katnamag

About Me

Hey you! I'm Tom Schultz and I am a game developer based in the Northeastern US. I've spent most of my career doing engineering and architecture in software and public cloud and now I'm shifting my focus to professional game development.

Games that really put the sparkle in my eye tend to come with one of a few things - exploration and discovery, interactive narrative, memory-making social experiences, user generated content, and ridiculous skill or knowledge challenges. As a developer I'm most interested making games that key into the first four. Here are a few examples of the kinds of games I want to make:

Exploration and discovery - Subnautica, The Outer Wilds, Outward, Breath of the Wild
Truly interactive narrative - Disco Elysium, The Forgotten City, Knights of the Old Republic
Memory-making social experiences - Journey, PlateUp!, Ultimate Chicken Horse, Space Station 13, Knightfall: A Daring Journey, Deep Rock Galactic, Monaco (this list could go on forever)
User generated content - Barotrauma, Warcraft 3, Minecraft, Garry's Mod, Space Station 13, etc.

Keep an ear to the ground for announcements, releases, and general tomfoolery. Browse away and feel free to ping me with thoughts, criticisms, or grand sweeping life questions like, "What's the best spread for sandwiches, and why is it Kewpie?"

Professionally, my goal is to move my career towards gameplay programming and eventually indie development. I've built great skills and experience over the last nine years - software engineering, cloud engineering and architecture, and project management. Right now I feel like a kid in a candy shop - I get to apply and adapt those skills to a new industry, to game development. I am continuing to develop my gamedev-specific skills by releasing a series of small games and interactive experiences. My focus on those projects alternates between launching small, fun games to develop my game-releasing muscle and diving deeper into technical topics like linear algebra, rigidbody physics, and robust, performant C++ programming.

I believe that my skills, experience, and proven track record of collaborative execution and continuous growth make me a valuable member of any team. If you're looking full-time or contract help, feel free to reach out here or on LinkedIn.