Christopher Cromb
Technical Designer
Games Computing graduate
First Class Honours
University of Lincoln
Email:
Hello! I'm Chris
I'm a Games Computing graduate from the University of Lincoln with a First Class Honours. I have over two years of experience from working at Build A Rocket Boy as an Associate Tech Designer on both of the company's projects Mindseye and Everywhere. I'm mainly a Games Programmer but I also enjoy being able to demonstrate my creativity with Game Design on projects. Some of my favourite games are:
Bravely Default; Dead by Daylight; Hyper Light Drifter; Transistor; Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland; Undertale; Smash Bros Ultimate; Professor Layton and the Curious Village.
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE AT BUILD A ROCKET BOY
I started working at Build A Rocket Boy as an Associate Technical Designer in Dec 2022 on Everywhere (online game creation platform) and switched to working on MindsEye (3rd person narrative cover shooter) in Jan 2024, learning and progressing from seeing two different projects and types of work. Below is some of the benefits I've gained from my years at BARB.​
Learning Tech Design
While working on Everywhere I improved my skills with Unreal4, dealing with a variety of SmartObjects, often fixing issues with our teleportation system and video screens. I also was involved in setting up player hub environments. Moving to MindsEye I was able to tackle my own missions myself in a more hands-on development, adding in a new missions and had ownership of 5 different missions covering combat encounters, puzzles, and polish.
Developing Confidence
This was my first industry job and I took this chance to prove myself. I worked well in a team with my colleagues, learning from those around me. I improved at speaking up about my opinion on areas of expertise and raising possible issues or features to improve workflow. As Tech Design we also often had to work as middlemen between departments, leading to forming many connections across the large company.
Improving Work Output
I have worked on my Lua skills and it has helped me with creating missions efficiently, recognising bugs, and finding my own solutions. While at BARB I worked alongside design leads to make their plans playable and iterated and improved mission to a high quality experience for players. I got to enjoy working on flying combat encounters, car chases with jumps and stunts, and some boss fights.
TOP 3 PROJECTS
Key Features​​
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Arcade bullet hell survival mobile game with an endless survival game mode and a series of levels to beat
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Variety of enemy types to beat and challenging boss fight in last level
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Lots of power ups to collect and gradually upgrade stats or help you survive
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Many quests to complete that unlock ways to customise your ship and your ship's trail
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Polished to be my first game published for the Google Play Store
Key Features
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Two complete games, one classic turn-based RPG, one modern real-time action strategy RPG
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Both have combat systems designed to allow player choices with attacking, spells and items to strategise
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Classic has tough one-on-one combat to allow they user to use the time between turns to think carefully about what action to take
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Modern has 3 AI companions to assist in fighting multiple enemies which you switch control between to use their unique abilities
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Modern utilises 3D space by allowing you to freely walk, run or dodge around the arena to avoid where enemies will attack and position yourself to attack
Key Features
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Procedural Content Generation of a new town each time with streets lined with buildings with multiple randomised colours and styles textured with wood
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L System for generation of structured but different variations of the town with over 20 unique pieces places in a logical manner to link together
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3D modelled doll from Blender with armature to ragdoll, with pathing to follow the circuit of the streets
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Decorative features such as parks, streetlamps, traffic lights, trees, shops, a school, flowerbeds
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3D modelled trees from Blender made with blend shapes to allow for more randomisation of features
DEMO REEL
EDUCATION
September 2021
Games Computing Degree
D E G R E E C L A S S I F I C A T I O N
First Class Honours
2020-2021
Games Computing Degree Third year
MODULES
Procedural Content Generation - 1st
Graphics - 2:2
Virtual and Augmented Reality - 1st
Project - 1st
Physics Simulation - 2:1
2019-2020
Games Computing Degree Second year
Final Year grade: 1st
MODULES
Concept Development - 1st
Game Programming - 1st
Artificial Intelligence - 1st
Advanced Programming - 1st
Team Software Engineering - 2:1
User Experience Design - 1st
Scalable Database Systems - 2:1
2018-2019
Games Computing Degree First year
Final Year grade: 1st
MODULES
Introductory Games Studies - 1st
Game Design - 1st​
Maths for Computing - 1st
Algorithms and Complexity - 1st
Computer Architecture - 1st
Programming and Data Structures - 1st
SKILLS
C++
Unity3D
Blender
C#
Unreal Engine
Python
EXPERTISE
I'M A PROGRAMMER
I have made many games over my three years studying at the University of Lincoln. I write and iterate on my code to try and make it more efficient and reusable throughout the process.
I'M A TEAM MEMBER
I can put in the work to complete one part of a whole project and make a product with other people. I appreciate feedback and collaboration to improve upon an idea and know the importance of valuing others input. I can also step up to hold a leadership role and provide guidance on how to piece together all the smaller parts of a project into a cohesive whole.
I'M A DESIGNER
I enjoy experimenting with an idea to develop it further. Having the key elements of a game doesn't mean it will necessarily come together to make a fun experience. You have to consider the user and also test, test, test!