Adam_Pino_Resume

Adam Pino

535 Kelton Ave #2 Los Angeles, CA 90024 310.882.8982(cell) 310.208.4795(home) adam.pino@gmail.com

 

 

Introduction	Dedicated and creative game development professional with experience in tools, gameplay, and systems.  Efficient leader with achievements in team building, problem solving, and mentorship.  Provides creative solutions to difficult software problems.  Demonstrated ability to interface with other departments.
Objective	To procure a systems, gameplay, or generalist engineering position at an industry leading studio and to produce a triple-A action game.  To use all of my programming, leadership, and management skills to help to create a bar-setting action game.
Core Competencies	• Microsoft Xbox 360              • Sony Playstation 3               • Microsoft Direct X SDK • PC development              • Sony Playstation 2               • Streaming • Microsoft Xbox              • C/C++                             • C# • Delphi                                          • Lua                                          • Gameplay • Code Optimization              • Low Level Debugging
Experience	Senior Software Engineer 2003-Present  Pandemic Studios, Los Angeles, CA §        The Saboteur – Lead Systems and Tools Engineer §        Created an open world streaming engine for Xbox 360 §        Created an export pipeline for an open world streaming game. §        Managed team of engineers to produce an open world game. §        Contributed core design ideas and feedback to the team. §        Provided a central leadership role on the team. §        Full Spectrum Warrior – Lead Gameplay Engineer §        Managed a team of gameplay engineers. §        Built a design friendly windows based scripting system. §                  Created Several scripts that shipped as final gameplay. §                  Worked with Creative Director to provide strong engineering core to gameplay systems.
	Programmer 2002-2003  Idol Minds, Louisville, CO §        My Street – Programmer §                  Produced UI tool for generating Playstation 2 user interfaces. §                  Integrated UI tool into existing Playstation 2 export pipeline. §                  Completed a UI for a shipped PS 2 game, fulfilling all TRCs.

	Software Engineer 200-2002  VR-1 Entertainment, Boulder, CO §                  Created a UI for a massively multiplayer online PC game. §                  Created a shadow rendering system for a massively multiplayer online PC game. §                  Add pixel shader capabilities to the UI of an Xbox RPG
Education	University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO 1998-1999 §                  Computer Science Major University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD 1997-1998 §                 Computer Science Major
Achievements	§                 Contributed to the building of an engineering team to produce a Next Generation open world game and engine. §                 Built a three dimensional multithreaded open world streaming engine. §                 Provided core design ideas to an open world sandbox game. §                 Led gameplay programming efforts in a genre defining military simulator. §                 Worked with an artist to provide a multi project user interface tool used to generate shippable user interfaces.

 

 

Adam Pino

535 Kelton Ave #2 Los Angeles, CA 90024 , 310-882-8981(cell) 310-208-4795(home) , adam.pino@gmail.com

 

Mirror's Edge

I finally finished Mirror's Edge.  It took me a very long while.  It is by turns one of the most exhilirating and frustrating games I've ever played.  At first I thought the level designers just made decisions that I didn't agree with,  I was constantly getting lost having trouble figuring out what to do next, and on some levels I was lost with tons of blues trying to kill me.  So at first I thought that Dice intentionally created one of the most frustrating game experiences I've met.  By the end of the game though, I started to wonder if maybe this wasn't just a time issue.  It almost seems like they didn't have a lot of time to go through the levels and polish up the clamber paths and put all the red hints that most players would need.  That doesn't really excuse the weak combat, or levels with just plain too many enemies, but maybe the game didn't get a chance to get really focus tested and balanced.  That's what it feels like anyway.  I really hope they fix this one up for the sequels, my EA stock could really use a boost.

Obligatory "of '08" post.

So this is my all too unfotunate "things of 08" post.  Nothing is in any particular order.

Films:

Didn't see a ton of films this year.  What I saw and liked included:

The Dark Knight:  Fantastic story, Heath Ledger shows his genius, great film.

Tropic Thunder:  Throw actors into "the shit", hilarity ensues.

Zack and Miri make a Porno:  Kevin Smith's best film since Chasing Amy

Pineapple Express:  I just seem to love everything Seth Rogen does.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall:  Came out of left field and really impressed.

Iron Man: Most fun super hero movie ever.

I'm probably missing some stuff but this is what sticks out.

Games:

Great games of the year include:

Grand Theft Auto IV:  It's pretty much what I was hoping for, no 10, but best GTA story yet, and amazing attention to detail in the city.  Mechanics are sort of weak and the plot does meander towards the end.  I still had a blast.

Fallout 3:  I really got into this game.  Way more than I expected.

Metal Gear Solid IV:  Totally loved this game despite never having played any MGS more than a couple of hours before.  Amazing technical achievement, incredible cinematics, and a story I could somehow just barely follow.

Sim City iPhone:  Whiled away MANY an hour with this version of Sim City.

Warhammer Online:  First MMORPG I legitemately got into.

There are a few others that I enjoyed but wouldn't say were great games of the year, including Fable 2, Mirror's Edge, and Little Big Planet.

Books:

I read a LOT of books this year, but not a lot of them are coming to mind.  These are the standouts:

Toll The Hounds:  Erikson continues his amazing series, perhaps not the best in the series but still good.

Return of the Crimosn Guard:  Best I've seen from Esselmont and a welcome edition to the Malazan Lore.

The Name of the Wind: Patrick Rothfuss weaves a deft and imaginative tale.  Highly recommended.

I read a couple of books on wine, including a book about the french resistance hiding wine from the Nazis, and the famous wine tasting of '76 where the French were beaten by American wines, but neither book was particularly good. 

Wine:

This is probably my biggest wine year EVER with so many amazing wines tasted this year.  Here are the standouts:

The Prisoner ('05 and '06): The '07 seems to need more time, but the '05 and '06 are absolutely fantastic, with the '05 barely edging out the '06.  Sweet, with tons of berry, this is probably my favorite wine.  Fantastic Zinfandel blend.

Head Honcho ('06):  This is a Syrah that is bursting with fruit, and a touch rough around the edges with a bit of alcohol.  Spicy and big and sexy, just a wonderful expression of Syrah.

Papillon ('05): This a sophisticated Bordeaux style blend from the guys that brought us prisoner.  Less bold than prisoner, but more complex, all in all a wonderful blend.

Porque No: This is my 'go to' wine at Napa Valley Grille.  Fruity and sweet, yet able to maintain some of the complexity of the cabernet, another great Napa blend.

Breggo Pinot Noir:  Needs a long decant, but you'll be rewarded with a sweet and fruity pinot noir that has an extremely long finish.

Cycle Gladiator and Ravenswood deserve nods for providing cheap yet delicious wines.  Bishop's Peak also fits into this category.  Talley Pinot Noir remains great, but I didn't drink a ton of it this year.

In other news, the game's still not done, but it's looking strong for this year.  I never want to be on one project so long again, it has turns of being very disheartening.  Overall not the greatest year in many ways.  I've seen my EA stock options go from being a smallish down payment on a condo to being completely worthless.  I've seen my golden handcuffs turn to lead, and I've had many friends and family lose their jobs.  Meanwhile the L.A. Real estate market refuses to fall enough for me to have a real chance at getting anything, a frustrating and disappointing year, to be sure.  Hopefully '09 will either bring an economy turnaround, or the Los Angeles home prices will drop for real.  We'll see.