Tom Kane
Dundee
Summary
Seasoned professional with 30+ years of commercial software development and systems architecture in the games industry. Proven track record delivering successful titles ranging from PC & console to licensed mobile products and live-service, free-to-play games.
Shipped titles include Monopoly Match, Subway Surfers Blast, Mystery Match Village, Mortal Kombat X, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Downton Abbey, EA Formula 1: Championship Season 2000 & Tanktics.
Overview
5
5
years of post-secondary education
31
31
years of professional experience
Work history
Senior Software Engineer
Outplay Entertainment
Dundee
2017.08 - 2026.08
- Undertook lead & senior roles delivering mobile products on iOS, Android & WebGL using C++, Unity & C#.
- Gained extensive experience leading medium-sized software teams & working collaboratively with large multi-disciplinary member teams.
- Crafted reusable architecture and frameworks.
- Developed and maintained many game features.
- Project architecturing using modern development paradigms like SOLID.
- Performance Analysis & Optimisation.
- Professional experience and advocate of Behaviour Driven Development & Test-Driven Development methods.
- Agile Development.
- Involved in hiring, mentoring and career development.
- Live Operations Support.
- Good understanding of F2P games architecture and process.
- Shipped Titles: Monopoly Match, Subway Surfers Match, Mystery Match Village, Booty Quest.
Senior Software Engineer
Tag Games Ltd
Dundee
2010.04 - 2017.08
- Undertook lead and senior roles developing mobile products on iOS & Android mobile platforms with C++, C#, Unity, Objective-C & Java.
- Successfully delivered original titles, conversion & live-ops work.
- Shipped Titles: Mortal Kombat X, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Downton Abbey, Angry Birds Action, Peep Show, Come Dine with Me.
Founder & Engineer
Lava Level Games
Dundee
2010.04 - 2011.09
- Began small games contracting business.
- Primarily working with Just Eat Ltd, and another few small businesses.
- Shipped Titles: Belly & Brain: Food Chain, Belly & Brain: Food Fight.
Senior Software Engineer
Denki Ltd
Dundee
2000.10 - 2010.04
- Hired as Senior Engineer using C++ and Javascript (and assembler).
- Shipped Handheld Titles: Denki Blocks!, Go, Go, Beckham.
- Shipped Interactive TV Titles: Over 25 titles and updates published for a variety of TV license holders, including Hasbro, Mattel & Cartoon Network for Sky TV and DirecTV.
Lead Engineer
Visual Sciences Ltd
Dundee
1999.01 - 2000.09
- Hired as lead engineer on EA's Formula 1: Championship Season 2000 for Playstation 1.
- Delivered feature & branding updates to the previous F1 season.
- Performed extensive software optimisation tasks.
Junior Engineer (becoming Lead Engineer)
DMA Design Ltd
Dundee
1995.04 - 1999.01
- Hired as junior engineer and rose to Lead Engineer during initial project.
- PC/Windows development using C++.
- Sega Saturn and PSX development.
- Implemented main game features, including all physics & AI.
- Shipped Title: Tanktics
Education
Master of Science - Applied Artificial Intelligence
Aberdeen University
Aberdeen 1990.10 - 1991.10
Bachelor of Science - Computing Science
University of Stirling
Stirling 1986.09 - 1990.06
Skills
Engineering Management
- Extensive experience in Lead Engineering roles
- Hiring, Mentoring & Career Development at all levels
- Project Management within Agile environment including backlog planning to meet business needs, backlog grooming, sprint planning, and sprint retrospectives
- Strong believer in improving product quality via code reviews across all disciplines
- Automated testing in CI/CD environment
- Strong advocate of Behaviour Driven Design & Test Driven Design
Programming Languages
- Primary languages: C#, C, C
- Supporting Languages for mobile: Objective-C, Swift, Java
- Additional: Python, JavaScript, LUA
- Low Level: Various assembler languages, including Z80
Engines & Frameworks
- Primarily Unity
Platforms
- Mobile: iOS & Android
- PC
- Console & Handheld (Wii, GBA, Sega Saturn, PSX)
Tools, Technology & Services
- Version Control: Git, Perforce, SVN, CVS
- Analytics: Amplitude, Firebase, Flurry
- Ads: IronSource
Timeline
Senior Software Engineer
Outplay Entertainment
2017.08 - 2026.08
Senior Software Engineer
Tag Games Ltd
2010.04 - 2017.08
Founder & Engineer
Lava Level Games
2010.04 - 2011.09
Senior Software Engineer
Denki Ltd
2000.10 - 2010.04
Lead Engineer
Visual Sciences Ltd
1999.01 - 2000.09
Junior Engineer (becoming Lead Engineer)
DMA Design Ltd
1995.04 - 1999.01
Master of Science - Applied Artificial Intelligence
Aberdeen University
1990.10 - 1991.10
Bachelor of Science - Computing Science
University of Stirling
1986.09 - 1990.06