External Links

My Linkedin page

Shipped titles:

iOS titles: Fossil Feast, Puzzle Quest 2, Sky Gamblers: Rise of Glory

Current independent projects (PC platform):

Renegade-X (Released January 28, 2012)

Red Alert: A Path Beyond

Red Alert 2: Apocalypse Rising

Tiberian Sun Reborn

Tiberian Dawn on ModDB

Tiberian Sun Rising

Resume

Download Resume as .doc file | Download Resume as .pdf file

Christopher Kohl

Alameda, CA 94501
Tel: 650-238-4649
christopher.j.kohl@gmail.com
www.christopherkohl.com

• Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop, Unreal Editor 4 (UT3/UDK), Tiberium Wars SDK, Adobe Flash, Crazybump, Unfold 3D Magic, Headus UVLayout, TortoiseSVN, FTP utilities, Adobe Premiere, various RTS map editors, MS Office, TestTrack Pro, JIRA, Mantis.
• Currently learning: Autodesk 3D Studio Max, Autodesk Mudbox, Unity 3D.
• Vehicle/hard-surface/environment/prop modeling, unwrapping, texturing, level design, lighting, game design, web design, HTML, CSS, XML, Flash, ActionScript, Python, MELscript, rigging, animation.

• Responsible for assuring that titles meet internal quality standards and external standards set forth by major wireless carriers before being released onto feature phones, smart phones, and tablets.
• Volt Field Employee of the Month, July 2011.

• Modeled and textured military assets for virtual training solutions when they had need for an extra helping hand.

• Concepted designs for futuristic space ships and associated hardware, then modeled and textured the designs.

• Concepted designs for three sidescroller levels. Modeled and textured art assets as well as map terrain.

• Created urban city level designs. Prototyped entire level with placeholder art then executed level with completed artwork. Prepared assets for importing into editor. Modeled and textured various map assets as needed.

• Created various art assets within an established art style. Managed intra and inter-community public relations.
• Awards: 2009 Make Something Unreal Contest Phase 4 - Best Vehicle Set, 2nd place; Best Machinima, 4th place
  2009 Mod DB Mod of the Year Awards - Players Choice Mod of the Year, 5th place
  2008 Mod DB Mod of the Year Awards - Players Choice Best Upcoming Mod, 3rd place

• Created weapon models and environment object models. Managed intra and inter-community public relations.
• Awards: 2006 Mod DB Mod of the Year Awards - Editor's Choice Most Hyped Mod
  2005 Mod DB Mod of the Year Awards - Visual Delight Award

• Lead advisor on Photoshop and InDesign packages. Maintained lab computers and other software/hardware. Wrote entertaining articles to describe events of the year. Proofread and edited other staff articles to maintain consistency and quality in the publications. Photographed and documented in-school and extracurricular events.

(auto)biography

Welcome! Welcome to the page where I get to ramble on about myself! As far back as I can remember, I was interested in science and technology. I enjoyed learning how things worked and what they looked like on the inside. So I suppose it is only natural that I got interested in the Games industry. I guess you could say I was predisposed to be interested in this line of work.

My defining moment was back in 1996. I was at a friend's house and we loaded up Command & Conquer by (the now defunct) Westwood Studios on his computer and played the first few missions. Westwood did such a good job that the game pulled me right into the experience. I knew then that "wow this is awesome, this is definitely for me" and ever since I have been studying for a career in this field. I set my eyes on a goal and have been following my dream.

I didn't actually get my first computer until three years later in 1999, but I immediately started learning about every nook and cranny inside Windows 98. I was entirely self-taught. I got my hands on my own copy of C&C 95 and Red Alert 1 as well as Starcraft and made my own maps with the RA1 and SC map editors. I went to computer camp a few times in middle school and learned a little Flash and HTML. It was also during middle school that I became involved in the modding community. I started out as just a fan reading the message boards of some C&C Renegade mods. Over a little time I picked up on the technical terminology they were using like modeling, texturing, rigging, and so on just by reading news posts.

I started teaching myself gmax (a free version of 3DS Max for those that haven't heard of it; based on an old version when it was still Discreet and not AutoDesk), Macromedia Fireworks, and the C&C Generals and Renegade Level Editors. I started posting news and community updates on a C&C fan site (CnC-Source.com) and joined a few of the mod projects as a staff member after having followed them for some time. I have worked on over half a dozen mods now in roles from forum moderator, community manager, and public relations, to designer, mapper, asset cleaner, modeler, and texture artist.

All of that was outside of class. In school I took all the computer and art courses that were available. Unfortunately that wasn't very many in small-town Kansas, which is why I self-taught a lot to myself. I joined my high school's Yearbook staff where I learned InDesign and Photoshop. I was also a photographer for the Yearbook at all kinds of sporting events, pep rallies, and in the hallways and classrooms. This was great because I've always enjoyed photography as long as I can remember as well. I wore all the hats in Yearbook during my two years on the staff. At one point or another I was editor, layout artist, designer, photographer, manager, and IT technician. We released two completed yearbooks while I worked there (my junior and senior year) which were the school's first two all-color yearbooks (prior to that, only the senior class pages were in color).

In 2006 I graduated from high school and enrolled at the Art Institute of California - San Francisco in the Game Art and Design program. I chose the GAD program because I think this industry is great because not only do we get to express our creativity but it is an interactive medium, not a passive one. I remained a staff member for all of those mod projects and I continued to learn outside of class as well. I focused more on the art side as opposed to the design side for my degree. Specifically my area of focus was on hard surface modeling and texturing as well as environment art. Basically anything that wasn't a character: vehicles, weapons, props, architecture and other environment art, etc.. I gained a few years of experience with Maya modeling and Photoshop texturing and I applied that to senior projects in classes as I neared graduation, as well as an internship with Stanford, and had been applying it to the modding scene for even longer.

I graduated from AI in June of 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree. I did a bit of art contract work for Heartwood Studios and then started working at Namco Networks America doing QA for mobile and smartphone titles. It has been a fun experience and I definitely want to stay in the Bay Area, continuing to work on games that are both good-looking and entertaining as well. One day in the future I may even work my way up to a lead artist position.

You may have figured out from my name-dropping of Command & Conquer that I enjoy the Real Time Strategy genre. My favorite strategy game is C&C Tiberian Sun. In addition to RTS games, I also enjoy the First Person Shooter genre, with my favorite being C&C Renegade (noticing a trend?) followed probably by Team Fortress 2.

When he isn't pushing out sweet models, taking pictures of nature, or modding, you can find Chris interacting with his favorite game communities and building his own computers. He is not sure why he has slipped into the third person now.