Worked closely with audio leads, hr and the director of audio to train a next generation of audio designers and establish a new internal Audio Design Services Department to relive project staffing and recruitment challenges. We lowered barriers of privilege and access (to gear and software) for candidates and fully anonymised the hiring process. More info here
Nine years at Frontier Developments working on all major titles since joining: Elite Dangerous, Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo, Jurassic World Evolution, Warhammer - Age of Sigmar RTS and F1 Manager 22. Six games that we have worked on received multiple audio award nominations.
Oversee hiring and promotion with Director of Audio and Principals.
Mixing of all our releases with project leads.
Worked closely with the Audio-Tech team and contributed significantly to all major audio-tech high-level systems and solutions - For more information, visit the GDC-Vault for our 2021 deep-dive - "How Distance Changed The Sound of Our Games".
Manage and enable the team of audio professionals to do their best work, facilitating their needs and trusting leads to manage their teams and projects.
Striving to accept and learn from challenges.
Infectiously optimistic, autodidact learner, bridge builder across disciplines, multi-discipline experienced, trust in the team and a game-developer that work in the service of a player experience.
Supporting a twenty five plus team of talented audio designers: From graduate to Principal.
Multidisciplinary; Credited on shipped games in level, environment and game designer roles. Specialization in game-audio.
Aptitude for storytelling, open world audio, atmospheric ambient, high level systems design and creative audio direction.
Varied genre, hardware, middle-ware, budget, team-size (2 to 100+) and project role experience with contributions made to 20+ shipped titles ranging in production lengths from two months to five years.
Efficient in all stages of audio development, production, hiring and direction. Experience working with composers and voice artists, approving budget, assessing and planning of work, leading and evaluating weekly sprint meetings, product certification, testing and quality assurance.
Managed a team of designers and programmers and worked with both to improving audio, work-flow, tools, documentation and in the creation of new systems.
Moved back onto the floor to help make audio "visible". Worked closely with other disciplines to integrate audio better and propose for audio to drive other systems.
Good motivator, infectiously enthusiastic.
Curious, committed, social, organized, pragmatic.
Engaged game-developer with an interest in elevating the quality and perception of game audio.
Miscellaneous development experience (non audio):
Level designer on three shipped titles.
Scrum and agile (assisted) management on three shipped titles.
Technical Certification on two shipped titles.
QA on two shipped titles.
Marketing and PR for a game distributor (3 years).
GUI/UI and Web Design (3 years).
Video production and reporting (2 years).
Game designer on four shipped title.
Jurassic World: Evolution 2 / 2022
Best Sound Design in Gaming Finaliost - Music & Sound Awards 2022
Jurassic World: Evolution / 2020
Best Music Nomination | Game Audio Awards 2019
Best Audio Nomination | Develop Star Awards 2019
Best Gameplay Nomination | Develop Star Awards 2019
Best Audio Design Nomination | Golden Joystick Awards 2018
Planet Coaster / 2017
Music Design Nomination | Develop Awards 2017
Sound Design Nomination | Develop Awards 2017
New Games IP Nomination | Develop Awards 2017
Independent Studio Nomination | Develop Awards 2017
British Game Award Nomination | BAFTA Games Awards 2017
Audio for an Indie Game | 15th GANG Award Nominees
Sound Design in a Casual/Social Game | 15th GANG Award Nominees
Elite: Dangerous / 2015
Best Audio Accomplishment Nomination | Develop Awards 2015
Game Audio Toolkit | Tips, Tricks and Ideas for creating Game Audio
A Sound Effect | Creating Jurassic World Evolution's Excellent Game Audio
AudioKinetic | Using Data to Generate Dynamic Crowd Audio (1/3)
AudioKinetic | The Crowd Soundbox System (2/3)
AudioKinetic | Additional Layers (3/3)
Develop | Designing the audio for Planet Coaster
Frontier | The Sound of Planet Coaster
PCGames | A sound designer took over an entire theme park
Sound Architect | Planet Coaster
The Sound design is also right on point, giving you all the screams, coaster whooshes, crowd chatter and rickety mechanical audio cues ones needs to suspend disbelief. You can also customize this further with ambient sound generates and music customisation. And yes this also lets you drop in your own music tracks to fine-tune your parks audio visual theme.
EDGE | Elite: Dangerous
IGN | Star Defense
EuroGamer.net | The Chronicles of Spellborn
Birmingham Post and Mail | Album GrijsGebied
"... Let's begin with saying that this is probably one of the best games I've heard in a while. As you build your park, you navigate extensively through menus, selecting and manipulating objects to taste. These menus have their own flavor and intricacy that makes them satisfying to navigate. The level of detail and how clean everything sounds is incredible. The mix on Planet Coaster is phenomenal. Everything sits just right, not too loud and not too soft. If you were to crank the volume up, there isn't a single sound that is jarring or in your face; everything is where it should be ..."
Eurogamer | Planet Coaster
"... That's no more apparent than when you switch to first-person view and begin to explore your park at ground level. It's here that Frontier Development's exceptional audio-visual design and slavish attention to detail truly shines. Wandering among your elaborate creations as the sun slowly sets, hopping aboard any one of the wonderfully distinct rides, and watching as punters giddily emote at the world around them is utterly magical; everything comes together with such joyful precision that it's hard not to be spellbound ..."
LGR Review | Planet Coaster
... a game crafted with care. The interface feels familiar yet modern. The graphics look promising. And there is this soothing soundtrack by Jim Guthrie and JJ Ypsen playing in the background which instils a sense of focus and calm ... Planet Coaster is also just a gorgeous game, which of course it isn't necessary for to the business side of things but it is a great plus for a 3d park like this.
GameSpot | Planet Coaster
... one of my favourite things about the game, so far, that I have discovered is the sound design ... Joey on GameSpot's Planet Coaster Live Stream ...
High Def Digest | Planet Coaster
"... authentic, rich soundscape. The coasters are especially good, with all of the clicking, whooshing, and screaming you'd expect ..."
... Even at this early stage, Elite: Dangerous is already living up to its subtitle. Your ship creaks and groans under stress, its engine and weapons sounding at once identifiably mechanical yet unfamiliar ...
Rock Paper Shotgun | Elite: Dangerous
... The core sensation of being in space is something I've written on before, and Elite does it so very well that it deserves any award going. 'Best Sound' especially - its combination of sciencey noises and Eno/Apollo-like celestial moans is comfortably the most affecting thing my headphones have done this year, if not longer ...
The Guardian | Elite: Dangerous
... Beautiful visuals, absorbing audio and super-smooth controls ...
PC Gamer | Elite: Dangerous
... utterly extraordinary sound design ...
Mmorpg.com | Elite: Dangerous
... VISUALS AND SOUND - 10 ...
Ign | Elite: Dangerous
... superb graphics and sound ...
Eurogamer.de | Elite: Dangerous
... eines der besten Sounddesigns des Jahres ... ...
PC Gamesn | Elite: Dangerous
... Elite: Dangerous is glorious simply to listen to, chucking out sci-fi's tired standard of pew-pew tropes for an original and remarkable style all its own ...
quartertothree | Phoenix HD
... (Phoenix HD) While most games like this tend to play action music - or J-pop interpretations of action music - Phoenix HD plays a soothing almost Vangelis style theme. "Just relax," it seems to electronically intone. 'Breathe, take your time, have fun...' Thanks, soundtrack! I think I will! ...
... Star Defense benefits from superlative visuals and sound ...
+ editor's choice & best of 2009 award.
... (The Chronicles of Spellborn) Combined with the truly lovely environmental art, the unique setting makes for a game that's a joy to explore. Soft edges and diffuse lighting abound, with beautifully composed incidental music and background sound giving the whole game an evocative twilight feel ...
... (GrijsGebied) Florianz makes truly immersive sound art which owes everything to the European tradition of early Tangerine Dream and the pure aesthetics of Brian Eno at his most abstract. ...