NIHILISTIC

Joe Allen
Senior Gameplay Programmer

Yves Borckmans
Lead Tools Programmer

 Yves Borckmans started his career as a programmer back in the old times of COBOL and the IBM 4381, before moving on to a computer consultant company as an ORACLE database administrator and programmer, designing and managing the database of the world wide leader in plane travel for 3 years.

After finishing Dark Forces he wanted more, and so he reaverse engineered all the file formats and built a full level editor that he distributed on the Internet, quickly followed by what is still considered one of the best Dark Forces add on levels ever. He joined LucasArts as a level designer and programmer for the Jedi Knight project for which he created 4 multiplayer levels and programmed all the force powers and most of the weapons, as well as the CTF multiplayer extension.

He then worked as a programmer on the Jedi Knight add on pack Mysteries of the Sith, and before joining Nihilistic worked on the tools for LucasArts’ next generation FPS game, Star Wars Episode I: Obiwan.

Yves’ current role is programming on Nihilistic’s next title.

Trevor Diem
Gameplay Programmer

After being a web application developer for about five years in Wisconsin, Trevor realized he'd like to take is career in a different direction. After resigning from his well-paying job, he spent about a year working on his own game engine. He spent about half the time coding on a laptop at the local Barnes and Noble and the other half coding in some wrecked-up house until the early hours of the morning.

That experience was enough to get his first job in the video game industry in Reno, NV at 3G studios, Inc. There he went on to become the Lead Programmer for the least played Wii game of all time, Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 and is very proud of how the game was received.

After working on a plethora of demos there, he moved on to Nihilistic Software, Inc. and claims, "Yeah, this place is pretty much way better".

Guy Godin
Senior Tools Programmer

Guy has a hard time getting his name pronounced correctly. Born in Quebec, Canada and programming ever since he got his hands on a Commodore 64, Guy has always been passionate about video games. From challenging his family members at Falcon Patrol to playing the latest MMO, Guy is a force to be reckoned with. At 130 pounds you don't want to mess with him.

Guy started his programming career at Microsoft as a software test engineer where he became a disciple of the .Net technologies. Guy went on to work for Ubisoft in Montreal extending his knowledge in tools development. He never got to meet Jade Raymond...in case you were wondering.

As the Canadian weather and taxes didn't really appeal to him he decided to move south and join Nihilistic Software in the beautiful and snow-free California.

Benjamin Goldstein
Lead Engine Programmer

 Ben grew up in the great white north where he spent a lot of time indoors trying to get out of the cold.

This afforded him many late nights messing about with various computer systems but it wasn’t until he spent a couple of years teaching software to an aging work force that he decided he’d better buck up. So he cut off the pony tail, went back to school in Montreal and got himself a CS degree with a specialization in software systems.

After a brief internship and the prospect of writing test plans for the foreseeable future, his love of graphics and media led him to Chicago where he went to grad school and joined a research lab that focused on virtual reality. He completed his master's there and then got a job offer in MillValley that he couldn’t refuse.

After a short stint working on a graphics engine for the research domain he joined the games industry and hasn’t looked back since.

Rodney Huff
Senior Engine Programmer

Rodney spent too much time playing Ultima Underworld in college.  In fact, he spent so much time in front of a computer that he ended up a better programmer than biologist.  After a few years of tinkering he got his act together and went back and got a CS degree.  At Stormfront Studios he worked on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PS2, Xbox) and Forgotten Realms: Demonstone (PS2).  Prior to joining Nihilistic he worked at EA on The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (PS2).

 In his spare time Rodney reads a lot and watches bad monster movies.  He believes in shape shifting lizard people and the myth of the killer ape. His wish is to meet a real live Yeti!

Fraser Hutchinson
Senior Network Programmer

Hailing originally from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Fraser comes to Nihilistic via Seattle where he worked for Zipper Interactive, Wild Tangent, and Electronic Arts (Seattle).  He discovered early on that he was good at forcing systems to communicate with one another and worked as a network developer for many years before being seduced into the game world by Electronic Arts to work on Motor City Online.

Fraser has also worked on Need for Speed Hot Pursuit II (EA), and SOCOM III,  MAG (Massive Action Game), and SOCOM IV (Zipper Interactive).

In his spare time Fraser likes to stare at shiny objects, play and watch hockey, spend time with his wife and two children, and do home renovation.

He is also a musician and was active in the Seattle music scene.

Avery Lodato
Engine Programmer

Steve Mariotti
Lead Gameplay Programmer

Brandon Moro
Technology Department Director

Brandon Moro relocated from Florida to begin his commercial game development career with Nihilisitic Software.  His love of programming began at an early age and continued to grow throughout high school and college. 

He has worked on many commercial and open source projects, and was involved in published research on geometric constraint solving at the University of Florida. 

He also claims to have "the infinite".

Paul Haile
Technology Manager

Resident metal head and digital gangster.

Matthew Russell
Senior Gameplay Programmer

Charles Henden
Gameplay Programmer

Crikey! Even though they don't yet have computers down under, Charles started his software engineering career at Virgin Airlines Australia, carving computer programs into gumtrees and native wildlife alike.

Having an enchantment with video games from a very young age, the motivation to be part of the magic for a living pushed him to complete undergrad and masters degrees in computer science. Since then he hasn't looked back, working on independent titles then eventually flourishing as a gameplay programmer for THQ Studio Australia with experience from multiple AAA multiplatform titles under his belt.

Industry developments eventuated in a relocation across the pond to continue the dream @ Nihilistic. Although Northern California lacks the requisite population of giant spiders, poisonous snakes, sharks, crocodiles and man-eating drop bears to keep Charles comfortable, he's going to give this place a flamin' red hot go.

 Cool Ranch!!