# Ryan Kirschman > Gameplay Engineer at Retro Studios Location: Vallejo, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/ryankirschman I'm a gameplay programmer, so I like to create systems and new ways for players to interact with their games. I love prototyping new gameplay features as it allows me to quickly iterate on new things, as well as flex my own design muscles. At my first studio, I was tasked with porting a mobile game to Steam, but the studio quickly discovered my talents in getting new systems out quickly. At Telltale, I worked on our combat system in Minecraft Story Mode Season 2. I loved working on the combat system because it provided some unique challenges, such as creating an intuitive Zelda-like combat system on the mobile platform; it even let me design the attack patterns of each episode's boss, which were often considered highlights of the season. I then helped finish Season 2 of our Batman series before quickly moving onto our Stranger Things game. I entered the project early in development as our first gameplay programmer. I was able to work very closely with our designers and help roll on gameplay programmers as they joined the team. I prototyped new camera systems as well as new gameplay systems to help make our game feel like it was a part of the show. I have a lot of experience with creating new system and aim to continue creating new gameplay systems wherever I am in the industry. ## Work Experience ### Gameplay Engineer @ Retro Studios Jan 2019 – Present | Austin, Texas ### Game Progrmamer @ Telltale Games Jan 2017 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area I'm one of the talented gameplay programmers working at Telltale. In my time at Telltale, I've programmed and designed bosses, improved our crafting and building mechanics in Minecraft Story Mode Season 2, and hooked up some amazing scenes. ### Gameplay Programmer @ Funcom Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area ### Gameplay Programmer @ React Games Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Salt Lake City I worked at React as a gameplay programmer in charge of porting a mobile game to Steam, working closely with the UI/UX of the game. I also helped with our FX system, hooking up the logic needed for various SFX and VFX to play. ### Engineer @ Gapp Lab Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | University of Utah The Gapp Lab is a studio run by the University of Utah EAE program that creates serious games and apps, primarily for medical and educational purposes. I have worked on multiple projects, ranging from web-apps to full mobile-apps. Each has been designed to help cancer patients with symptom management. Avatar IVR, the most recent project, is a game made in Unity where players can create their own custom avatar and then answer questions, aimed at monitoring their symptoms, alerting their doctor when needed, and coaching the player in symptom management. To help with Avatar IVR, I created a system called Betwined, which is a flow-chart creator featuring a custom scripting language to provide variables and logic. ### Masters Student @ University of Utah EAE Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 I was a Masters Student at the University of Utah's Entertainment Arts and Engineering game development program. I was part of the engineering track and served as the lead engineer for our thesis project, leading 4 other engineers on a team of 15 people to publishing our thesis game, Skyreach, on Steam. ### Tutor @ College Track of New Orleans Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | New Orleans, Louisiana Tutoring in high school math and science for high schoolers. Lead a math workshop in video game design focused on the mathematics and programming behind simple video games. ## Education ### Master's Degree in Game Engineering University of Utah ### Bachelor of Science (BS) in Mathematics Tulane University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ryan-kirschman-08403082 - Portfolio: http://ryankirschman.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/ryankirschman JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/ryankirschman/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-10