Tom Baldwin
Billingham
Summary
Organised and dependable Game Designer with over 1 year of full-time professional experience. Credited on 4 released indie game titles. Successful at managing multiple priorities with positive attitude. Willing to take on greater responsibilities to meet team goals. Passionate about game development both professionally and personally, having founded an indie studio in 2020 and working on it alongside full-time roles.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
18161
18161
years of post-secondary education
Work History
Co-Founder/Game Designer
Dog Box Games
Middlesbrough
08.2020 - Current
I co-founded the studio along with close friends & fellow graduates from Teesside University in 2020. It has been my job and passion alongside other full-time roles and now it is my main focus as I search for new opportunities.
- We're developing our first title, while attending numerous industry events such as EGX, FORMAT and GaMaYo as members of the Game Republic.
- My role and responsibility is to manage the design of the games major systems and many of the complex level and player mechanics. Examples of my work can be seen on my portfolio website, but to call out a few: Objective System; Checkpoints; musical Simon-says style puzzle; race the bee minigame (jumping across a bowl of cereal, created as a Honey I Shrunk the Kids reference).
- Most recently, I have been testing and bug fixing our latest demo and implementing new character animations.
Game Designer & Scout
Firestoke
04.2023 - 08.2024
In my role at Firestoke I took on a duality of responsibilities as a Scout/Designer while working closely with Design Director Omar.
- Scouted for new & high quality joyful indie titles by scouring the internet, attending both online and IRL events and coordinating with Omar to pick the greatest of our finds to showcase to other members of the team every week.
- Managed company scout finds database using Notion.
- Attended online and IRL events to scout for potential indie game titles, travelling in one case abroad to Barcelona.
- Throughout the development of our titles I coordinated with production managers and developers to provide targeted design feedback and QA on the games to help push them to become the best they can be.
- Designed reworks or new features for our titles such as the latter half of It's Only Money's tutorial/first time user experience; helped to rework It's Only Money's business system by redefining it into smaller and more focused experiences and giving them the name "Side Hustle;" designed a new "Side Hustle" Food Truck, which would enable the player to setup and run a small food truck in the city.
- For both design feedback/QA and game design I'm credited on Goons: Legends and Mayhem, Bish Bash Bots, Hauntii & It's Only Money.
Picker
Asda
Stockton-on-Tees
09.2020 - 04.2023
Retail Colleague
Lakeland
Northallerton, North Yorkshire
09.2016 - 08.2018
Work Experience
Cummins Inc.
Darlington
01.2014 - 01.2014
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Game Design
Teesside University
Middlesbrough 09.2017 - 06.2020
BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma - Creative Media Production (Games Development)
Darlington College
Darlington 08.2015 - 06.2017
GCSEs - Product Design
Hummersknott Academy
Darlington 04.2001 - 07.2015
GCSEs - English
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonGCSEs - French
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonGCSEs - ICT
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonGCSEs - Chemistry
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonGCSEs - Biology
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonGCSEs - Physics
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonGCSEs - Religious Studies
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonGCSEs - Mathematics
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonGCSEs - Business Studies
Hummersknott Academy
DarlingtonSkills
- Project Management
- Problem-solving
- Resourcefulness
- Leadership
- Calm under pressure
- Workflow planning
- Design
- Testing
- Critical Thinking
- Communication
- Game Scouting
- Game Design (Gameplay, Level, Combat, Systems)
- Teamwork
References
- Omar Khalil, Design Director, Firestoke, omar.khalil@firestoke.games
- Paul Farley, CEO, Firestoke, paul.farley@firestoke.games
- Rob Brough, Company Director, Dog Box Games, rob@dogboxgames.com
- Aaron Alexander, Co-Founder, Usual Suspects Studios, aaron@usualsuspects.games
sections.external_links.name
Software Experience
- Unreal Engine - Versions 4.16 - 5.3.
Throughout University I used multiple different versions, changing each year with the updates to UE4. Many of my UE4 projects can be seen on my portfolio website and LinkedIn.
At Dog Box Games we currently use 5.3, updating the project from 5.1.
Within the engine I am familiar with a wide range of features in the engine: the implementation of animations; intermediate level blueprint visual scripting; creating and editing materials; Enhanced Inputs; Widget blueprints; simple Niagara Particle Systems; AI Behaviour trees; level editor for block-outs, building levels with custom assets, landscape editing and foliage; Audio implementation. All of these tools I have used at Dog Box Games and started using during University.
- 3D Modelling - Blender, Autodesk MAYA, Autodesk 3DS MAX
Each of these tools I have some experience with starting in College with 3DS MAX, then MAYA at University and Blender with Dog Box Games. I have created simple animations for characters and objects and 3D modelled simple objects for blocking out levels and place holders when creating blueprints.
- Source Control - GIT
Through University and at Dog Box Games I have used GIT to manage team projects in Unreal Engine. In my current role I troubleshoot issues with GIT for my team and manage complex merge issues.
- Confluence
- Notion
- ClickUp
- Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suite and Microsoft Project
- Adobe Photoshop
Affiliations
- Bass Guitar
- History/Archeology Documentaries
- Science (Books, audiobooks, podcasts etc.)
- Hiking
- Gaming
- Star Trek
Favourite Game Titles
- RPGs - Divinity: Original Sin 2, Fallout: New Vegas, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Roguelikes - Slay the Spire, Tiny Rogues, For the King.
- FPS/Shooters - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 & 3 (2009 &2011), Doom Eternal, Destiny 2, Halo Series, Borderlands Series.
- Strategy - Sid Meier's Civilisation V, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War.
- Music - Rocksmith
Timeline
Game Designer & Scout
Firestoke
04.2023 - 08.2024
Picker
Asda
09.2020 - 04.2023
Co-Founder/Game Designer
Dog Box Games
08.2020 - Current
Bachelor of Arts - Game Design
Teesside University
09.2017 - 06.2020
Retail Colleague
Lakeland
09.2016 - 08.2018
BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma - Creative Media Production (Games Development)
Darlington College
08.2015 - 06.2017
Work Experience
Cummins Inc.
01.2014 - 01.2014
GCSEs - Product Design
Hummersknott Academy
04.2001 - 07.2015
GCSEs - English
Hummersknott Academy
GCSEs - French
Hummersknott Academy
GCSEs - ICT
Hummersknott Academy
GCSEs - Chemistry
Hummersknott Academy
GCSEs - Biology
Hummersknott Academy
GCSEs - Physics
Hummersknott Academy
GCSEs - Religious Studies
Hummersknott Academy
GCSEs - Mathematics
Hummersknott Academy
GCSEs - Business Studies
Hummersknott Academy
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