Digital Roar Studios

John Lyons is the CEO of Digital Roar Studios. A businessman, entrepreneur, programmer, and passionate gamer, John combined his talents to form Digital Roar in 2008. Along with co-founder Zach Inks, John’s mission is to challenge the conventions of the gaming industry through creative game creation while focusing on the construction of original intellectual property and multi-platform proliferation.

John has been a professional programmer for over eight years. His primary programming languages are C#, Coldfusion , SQL, and Java. John is currently finishing up a Science in Computer and Information Systems major at The University of North Florida and brings to Digital Roar Studios his understanding of business and development life cycle methodologies.

Zach has a combined 10+ years of experience and training in both the artistic and technical sides of game development, and he brings a renaissance view to the creation of unique and original titles. Together with John Lyons, he co-founded Digital Roar studios in 2008, where he is responsible for all facets of the code, design, and art pipelines. Zach has optimized these pipelines for efficiency and performance, which allow he and his team to create higher quality gaming experiences on nontraditional platforms such as social networking sites and mobile devices. This approach affords ubiquitous, multi-platform proliferation, allowing players to extend their experience across disparate forms of media.

Zach has also operated as a contractor and consultant for several industrial and military simulation and visualization firms in the serious games sector.

His undergraduate studies span many fields including graphic design, fine art, and computer animation, as well as game design and programming. He is currently finishing up his Masters degree in Digital Production Arts.

Allan is a freelance visual development artist currently working out of NYC. He’s developed work for a variety of clients including Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Dreamworks, and Microsoft.

CB is a freelance artist juggling most of his clock between 2D concept design, illustration, and personal comic book machinations.

Discovering shortly after his “diaper days” both a penchant and desire to express his ideas by means of pencil and paper, he began to nurture these creative wants and skills with considerable assistance from both his father’s keen observational insights and his prodigious comic-book collection.

Largely a traditional artist by trade, of late he’s taken a measurable interest and enjoyment in the efficient mix of speed and creative freedom that the digital art medium provides to artists of all variety, using said tools to cultivate and further expand upon his approach to the arts while pursuing professional work within the video game and motion film industries.

Chanh has been programming C++ for 7+ years, and recently taught himself C# and XNA 3.0. He began studying Game Design and Development three years ago at Full Sail University in Orlando, Fl where he graduated in May 2007.

His areas of interests are AI and gameplay programming. He enjoys the challenges of working in these areas. Chanh is a hard worker, quick learner, and a friendly team member who is eager to learn new things.

Chris developed a crush on videogames as a child. Now that he’s all grown up, his love of video games is better described as an all-consuming passion.

He has an Associate’s degree in Multimedia and a Bachelor’s in Digital Entertainment and Game Design. Oddly enough, he originally sought a programming degree but one taste of Flash and Photoshop was enough to convert him to graphics. He currently works as a Multimedia Specialist at PixelShock and as a Graphic Artist for Digital Roar Studios.

Francisco Cruz III is a 3D artist with 4+ years of experience with 3D modeling and texture work.

Starting with web comics back in the day, “Cisco” was always browsing the internet for new 2D techniques and new programs to learn from. Inspired and intrigued by video games and 3D animation, Cisco later enrolled at Full Sail University to pursue his dream to become a 3D artist at a game company.

Cisco got his first real taste of 3D in November 2006 at Rockwell Collins where he modeled and textured various vehicles & environmental pieces for simulations use. Currently he is an Art Lead for a small company in WA, making iPhone games.

Recently recruited by Jordan Hale while working over at Rockwell Collins, Cisco now devotes his time to working on the Digital Roar project.

Darryl was born in Florida, in 1983. Since Atari came out, he has been playing video games as much as he possibly could, watching as games have progressed from the NES and Sega Master system to what we have today. With such a passion for video games, he always knew he would love to create them.

Darryl attended community college for two years and received his Associate of Arts degree. After being inspired by watching the cinematic opening to Armored Core, he enrolled at Full Sail University, where he received his Bachelors in Computer Animation.

After graduating in September of 2007, he began working in the simulation industry. There he remains while creating content in his spare time for Digital Roar and other game development groups.

Passion is a big word used to describe David. He has earned an Associate’s degree in Multimedia and a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Entertainment and Game Design.

Some say calling David “active” is an understatement. He likes being involved and enjoys working hands-on on every project. For him, the process of producing art is an adventure in itself.

David works for a small interactive company based in Greenville, SC. His friends and Xbox Live mates call him Captain Awesome.

With degrees in both engineering and music, Hamilton Altstatt has always been intrigued by the convergence of entertainment and technology. Formerly the Director of Audio Production for such companies as Disney Interactive and Knowledge Adventure, and more recently Director of Media Services at incubator Idealab, Hamilton has music/sound credits on over 80 interactive titles.

He has produced music for some of the top name music libraries in the industry, where his work has been placed in nationally syndicated shows such as ABC’s Lost, Speed Channel’s Behind the Wheel, VH1′s My Kid is a Star and G4′s Tech TV. He has been a contributing composer for popular animated TV series such as The Sitting Ducks and Jimmy Neutron, and his music is regularly featured on radio and TV throughout the world. He has worked on the score for a number of independent films including Stoned Cold, We R Family and Half-Caste.

Seeking to share some of his experience, Hamilton has recently joined the faculty at Clemson University as Asst. Professor of Audio Technology.

An accomplished guitarist and GIT graduate, he often contributes his instrumental talents to both recording sessions and live performances. He is partnered with friend and mentor, award winning composer Charlie Brissette and his company, Music by the Metric Ton, and is digitally linked to their studios in the Los Angeles area. Clients include Discovery Channel, Disney, ABC and Warner Bros.

Besides music and sound production, Hamilton is also very involved in digital media production, and is extremely well versed in audio/video compression technologies, webcasting, encoding and streaming media and often been a speaker/panelist at the annual Streaming Media conference.

Hamilton founded Greatwaves Digital Media, Inc., constructing a state-of-the-art production facility which he operates with his wife, Pamela Altstatt, who handles the business development and administration duties for the company; they also sing and play together in the their contemporary Christian rock band, Beyond Jordan.

Kevin is a writer, narrative designer, and information director at Digital Roar. He adopts a transmedia approach to his design philosophy to craft meaningful connections between disparate pieces of a single intellectual property. Each piece of the universe should enrich the other so that each functions as a part of a whole and as a whole unto itself, all while forwarding the overall artistic vision.

Speaking to that vision, his latest play, Ascension War is a direct prequel to the Ascension game. This play was selected and developed at WordBRIDGE, an internationally known playwriting development laboratory. Kevin has a vision to bring a successful, fully realized science fiction play to the stage.

Another one of Kevin’s plays was a finalist for the 2010 Kennedy Center Region IV National Ten Minute Play Award. In 2009, he won this award and his one act play was selected as an alternate for the John Cauble short play award. His digital short, La Cuadrada was an official selection for the Charleston International Film Festival in 2010 and was recognized by Clemson University’s Science as Art program in 2009. In 2007, he co-developed an interactive, story-driven learning experience that was used and distributed regionally. Kevin has also done volunteer work as a videographer, editor, and digital artist.

Kevin holds a BA in Spanish Language and Literature from Furman University and both an MA in Professional Communication and an MFA in Digital Production Arts from Clemson University. What all this means is that he has taken extra care to explore fields that he finds both personally and professionally interesting and has crafted a niche that allows him to utilize his interdisciplinary background to apply traditional and nontraditional methods of verbal and visual storytelling to new forms of interactive media.

Jonathan is the Lead Artist and Document Specialist at Digital Roar Studios. He started out as an avid gamer and role player, but briefly sought a degree in Geology before shifting gears and gaining an Associates degree in the 3D industry, specializing in modeling and texturing.

He has several years experience in storytelling, and is a sucker for a well delivered story. He has experience in military simulation, architecture, and the video game industry. He also has over 8 years experience with document creation and printing, and is responsible for creating a variety of documents for the company.

When it comes to games, Jonathan enjoys establishing the backbone of a game just as much as creating the artwork required of it. He also has a passion for astronomy and photography, and you guessed it- long walks on the beach!

Jordan currently hails from Winter Park Florida. He grew up there, left there, and came back three years ago to attend Full Sail University for a degree in Computer Animation. Since then he has gained employment and friends that greatly lend themselves to furthering all that he enjoys in this industry and himself.

Though he is thoroughly and undoubtedly in love with most everything in life, his main concentrations are modeling, lighting, rendering/render diagnostics , and his wife (not in that order).

Most recently, he has been swimming further into the lighting and rendering realms, experimenting with photographic recreation, rendered HDR generation, and tone mapping (both light simulation in renders and multi-bracketed exposure output).

He has had the pleasure and good fortune of working with, and learning from, dozens and dozens of multi-talented people and can only hope that the his life’s journey continues down this truly rewarding path!

Nick was born in Greenville, SC in 1982, and art has been a driving force his entire life. He has completed a degree in information technology with an emphasis on multimedia and computer graphics software.

He enjoys eating tasty food and exercising. He loves all things sci-fi and also has a great appreciation for historical fiction novels. Currently Nick is a freelance 3D modeler and concept artist for Digital Roar Studios.

Stephen worked at Tripwire Interactive from the spring of 2007 to the summer of 2008 before going back to school. During his time at Tripwire he worked on gameplay programming, with a heavy emphasis towards animation and graphics programming. He has since moved on to a technical artist position at Dreamworks.

Stephen holds a BS from Full Sail University and an MFA from Clemson University in Digital Production Arts.

Will is a freelance artist based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has 8 years experience in a variety of different media from TV, graphic design, 3D modeling, and developing visual assets towards concept art and illustration within the gaming and film industry. Will has a Bachelor of Science degree in Media Arts and Animation and is currently a concept artist with Digital Roar Studios.

Patrick attended Presbyterian College, located in Clinton, South Carolina. There he participated in the Chamber Orchestra and was Vice President of his fraternity, Alpha Sigma Phi, in 2005. He originally majored in Computer Science, but found that the Visual Arts held his passion. Patrick was the first student in Presbyterian College history to combine both disciplines by concentrating in 3D computer animation. As a result, he received a minor in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Visual Arts in the spring of 2007. He is currently working on his Master of Fine Arts degree in Digital Production Arts at Clemson University, where his focus centers around character production involving modeling, texturing, rigging, and animation. Patrick is very happy to be working with Digital Roar in forging a new future for video games.

Trae is an Avid gamer and WW2 sim junkie. He became involved in art and computers from an early age. His Passion for games started with designing table top rules, and painting miniatures. This later developed into his interest in modding PC games. Deciding that games would make an awesome career, Trae pursued 3D graphics and game development in his spare time until 2006 when he enrolled in graduate school. Trae Has an MFA from Clemson University in Digital Production Arts.

In addition to being a texture artist with Digital Roar, Blake works for a  simulation company creating highly detailed vehicles used to help train soldiers. Outside of work, he is passionate and avid gamer.

Blake was slightly blind as a child, but around the age of seven he was fitted for glasses and introduced to a world of vivid colors, textures and intricate details. He is a graduate from Fullsail in computer animation where he was fortunate to meet some extremely talented individuals that would help further his own studies and understanding of art.

Thomas is a programmer who primarily codes in C# , VB and ActionScript. He possesses an Associate’s Degree in Computer Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Entertainment and Game Design.

Programming is not the only thing Thomas enjoys. He also likes to develop flash movies and games in his spare time, providing valuable creative experience. Most recently, he participated in the Dream, Build, Play contest held in 2009, gaining valuable experience and respect for the process of making games.

Glen Joyner is a programmer with 4+ years of experience in a variety of areas including C and C++, various scripting languages, and the Unity 3D game engine. In addition to his programming expertise, Glen also has a keen ear for music and a passion for gaming.

Boqian is a rigging artist and storyboard artist at Digital Roar. He is equally comfortable tackling problems from both technical and artistic angles, with experience in 2D illustration, animation, and programming. Boqian is also an MFA student in Digital Production Arts at Clemson University where he divides his time between technical and fine art.