Projects
I often get the question, "What are you working on these days, Chris?" So, I figured I'd update my projects list to include my current shenanigans.
Soulcast
I'm working with Sillytuna and Andy Payne to build Soulcast, our platform for creators to launch composable NFT projects. However, since it solves the collectability vs customization problem with modern NFTs, the concept of Bases and Mod Packs is going to remake everything.
Cyberbrokers
When you are asked by Josie Bellini to develop the games and lore of Cyberbrokers, you say, "Yes.". Welcome to our dystopian, cyberspace world with on-chain art, puzzles, games, and lots of badass (of course!) narrative.
Mythos Studios
Mythos Studios started as a film and television studio marking David Maisel's return to entertainment media. However, David soon discovered Web3, and brought Clint Kisker and me in to help realize this amazing new digital world as a Web3 IP Entertainment Studio.
Past Projects
Below, in roughly reverse-chronological order, is a sampling of some of my favorite projects I've shipped over the years. Apparently, when you get old, you need to start writing these things down because it's easy to forget all the fun stuff you've worked on over your career. In fact, if you remember a sweet project we worked on together, holler at me and I'll add it to this list.
Oh! And since I enjoy stretching my abilities for a project, I've marked them with the particular skills I employed building them:
- Architect
- Designer
- Artist
- Writer
- Engineer
- Producer
The Sandbox
I was brought in to be the Director of Multiplayer, but ended up designing many of the social experiences on the platform as well as writing the core code for the backend world instancing and matchmaking servers. Oh, and I'm also a landholder.
Neon District
Yet another "many hats" project. All while going through the TechStars program even. Probably my favorite part, however, was designing and running the Founders Program with our Founders Keys. The entire program was unlike anything else at the time.
Neon District: The Future. Edited.
As part of the marketing and promotion program, we rolled out a story showcasing many different aspects of life at the intersection between Neon District and Unity. I was lucky enough to be the guy who wrote it. Get your copy here.
Plasma Bears
With the team at Blockade Games, we put together a tech demo game called Plasma Bears to prove out the tech stack for the upcoming title, Neon District. This was the first Blockchain Game I helped to ship.
Decentraland
While we pushed toward a public launch, like many of the virtual world projects in my history, I did a little bit of everything. Content planning, partnerships, client work, engineering experiences, etc. And a lot of miles between San Diego and Buenos Aires.
Disneyland Imagineering Projects
As part of the Walt Disney Imagineering Group, we worked on several rides and installations from old standbys like The Haunted Mansion to features aboard Disney Cruise Lines to upcoming (at the time) attractions associated with the Star Wars franchise.
Playmation Marvel Avengers
The Playmation toys were a series of Alternate Reality games using only physical toys and audio cues. We took the infrastructure from costing $30k per month to running on the free tier of Google App Engine.
Star Wars Voice-based Trivia Game
This project started as a text-based chatbot and quickly migrated to a voice-activated game shipped on Google Home. After compiling all the questions, I quickly discovered there are people who know a LOT more about Star Wars than I do.
Disney Infinity 3
Disney Infinity is an open world game and, taking into consideration the new Toy Box feature, it became the third UGC virtual world I've worked on. And the second to incorporate physical retail items into a game.
ABC Program Scheduler
The service that was used to assemble and maintain the programming schedule for ABC Network's shows needed a more efficient architecture. We took the compilation of the programs and sources from hours to minutes.
Stanford Machine Learning Certification
While at The Walt Disney Company, I completed Andrew Ng's machine learning course. This was in preparation of several confidential projects exploring using AI/ML in conjunction with many of Disney's characters and IP.
Activity Streams
As part of the infrastructure driving a host of internal projects at The Walt Disney Company, I worked on the team putting together a large message bus and event processor handling notifications and data updates. It was built out of Java and Apache Storm.
Club Penguin
Club Penguin will always be near and dear to my heart. Their mission. The kids. The joy and passion of the team. Probably my most notable contribution to this was my work on the game Card Jitsu Snow.
Disney Professional Services Program
Once Metaplace had been acquired by Disney, my role on the team changed. Here, I built from the ground up a Professional Services Organization to help game teams build on top of the Metaplace platform. I worked with a bunch of really interesting people and talented teams during this time.
But, I'm a F#@%ing Dragon!
I'm sort of cheating with this one since it was not a paid victory, but winning the short story contest over at Fantasy Faction is one of my favorite feathers in my cap. I love that community and dearly want to find time to hang out with them more. You should read the story. It's funny.
Metaplace
Being a startup, I wore many hats for many different functional groups. From writing the first client, to architecting out one of the first activity streams in a game, to building a popular game on the platform. My second UGC virtual world. Ahhh, Metaplace. <3
Grigori Stones
Speaking of games I want to fire back up some day. The reviews for Grigori Stones were good, and it'd be a perfect candidate for blockchain assets. The gameplay was basically Multiplayer Mahjong meets Magic: The Gathering.
The Singular
My first web-based, UGC MMO. It didn't make much money, and I had to abandon it when we started up Metaplace, but I would dearly love to fire it back up some day. I loved the passive nature of it.
Mobile Data Management Dashboard
Before there was an iPhone and before managing employee mobile devices was a thing for large corporations, I was part of the team building mobile data management solutions. Specifically, I built an executive dashboard using C#, SOAP, and WSDL.
Batman Beyond Maquette
When Batman Beyond was first introduced, I built a companion CD-ROM to go along with it. On the disc was my original animated story constructed with some of the official still-frame art.
Mural Painting
Once upon a time I wanted to be a professional artist. It only took painting a few walls or storefront windows for a few customers before I decided there's a reason they're called "starving artists".
Bagel Bites Game
One of the first games I was ever paid for. As part of the launch campaign for Bagel Bites (that's how long ago this was), I built a bagel bite tossing game for their campaign site.
HP Printer Firmware
We were the ones who built the initial version of the HP LaserJet web interface.
Wolf Painting
The Norris Geyser Basin Museum at Yellowstone National Park held a national contest for wolf paintings. They purchased my watercolor submission as part of their permanant exhibit.
The Bone Collector Website
Working for Universal Pictures, I built the award-winning site for The Bone Collector movie.
Photopod
Back in the days of Mediaphex, I built the world's first internet-based photo kiosk for the guys. You can even still see their patent.
And More!
Since I've been doing this for about 30 years, obvs I've done a lot more than this little list. (Remind me to tell you stories about Buttfurr or Erin Brockovich or my pizza vending machines . . .) And, note, these are just some of my favorites that 1) went live into production, and 2) I was compensated for.
Meaning, this list doesn't even include my random hobby undertakings. (We'd probably hit the browser's limit on rendering HTML) So, all of these works were produced in a professional capacity, and I was paid.