Letter of Introduction:
My name is John W. Ratcliff and I
have been a software developer in the game industry for over 25 years. Currently I am working as a senior software
engineer at Nvidia Corporation where I just started in
May 2009. I am not currently interested
in exploring other employment opportunities.
I began my career in the game
industry with Electronic Arts in the 1980’s during the early days with Trip
Hawkins. Over the course of ten years I
developed three games for Electronic Arts under contract. During most of that time I also maintained a
full time position as a software engineer for other companies. In addition to developing ‘688 Attack Sub’,
‘SSN-21 Seawolf’, and ‘S.C.A.R.A.B.’ for Electronic
Arts I also contributed tools and technology to numerous other game
titles. I was the sole developer on each
of these projects and was responsible for all of the programming, much of the
design, as well as managing the art and music content.
After working with Electronic Arts
I moved on to develop products with larger teams, starting with ‘Cyberstrike 2’ for 989 Studios where I was responsible for
the bulk of the game client. I continued
with Sony Online Entertainment, then Verant
Interactive, where I was afforded the opportunity to start up an office in
I left SOE to join an exciting
startup company called ‘Ageia Technologies’ which created the world’s first
dedicated physics processor for games.
As a principal engineer I developed tools and technology that
contributed to the success of the physics middleware. The PhysX SDK is
used as the core physics technology in the Unreal Engine and has been adopted
widely throughout the game industry.
Ageia Technology was acquired by Nvidia
Corporation where I still act as a consultant providing technical input and
doing some software development.
Most recently I worked at Simutronics Corporation on HeroEngine,
an MMO gaming platform. My contributions
on this project have focused on AI path finding and client/server integration
of physics and collision detection using the PhysX
SDK middleware.
Throughout my career I have been
actively involved in the development community and have written for Dr. Dobbs
Journal, as well as other game developer magazines. I have contributed book chapters to both Game
Programming Gems as well as the AI Wisdom series. I have been a presenter at a number of game
development conferences including GDC twice.
I have often provided open source projects to the development community
as a way of saying thanks for the help I have received from such projects over
the years.
I enjoy working on challenging
projects with a talented team of developers.
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IM: jratcliff63367 Phone 314-276-2180 E-mail
jratcliffscarab@gmail.com |
John
W. Ratcliff
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Objective |
Interested in
exciting software development opportunities as a senior software engineer,
technical director or chief technical officer. |
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Professional
experience |
2009 - Present Nvidia Corporation Senior Software Engineer Currently assist in developing tools and technology for the PhysX SDK as well as working as a technical support
engineer ntegrating technologies into various game
engines. 2007 - Present Simutronics Corporation Senior Software Engineer Software development for the Hero-Engine MMO platform ·
Removed the existing collision
detection system and character controller and integrated the PhysX SDK for all collision detection services, dynamics,
and character controller. ·
Implemented a server component to
represent the game world with collision detection services shared between
many processes. ·
Implemented a server component to
automatically build efficient AI navigation meshes as well as to provide path
searching services to many other server processes. Added support for real-time updating of the
navigation mesh to accommodate editing changes. ·
Implemented a texture management system ·
Integrated character cloth via the PhysX SDK . Contractor Assisted in developing tools and technology for the PhysX SDK. Principal Engineer Responsible for the development of tools, demos, and technology
for this physics middleware company..
· Created PhysX Rocket, an open-source
physics scripting application. This
completely data driven application allows developers to rapidly prototype
complex physics simulations through simple scripted control. · Implemented a fast rendering pipeline in PhysX
Rocket which includes support for FX management, fluid surfaces, fluid
sprites, hardware instancing. This
application allows developers a great deal of control for debugging and
visualization of physics data and was used for various marketing demos. · Created tools to automatically generate physics models,
including ragdolls, from arbitrary mesh deformed skeletal characters. Worked on an automatic regression test
platform. 2000 - 2003 Sony Online Entertainment
Senior Technology Architect Technical lead on Planetside,
a massively multiplayer first person shooter. This product features large battlefields
with a wide variety of weapons and vehicles.
Combat takes place in a seamless indoor/outdoor environment. Established the · Implemented the complete 3d engine featuring both outdoors
terrain and an interior portal based rendering pipeline that includes
instanced mesh item support, level of detail, and hierarchical frustum
culling. · Collision detection, including ray casting, hierarchical
bounding volume trees, and geometric primitive based collision
representations. Also implemented
server side world representation with support for collision detection, and raycasting. · Special effects virtual machine and optimized sprite pipeline
with real-time editing tools. API · Material system using the fixed function pipeline with real-time
editing tools. · Implemented a system to automatically generate navigation meshes
for large game worlds. · Mesh deformed character animation system with sophisticated
blending capabilities and level of detail options. · Terrain engine, including terrain texturing and terraforming tools. · A large suite of tools to create, edit, and manage in real-time
all data-driven game assets while under source control. · Embedded performance monitoring tools, background thread content
streaming, real-time shadows, decal system, and many other features. Senior Software Engineer Lead developer Cyberstrike 2.
Responsible for much of the game client, including 3d engine,
collision detection, special effects, animation system, audio, tools, and
artificial intelligence. Also
responsible for creating a game prototype for a title called “Hero’s Journey”. 1993 - 1997 President As an independent contractor created SSN-21 Seawolf for Electronic Arts, Kaleidonsonics
for Masque Publishing, Grandeur for
1991 - 1996 The Audio Solution President Started company to develop and
market DIGPAK and MIDPAK, a set of Senior Software Engineer Moved much of the product line
from Apple II to MS-DOS and Macintosh operating systems. 1989 - 1990 Polygon Incorporated Senior Software Engineer Developed a VT340 Graphics
Terminal emulator and Ethernet device drivers. Vice President Managed a team of software
developers and collaborated with cardiologists to create the Computer Assisted Diagnostic System for Creative Medical Systems,
and the Real-Time Holter
Management System for Biosensor Corporation. Independent Software Developer Developed 688 Attack Sub, a successful submarine simulation game for
Electronic Arts while still maintaining a full time position at Research Programmer Collaborated
with a team of cardiologists on original research projects. Developed and
deployed, software in Programmer Developed
a number of curriculum based educational software titles. |
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Products |
Hero Engine: As a member of a large
team of developers on this MMO game engine I am currently responsible for
doing physics integration, on both the client and server, as well as
implementing editors for physics assets and front-end monitoring tools to
examine and debug physics simulations in real-time, whether they are running
on either the client or the server. PhysX Rocket, PhysXViewer, and CreateDynamics: Open source projects to rapidly prototype
interactive data driven physics simulations.
Includes 3d graphics engine, debug visualization tools, fluid editor,
data driven user interface, and many other features. Many techniques to auto-generate physics
assets from raw graphics models. Planetside: A massively multiplayer
first person shooter for Sony Online Entertainment. Responsible for the entire 3d engine,
including rendering pipeline, portal system, terrain engine, effects system,
character animation system, collision detection, and tools. Windows 98, 2000,
XP, Direct3d, C++ and STL. Cyberstrike 2: Mechanized robot combat game. Lead developer for Simutronics Corporation. Developed most of game client
including 3d engine, physics, collision detection, effects system, artificial
intelligence, and tools. Published by 989 Studios. Windows 95, C++ and
Pentium assembly code. Scarab:
Egyptian themed first person 3d combat game. Developer, designer, and
producer of the art, sound, and music. Published by Electronic Arts. Windows
95, C and Pentium assembly code. Grandeur:
Interactive 3d virtual art gallery and music album. Developer, designer,
produced the art, sound and music. Developed for Kaleidosonics:
Interactive art and relaxation software. Developer, designer, artist,
produced the sound and music. Published by Masque Publishing. Rob Wallace
music and sound. MS-DOS, C and 8086 assembly code. SSN-21 Seawolf:
Nuclear submarine simulation. Developer, designer, artist, produced the sound
and music. Published by Electronic Arts. MS-DOS, C and 8068 assembly code. On wikipedia. Marvin The Moose,
line of interactive storybooks, developer, MS-DOS, C and 8086 assembly code. Children’s Classics,
line of interactive storybooks, developer, MS-DOS, C and 8086 assembly code. Math Sequences, MS-DOS and
Macintosh, lead-developer, manager, MS-DOS and Macintosh, C, and 8086 and
68000 assembly code. Regis Graphics
Terminal Emulator, MS-DOS, C and 8086 assembly code. Developed a high speed DEC-VT340 Regis
Graphics Terminal emulator for Polygon Incorporated. MIDPAK and DIGPAK, MS-DOS, C and 8086
assembly code. A set of Video Codec 80286 assembly
language, used in Gary Kasparov’s Chess,
published by Electronic Arts, The Horde,
published by Crystal Dynamics, Falcon,
and National Lampoons Chessmeister 5,000,001 published by Spectrum Holobyte. Multiplayer
Communications Drivers, 8086 assembly
language, used in Car & Driver,
published by Electronic Arts and Warlords
II published by Strategic
Simulations. Biosensor Holter Analysis System, lead developer,
designer, manager. Developed under contract for and marketed by Biosensor
Corporation. MS-DOS, C and 80286 assembly code. Computer Assisted
Diagnostic System, lead developer,
designer, manager. Marketed by Creative Medical Systems. MS-DOS, C and 80286
assembly code. 688 Attack Sub: Nuclear submarine simulation.
Developer, designer. Produced the art,
sound, and music. Published by Electronic Arts. MS-DOS, C and 8086 assembly
code, Amiga, C and 68000 assembly code. Echo Analyzer, developer. For Doppler Flow Analyzer, developer. For Holter EKG Data Management System, developer. Developed
for Model 750 Innovator ECG
Display System for Del Mar Avionics, Real-time ECG display subsystem for Holter EKG scanner.
MS-DOS 8086 assembly code. The Writing Workshop -
Proofreader, developer, Apple II, 6502 assembly code for Milliken
Publishing Company. Crosswise, developer, designer,
Apple II, 6502 assembly code published by UpTime. The Ultimate Worksheet
Creator, MS-DOS, C and 8086 assembly language. Developer and designer
for Milliken Publishing Company. Word Math, developer and
co-designer, Apple II, Basic and 6502 assembly code. MS-DOS and Macintosh, C,
8086 assembly and 68000 assembly for Milliken Publishing Company. The Spelling System, co-developer, Apple
II, Basic and 6502 assembly code for Milliken Publishing Company. Chaos, developer, Apple II,
Basic and 6502 assembly code for Milliken Publishing Company. Pop ‘R Spell, developer, Apple II,
Basic and 6502 assembly code for Milliken Publishing Company. Word Machine, developer, Apple II,
6502 assembly code for Milliken Publishing Company. Jar Game, developer, Apple II,
Basic and 6502 assembly code for Milliken Publishing Company. Face Flash, developer, Apple II,
Basic and 6502 assembly code for Milliken Publishing Company. Compubar, developer, Apple II, Basic and 6502 assembly code for
Milliken Publishing Company. |
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Publications and National Presentations |
AI
PATHFINDING FOR MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE GAMES, LOGIN Game
Conference, Ratcliff, JW, May, 2009, lecture. THE
MASSIVELY COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM SHIFT, ION Game
Conference, Ratcliff, JW, Whatley D, May, 2008, lecture. AI GAME
PROGRAMMING WISDOM 4, Automatic Generation of Navigation Meshes, Ratcliff, JW,
February 2008,Charles River Media book chapter AUTOMATIC
GENERATION OF DYNAMICS MODELS, Game Developers Conference, Ratcliff,
JW, March, 9, 2007 presentation. POSITION
BASED DYNAMICS, 3rd
Workshop in Virtual Reality Interactions and Physical Simulation
: VRIPHYS, Muller, M, Heidelberger, B, Hennix, M, Ratcliff JW, October,
2006, presentation by Mueller. MESHING
AGEIA AND GRANNY, Microsoft GameFest, Moore, D,
Ratcliff, JW, August 15th,
2006 presentation. OPTIMIZATION
TECHNIQUES FOR RENDERING MASSIVE QUANTITIES OF MESH DEFORMED CHARACTERS IN
REAL-TIME, Massively
Multiplayer Game Gems II, Ratcliff, JW, Charles River Media book chapter. PHYSICS
DATA DEFINITION, STANDARDIZATION, AND SCRIPTING, Game Tech
Leadership THE CG PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGE, Dr. Dobbs Journal, Ratcliff, JW, Page 40-44, October 2002. SPHERE
TREES FOR FAST VISIBILITY CULLING, RAY TRACING, AND RANGE SEARCHING, Game Programming
Gems 2, Ratcliff, JW, Page 384, 2001. OPTIMIZATION
TECHNIQUES FOR HARDWARE TRANSFORMATION AND LIGHTING PIPELINES, Ratcliff JW, Computer
Game Developers Conference, March 2001. LET THE
COMPUTER GAMES BEGIN : Sony Online taps Ratcliff to create Planetside
– the next generation of computer games, TOOLS OF
THE GAME : 3D, Ratcliff, JW, Interactivity, May 1998. TRICKS OF
THE COMPUTER GAME GURUS: Computer Game Music, Ratcliff, JW, book chapter for SAMS
publishing, 1994. MULTIMEDIA
AUDIO SYSTEMS, Ratcliff, JW, Dr. Dobbs Journal, special Winter 1994
special Multimedia Programming issue. EXAMINING
PC SOUND, Ratcliff, JW, Dr. Dobbs Journal, March 1993. ACOMP: A
STANDARDIZED FILE FORMAT FOR AUDIO COMPRESSION, Ratcliff, JW, Dr.
Dobbs Journal, July 1992. LEARN HOW
TO PROGRAM, Gookin, D, Ratcliff, JW, Compute!,1989. COMPUTER
GAME DESIGNERS: KIDS FOREVER, WITH ADULT WORIES, INFLUENCE
OF ALTERATION ON THE PATTERN OF LEFT VENTRICULAR DIASTOLIC FILLING AS
ASSESSED BY DOPPLER ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN HUMANS, Stoddard, MF, Pearson,
AC, Kerne, MJ, Ratcliff, JW, Mrosek,
DG, Labovitz, AJ, American Journal of Cardiology,
1989 DOES
FULL-DISCLOSURE AMBULATORY ECG FULL DISCLOSE?, Kennedy, HL, Capes,
BL, Smith, SC, Mizera, J, Ikpeama,
CC, Metzener, DE, Ratcliff, JW, American College
of Cardiology, 1989. INFLUENCE
OF LEFT VENTRICULAR CHAMBER STIFFNESS AND RELAXATION ON DIASTOLIC FILLING, Stoddard, MF,
Pearson, AC, Kern, MJ, Ratcliff, JW, Labovitz, AJ,
Xth Congress of the European Society of Cardiology,
1988. CREATIVE
PROBLEM SOLVING WITH EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE, Ratcliff, JW, LEFT
VENTRICULAR DIASTOLIC FUNCTION: COMPARISON OF PULSED DOPPLER
ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC AND HEMODYNAMIC INDICES IN SUBJECTS WITH AND WITHOUT
CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE, Pearson, A, Neslon, J, Kanter, J, William, J, Labovitz,
A, Ratcliff, JW, Journal of American College of Cardiology, 1988 VIDEO
KICKS,
Ratcliff, JW, Uptime, 1988. EXPANDO/CONTRACTO, Ratcliff, JW, Uptime,
1988. CROSSWORKS, Ratcliff, JW, Uptime,
1988. EVALUATION
OF THE ACUTE EFFECTS OF AORTIC BALLOON VALVUPLASTY ON LEFT VENTRICULAR
DIASTOLIC FUNCTION, Stoddard, MF, Pearson, AC, Labovitz,
AJ, Kern, MJ, Deligonul, Ratcliff, JW, Vandormael, MG, American Federation for Clinical
Research. GESTALT:
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE RATCLIFF/OBERSCHELP PATTERN MACHING ALGORITHM, Ratcliff, JW, Metzener, DM, Dr. Dobbs Journal, 1988. HOTRODDING
THE EGA AND VGA, Ratcliff, JW, Abrash, M, Big EFFECT OF
SAMPLE VOLUME LOCATION ON PULSED DOPPLER-ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF LEFT
VENTRICULAR FILLING, Pearson, A, Neslon, J, Kanter, J, William, J, Labovitz,
A, Ratcliff, JW, Journal of Cardiac Imaging, 1988. WRIMAGE, Ratcliff, JW, Compute!
PC, 1988. COMPARISON
OF PULSED DOPPLER ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY AND RADIONUCLIDE ANGIOGRAPHY IN THE
ASSESMENT OF LEFT VENTRICULAR FILLING, Pearson, AC, Goodgold,
H, Labovitz, AJ, technical assistant Ratcliff, JW, American
Journal of Cardiology, 1988. TREES, Ratcliff, JW, Nibble,
1988. AMBULATORY
ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY - PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES, Kennedy, HL,
Ratcliff, JW, American Heart Journal, 1987. PATTERN
RECOGNITION: A NEW APROACH TO EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE, Ratcliff, JW, II
Computing, 1987. PRACTICAL
ADVANTAGES OF A COMPUTERIZED AMBULATORY ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY NETWORKING SYSTEM, Ratcliff, JW,
Sprague, MK, Hentzen, LS, Kennedy, HL, 13th
International Electrocardiology, Washington,
D.C., 1986. EFFECT OF
ETHMOZINE ANTIARRHYTHMIC THERAPY ON SERUM DIGOXIN CONCENTRATIONS, Kennedy, HL, Redd, RM, Blum, RI, Sprague, MK, Smith, SC, Ratcliff, JW,
Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy International Symposium, 1985, Geneva,
Switzerland. |
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Press |
A
Thinking Person’s Guid to Business Leads, St. Louis Business
Journal, January 5, 2001. Let
the Computer Games Begin, Cover Story, Larry Holyoke, |
|
Hobbies / Interests |
Noble of the Moolah
Shrine, Napthali
Lodge #25, Past Master, Wentzville Lodge #46, Senior
Warden, Wentzville, under the Grand Lodge
of Missouri Chairman of Troy DeMolay Chapter, Order of DeMolay Missouri and DeMolay International. Member of the
Lake Saint Louis Lions Club, Lions Club International Member of the
advisory board of the LOGIN
game conference. Graphic
artist. Portfolio
located here. |
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