Jason Pecho

www.jasonpecho.com

628 W. Surf St  Apt 1A                                                                                                                                              (708)819 – 0000

Chicago, IL 60657                                                                                                                                      jason.pecho@gmail.com

     

 

Education      

            DePaul University, Chicago, IL

                Masters of Science in Computer Games Development. Expected June 2010

·         Emphasis in large-scale, real-time systems and graphics

                Current GPA: 4.0/4.0

 

DePaul University, Chicago, IL

Bachelor of Science, Summa Cum Laude (2008)

Major: Computer Games Development,

                Cumulative GPA: 3.947/4.0

 

 

Relevant Course Work        

AI for Computer Games                    Console Game Development            Hardware Shading Techniques

Computer  Graphics                            Action Games Programming             Physical Prototyping of Game Systems

Strategy Games Programming          Physics for Game Developers           Rapid Game Prototyping in Flash

                Algorithm Design and Analysis         Game Optimization                            Game Architecture

                Architecture for Multiplayer Games

 

 

Development Experience


Devil’s Tuning Fork,
Project Lead & Technology Lead : June 2009 – Present

Devil’s Tuning Fork is a game project where the goal is to compete in the Independent Games Festival Student Showcase. The team is composed of fifteen students and the game is moving into its seventh month of development.

§  Cooperated with team members to make sure they had the means to get their tasks completed

§  Collaborated with advisors and the producer to form milestone and business plans

§  Worked with discipline leads to make sure tasks were clear, assigned, and completed

§  Appointed technology tasks to technology group members

§  Augmented problem solving skills through gameplay, systems, and pipeline coding as well as debugging and error correction

Tools Programming, Programmer : Feb – March 2009

Tools programming was a class offered at DePaul. The goal was to parse FBX files and create a new file format for use in the DePaul Game Development program.

§  Coordinated between multiple groups working on different aspects of the tool

§  Converted the tool to use OpenGL’s vertex buffers

§  Wrote polygon triangulation code

§  Parsed the fbx file format

DePaul Capstone Project, Lead Programmer : Jan 2008 – June 2008

This capstone project was titled Celestial Clash. This was the first large-scale game project that I had worked on. The team was made up of three programmers, an artist, and a producer and development lasted six months.

§  Developed team communication skills and realized the importance of said skills

§  Learned the importance of good coding practices

§  Experienced hard deadlines and mock publisher interactions

§  Used a version control system to iterate the code base

DePaul Game Jam, Programmer : Apr 2008

This was the first Game Jam that DePaul held. The theme for the Game Jam was “green.” The game I worked on, along with another programmer and a single artist, was called Timber Defender. The goal was to defend a forest from lumberjacks and diseased hippies by taking control of a shape-shifting golem.

§  Experienced crunch development through the 30 hour, marathon development experience

§  Placed 3rd out of 7 teams in the competition

 

 

Work Experience     

 

DePaul University, Lecturer : Chicago, IL : Sept 2008 – Present            

§  Taught five separate college-level courses titled “Introduction to Game Design” over five quarters

§  Taught two separate college-level courses titled “Game Development I” over two quarters

§  Bettered time-management skills in balancing lecturing with another job and being a full time graduate student.

§  Learned to relay important information in a more understandable way

§  Walked students through solving their games’ logic problems in the Gamemaker engine.
               

Direct Trading Group, Tech Support : Chicago, IL : Dec 2006 – Feb 2009        

§  Developed exceptional teamwork skills through interacting with coworkers who had a hard time communicating what exactly they needed done to their computers.

§  Honed problem solving skills in the development of a software application to expedite week-end tasks for the company.

§  Managed e-mail anti-spam solution as well administrated e-mail accounts.

§  Maintained all computers and software for the company and diagnosed all problems with computers.

 

 

Technical Skills            

 

Languages:  C++, C#, Objective-C 2.0, OpenGL, GLSL, Python, PHP, Actionscript, Visual Basic, Unix

OS: Microsoft Windows, DOS, Macintosh OS X Snow Leopard

SDKs/Engines: Microsoft XNA, QE, Game Maker, iPhone SDK 3.0

Applications: Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Maya 3D, Microsoft Visio

IDE: Microsoft Visual Studio, xCode,

Version Control: Perforce, SVN, CVS

 

 

Awards          

                Dean’s List                                                                                                                            All quarters in attendance

St. Vincent DePaul Scholarship                                                                                        2007 – 2008

                Computer Science Scholarship                                                                                         2006 – 2007        

                Top of the Class                                                                                                                  2004 – 2008

DePaul Presidential Scholarship                                                                                       2004 – 2008

                AXA Achievement Award                                                                                                 2004 – 2005

 

 

Activities          

                Computer Literacy in our Community volunteer                                                         2008 - 2009

Service Immersion to New Orleans, LA                                                                          2008

Computer Literacy in our Community Co-Coordinator                                              2007 - 2008

Relay for Life Team Captain                                                                                           2007

DePaul Study Abroad Program, Melbourne, Australia                                                2006

DePaul Ambassador Executive Board Member                                                           2005 – 2006

DePaul Snowboarding Club                                                                                              2005 – 2006

DePaul Ambassador Club member                                                                                 2004 – 2007