John Byrd

Costa Mesa, CA
E-mail: jbyrd at well dot com
WWW: http://www.johnbyrd.com

Skills

  • Seventeen years of key game industry experience, eleven years in management
  • Real-world experience managing large game projects
  • Extensive relationships with game industry people and businesses
  • Deep technical knowledge of game console development
  • Proven passion for helping game developers

Work Experience

Chief Executive Officer
October 2006 -
present
Gigantic Software, LLC, Irvine, CA:  Founded company.  Made and sold audio middleware for next-gen consoles.  Completed license agreements with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.  Major customers include Foundation 9 Entertainment and Konami.
Chief Operating Officer
March 2003 -
October 2006
CRI Middleware Co., LTD (Sega), San Francisco, CA:  Founded US division.  Sold CRI's audio middleware products, originally developed by SEGA-AM2, into US markets.  Cultivated leads, demonstrated products, answered deep technical questions, and negotiated contracts and payment schedules with most major US game publishers.  Built profitable business in under three years.
Principal
Engineer
Sep 2002 -
Mar 2003
Sega.com , San Francisco, CA: Created the SNAP SDK for online console game development. Devised and managed product schedule. Rewrote online code for XBox and Gamecube, and assisted with PS2 version.
Senior Project Manager
Feb 2002 -
Apr 2002
Electronic Arts , Redwood City, CA: Tasked and scheduled 61 artists, engineers and production personnel for Freekstyle, a high-profile action-sports game.  Managed integration of audio surround features into the game.
Consultant
Sep 2001 -
Jan 2002
Self-employed, San Francisco, CA: Edited game mathematics gems in Game Programming Gems 3, published by Charles River Media.  Founded Bosslevel and acquired support from major game companies.
Director of Development Technology
Aug 1997 -
Mar 2001
Sega of America , San Francisco, CA: Created the Sega Dreamcast (Katana) SDK .  Managed North American developer technical support for Sega Dreamcast.  Developed, integrated and quality-assured several Sega Dreamcast core libraries and development tools.  Created Internet-based support system. Built relationships with developers and partner companies.  Managed full-time staff of thirteen; coached and improved engineers and non-technical staff.
Senior Engineer
Feb 1994 -
Aug 1997
The 3DO Company , Redwood City, CA:  Wrote and taught courses at 3DO University.  Wrote code and provided other technical assistance for Windows, M2 and 3DO development teams. Developed demo programs and content for 3DO system software.  Wrote installers for multiple PC games.
Applications Engineer
Sep 1991 -
Sep 1993
Archibus, Inc. , Boston, MA: Designed, wrote and integrated CAD and database systems. Produced training videos using 3D Studio.  Wrote users' and programmers' documentation and manuals. Wrote proposals for new systems.  Provided technical support to end users.

Education

Harvard College : B.A. in Computer Science, June 1991. Microsoft Scholar, 1990.  Major classwork in Harvard's Electronic Music Studio.