Rob Merrick, Developer in Shelley, ID, United States
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Rob Merrick

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Gameplay Software Developer

Location
Shelley, ID, United States
Toptal Member Since
July 3, 2021

Rob is a software engineer with seven years of professional experience and a huge passion for game development. In 2015, he obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science with a mathematics minor. He worked as a game engineer, a full-stack engineer for web development, and a student researcher for a nuclear engineering facility. Recently, Rob started his own software engineering business that has released two apps to the Google Play and App Store to date.

Visual StudioC#CalculusUnity3DAlgorithmsWebsitesSQLGitEmbedded SystemsGoogle Play StoreC++WebGLAssemblyBlenderXcode

Portfolio

Game Hog Studio
Unity3D, C#, Blender, Git, Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), Xcode...
WildWorks
Unity3D, C#, 3D Graphics
Melaleuca
C#.NET, SQL, JavaScript, ASP.NET

Experience

Visual Studio - 7 yearsC# - 7 yearsLinear Algebra - 5 years3D Graphics - 5 yearsUnity - 5 yearsGit - 3 yearsEntrepreneurship - 2 yearsDigital Audio Workstations (DAW) - 1 year

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Slack, Git, Visual Studio, Unity, C#

The most amazing...

...algorithm I've developed is a sudoku solver. It sounds simple on the surface, but the logic gets very complex very fast when solving hard puzzles.

Work Experience

Founder | Software Engineer

2019 - PRESENT
Game Hog Studio
  • Launched two apps to the App Store and Google Play store — 10 Minute Sudoku and a utility app called Baby's First 100 Foods.
  • Hit the top 25 in the App Store in the first week for the food and drink category with Baby's First 100 Foods.
  • Completed a 3D battle game for a game jam that lasted a week.
Technologies: Unity3D, C#, Blender, Git, Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), Xcode, Google Play Store, App Store, Websites, Entrepreneurship

Gameplay Software Engineer

2020 - 2021
WildWorks
  • Created the entire gliding system from scratch, including the ability for characters with wings to glide and enter updrafts to glide higher. The idea came from my innovation day project.
  • Created the entire free-look camera system used by third parties to create cinematic and promotional videos.
  • Worked with an engineering team to port the 3D game from PC onto mobile platforms.
Technologies: Unity3D, C#, 3D Graphics

Full-stack Software Engineer

2017 - 2019
Melaleuca
  • Maintained the company's website for online sales of wellness products.
  • Created new features on the in-house custom WPF application used for store check-outs and customer management.
  • Collaborated with upper management to ensure that new feature requirements are correct to begin the software implementation.
Technologies: C#.NET, SQL, JavaScript, ASP.NET

Full-stack Software Developer

2015 - 2017
CurrIQunet
  • Refactored an old report generation system into a new structure without the massive amounts of technical debt.
  • Created new database structures to implement websites using the company's metadata-driven approach.
  • Supported several clients with issues found during report generation.
Technologies: SQL, C#.NET, Git, Jenkins, ASP.NET

Student Researcher, CS Team

2014 - 2015
Idaho State University, RISE Complex
  • Created a professional GUI application to run a massive program that would analyze atomic neutron emissions to research nuclear processes.
  • Collaborated with doctors of nuclear science to understand the complex problems that needed software to complete analysis.
  • Debugged the software used for the neutron emission unfolding process to ensure that a given output is correct for a given input.
Technologies: Java, Swing, Subversion (SVN)

Fer.al Gliding

While working at WildWorks, I created the entire gliding system used in the company's 3D fantasy world, Fer.al. Characters who have earned wings in the game can glide around the level and use updrafts to glide even higher. The prototype was created in a single day for my innovation day project. I then developed it into a complete feature, and it became a central gameplay mechanic. The game is free to download and play, and while new characters won't be able to get wings for free in the beginning, players can still watch other characters gliding around the map.

Languages

C#, SQL, C++, Assembly, C#.NET, JavaScript, Java

Frameworks

Unity, Unity3D, ASP.NET, Swing

Tools

Visual Studio, Slack, Git, Blender, Xcode, Jenkins, Subversion (SVN)

Other

3D Graphics, Calculus, Linear Algebra, Statistics, Discrete Mathematics, Entrepreneurship, Data Structures, Algorithms, Compilers, Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), Websites, Embedded Systems, PIC32, Differential Equations, Computer Networking, Google Play Store, App Store, Music Composition

Libraries/APIs

WebGL

2012 - 2015

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

Idaho State University - Pocatello, Idaho, US