Hitoshi Kanno

I have been making games for 15+ years with 4 years of professional experience as a Game Developer. I have worked on a variety of 2D and 3D games for PC and Mobile! I'm used to working with cross-disciplinary teams to prototype, iterate and polish gameplay concepts.

I always work to keep an eye for detail not just on the technical side but the design of the game as well. One of my passions is discovering the unique potential of video games as a medium for storytelling. I enjoy exploring new mechanics to see what new experiences that can bring!

Gameplay Programmer at Jo-Mei Games (2024-02 – Present)

• Worked on an unannounced project made in Unity.
• Worked closely with game director to prototype, iterate, and polish gameplay concepts
• Worked autonomously with an existing codebase to polish and bug fix gameplay systems.
• Collaborated with level designer to set up a structure for a level with various scripted events like cut-scenes, dialogue, camera transitions among others!
• Tweaked/extended tools for level design easing the workflows of both artist and designers

Unity Developer at Quest Haven (2022-09 – 2024-01)

• Worked on a PC and VR tabletop RPG platform with user-generated content.
• Made a serialization system for the maps so users could create their own maps and upload them to share with others.
• Worked autonomously on an existing codebase to expand the building system as well as fix various bugs and incorporate Quality of Life features.
• Collaborated with Backend Developer to handle asynchronous web requests to internal web services to handle data for maps, custom character, save files, and other important game data.
• Created internal asset export tools. Artists could easily export hundreds of 3D models into the game without requiring assistance from programmers eliminating a lot of manual work.
• Implemented custom shaders using Unity's ShaderGraph to create a grid effect for a building system.

Freelance Mobile Game Developer at Dyad Games (2020-12 – 2021-06)

• Refactored multiple mobile game frameworks to implement custom branding and UI
• Optimized mobile framework through Object Pooling, eliminating heavy memory allocations and stuttering during level selection.
• Expanded mobile framework with new features including a per-level high-score
• Deployed and optimized Ads through AdMob, configuring both standard Ads and Rewarded Video Ads to maximize user retention and ad revenue.
• Reworked and modernized the entire in-game store UI.
• Configured IAP purchases with brand new products and integrated them with the new in-game store UI.
• Implemented and tested responsive UI through dynamic anchors and Safe Area management ensuring a clean presentation across various iOS and Android aspect ratios, including devices with notches (both phones and tablets).
• Leveraged editor tools to adjust level settings

Unreal Programmer at ArtiGames (2019-02 – 2020-07)

• Designed architecture for core gameplay systems for an 3rd-Person Action Adventure project
• Established a collaborative scene workflow for the Unreal project so artists and programmers could work and upload their work while avoiding conflicts in the repository.
• Designed and implemented a custom Action and Event system with designer-friendly tools to empower non-programmers to create new in-game sequences.
• Designed and implemented the AI in NPC and enemy characters including a pathing system, detection systems, and enemy patrol patterns.
• Collaborated to establish a production schedule with project leads to prioritize tasks and manage time to meet delivery dates

AR and VR Developer at Next Latinoamérica S.A.C (2017-09 – 2019-02)

• Worked on a VR experience where users could interact with various objects in the environment. They could open fridges, drawers, pick food,etc. Users could also select from a variety of fridge models.
• Programmed dynamic object placement scripts with ARKit in Unity for iOS to place 3D portal anchored to the real-world floor.
• Developed a cross-dimensional spatial portal effect by writing custom shaders to manipulate the Unity Stencil Buffer pipeline, rendering the 3D fantasy world assets partially occluded until the user crossed the portal boundary.
• Collaborated with other programmers to establish a programming structure for a mobile project that contained multiple mini-games and each programmer needed to work on a different mini-game.

Game Development Teacher at Area 51 Training Center (2012-11 – 2018-11)

• Taught game development with the Unity engine
• Worked to teach students about the different tools in the engine as well as how to program (scripting) in it.
• Taught students with no prior experience in programming to make various game genres including 2D and 3D platformers, stealth games, top-down shooters, etc.
• Supervised student projects with programming and production issues for their end-of-term project

Game Developer at NorthSouth Studios (2013-09 – 2015-08)

• Worked on an internal game project using the cocos2d-x framework
• Worked on Unity projects for clients
• Implemented a proprietary path-finding system for enemy characters through the Tiled Level Editor
• Collaborated with other developers to extend existing systems while following guidelines to maintain a clean code architecture

Bachelor in Systems Engineering – Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (2008-01 – 2012-12)