26.3.21

Introduction


My name is Reese Mills and I have a history in game development with Rockstar, Microsoft and some indie groups.

Currently I am unemployed and looking for work in the games industry again.


 
I recently left work as an English teacher in Japan for JET, where I was hoping to travel and network. However, covid-19 has ruined my plans and led to me returning to the UK after two years. I am now aiming to find work in the games industry again currently in design, dev support, or QA. 

 


The pandemic has been a great time to learn and play D&D though! I have been a DM for fellow expats and continue to do so weekly online using Roll20. A fantastic hands on game design experience for two games with five players in each.



My Experience:

  • Rockstar North (3 Years - 2017-2019)
    • Level Design Support. (GTAV Online/RDR Online)

    • Compliance Tester. (SONY/MS/Apps/PC/Etc)

  • HCL - Third Party Microsoft Testing Company (2 Weeks -2013)
    • Xbox One Compliance Tester.
    • Uncredited on the games released at the launch for the Xbox One console.

  • VMC - Third Party Microsoft Testing Company (7 Months - 2013)
    • Xbox 360 Compliance Tester.
    • Uncredited on numerous titles tested for Microsoft TCR compliance.
    • Additional work:
      • Reception work.
      • Home console MP stress testing work.

  • Indie Game Groupworks (1 Year - 2012-2013)
    • Shortly after graduating I started working with a few fellow students in a project group we called Rocket Shark Studios. This is where I managed four team members and we attempted applying for the Digital City Fellowship scheme. This would have given us funding and guidance from the University.
    • Unluckily we did not succeed with our application, so we continued and created a few animation projects and was working on a game project before the group disbanded. 
    • I then worked with a few project groups after this before starting my career in QA compliance testing for video games.

  • BA (Hons) Computer Games Design - Teesside University (3 Years 2009-2012)
    • Graduation grade: 1.1 - First class honors diploma in 2012. 
    • Throughout university I have worked on many different types of projects, but I was more fond of the UI design modules, which was a subject I focused on for a time for Scaleform and Adobe Flash.
    • University Group Projects:
      I worked in two major group projects, which was the fabled Journeyman Project and my final year group project. I have also collaborated with friends and colleges on multiple side projects.
      • Journeyman
        Journeyman was a huge group project where five large teams worked on different levels for a game set by the teachers. The game was combined at the end and I had the opportunity of being the UDK level scripter for Team E. The image above was taken at the end of project, displaying all who participated.
      • Final Year Group Project
        During this project I managed a team of two designers, three artists, two animators and one sound developer. I organised the team, adjusted the schedule, facilitated the team's needs and developed the game UI. The game was not to the scope we wanted, but we achieved making a level on an iPad using UDK, which was a new platform for the engine at that time.
      • Group Side Project
        During this time one side project I found time to collaborate on was for a fictional game demo animation for an Alice in Wonderland point click adventure game for the Nintendo Wii.

    • University Solo Projects:
      I worked a few key projects that involved learning development software techniques and designing art, narrative, characters, UI and game mechanics.
      • Final Year Project
        For my university final year project, I chose to focus my studies in game UI design. With this in mind, I wanted to achieve creating a full RPG demo in Adobe Flash.
      • Mini-Game UDK Tutorials
        I had a module that involved making tutorials, so looking online there are many based on how to use Scaleform for creating game interfaces, but there is a lack of ones on how to use it to make interface mini-games. Therefore I created three tutorials on how to make three commonly seen UI mini-games, being a QTE, Hacking and Progress Bar tutorial for UDK.
      • Point Click Adventure UI Design
        This was a UI module to create a UI demo, so I used Adobe Flash to develop an interface for a fictional point click adventure game with a film noir aesthetic.


  • Before University (2008)
    • Before university I would assist a friend on his flash animations, helping with voicework, some artwork and story writing.
    • I also made the first logo animation for a friend's indie game company Drop Dead Interactive using Adobe Flash.

Abilities:

  • Skills and Knowledge
    • Content creation in a triple-A studio game engine.
    • Knowledge of the game engines UDK and UE4.
    • Level, mission, event and mode planning and design.
    • Research and design for modes and content.
    • Dev support in delegating tasks, helping other departments and preparing content.
    • Teamwork and communication with teams locally and globally in different departments.
    • Level/mission/event engine scripting.
    • Extremely dedicated to be flexible, for overtime, relocation, tasks, and learning.
    • QA Testing knowledge for SP, MP, apps, peripherals, etc.
    • Compliance Testing knowledge for Sony, IOS, Microsoft and apps.
    • Creative writing for animation collaborations. (Alice in Wonderland)
    • UI design using scaleform in UDK.  (Mini-Games)
    • 2D animation in Adobe Flash. (RSS)
    • Minor 3D animation in 3DS Max.
    • Audio and video editing.
    • 2D art, digital and traditional.
    • Game Design. (FYP) (UI Design)
    • Japanese language learning. (Novice level)
    • PC building and repair.
    • IT knowledge.
    • Gaming knowledge.
      • Collector of older generation games from PS1 era upwards.
      • Attended Gamescom three times. 
      • Attended E3 in 2019.
      • Follower of game news and game press conferences.
      • Playing games often on console, phone and PC.
      • Still working my way through retro titles, but also new ones.
      • Favorite genres include Horror, Adventure, RPGs and Narratively Strong games.
      • Favorite games: Baldur's Gate, Xenogears, Final Fantasy VII and Silent Hill 1.
    • Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition - Dungeon Master. (JET)
      • Experience of 2 years, playing 3 games, 2 ongoing.
      • Voice acting and performing.
      • Map and token artwork creation.
      • Level/dungeon/scenario/story design.
      • I collaborated on an article on how to start D&D 5E as a newbie during covid-19.

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