - Jan 2018
Prototyping novel conversational NPC interactions in AR, using a variety of both verbal and non-verbal cues. Prototyping novel conversational NPC interactions in AR, using a variety of both verbal and non-verbal cues.
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Storybricks
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United Kingdom
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Computer Games
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Procedural Text Generation
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Jul 2014 - Sep 2014
Worked with the Storybricks team on the Everquest Next demo for SOE Live, prototyping how expansion grammars combined with goal-oriented factions could result in dynamic event chronicles. Worked with the Storybricks team on the Everquest Next demo for SOE Live, prototyping how expansion grammars combined with goal-oriented factions could result in dynamic event chronicles.
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Horizon Media Group
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United States
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Design Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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Graphic Designer / Web Designer
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Jan 2008 - Jul 2011
I designed everything from trifold brochures and mass mailers to newsletters and interactive web content. I configured custom CMS systems and data-driven websites so that even if our clients only knew how to work a word processor, they could still maintain a rich-media website with confidence and ease. I designed everything from trifold brochures and mass mailers to newsletters and interactive web content. I configured custom CMS systems and data-driven websites so that even if our clients only knew how to work a word processor, they could still maintain a rich-media website with confidence and ease.
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Education
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2013 - 2020
University of California, Santa Cruz
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science -
2011 - 2013
UCSC
MFA, Digital Arts & New Media -
2002 - 2006
DePauw University
Bachelor of Arts, Literature
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