SUMMARY
I am an intuitive, experienced writer and designer with both technical and
creative aptitude. Lately I have been spending time in the game industry, but
I'm equally at home anywhere that the left and right hemispheres of the brain
meet for coffee.

EXPERIENCE

Writer/Designer/Publisher, DBA æthereal FORGE—Seattle, WA	’92–Present
* I write, design and publish games—both electronic and tabletop—and provide an
assortment of other services to clients, including: marketing copy/copywriting;
technical writing; administrating websites; hand-coding HTML; graphic design and
layout; quality assurance and testing; and community interaction via social
networking, forums and email lists. Select clients include Adobe, BDA, Inc., En
Masse Entertainment, NCsoft West, MTV/AddictingGames.com, and Khepera
Publishing.
* My most notable indie creation to date has been Ninja Burger, a fictional
fast-food restaurant run entirely by (you guessed it) ninja. I created the
concept in ’00, and since then have written and designed games and content to
support the main website, in addition to licensing the concept to others. Titles
include:
- Ninja Burger: The RPG 2nd Edition, ’06 and No Honor Edition, ’08
- Ninja Burger Card Game, licensed to Steve Jackson Games, ’06–Present
- Ninja Burger: Honorable Employee Handbook, published by Kensington/Citadel,
’06
* I have researched and written game industry columns and reviews for clients
such as Dragon Magazine, The Escapist, Gamegrene, MMORPG.com, R. Talsorian,
RPGNow, The Silven Trumpeter and Slashdot.org. I was the Lead Editor for RPG.net
from ’02 to ’05, as well as a columnist for that site.

Quality Engineer/Community Manager, Kixeye--San Francisco, CA '11
* Coming soon!

Content Specialist, En Masse Entertainment—Seattle, WA	’11
* As part of the Customer Support organization, I was responsible for writing
help documentation for the company's forthcoming support website (which will
support their first game, TERA Online, as well as future efforts). I also
provided web design (CSS/HTML), graphic design and JavaScript coding.

Content Writer, NCsoft—Seattle, WA	’10
* As part of the Localization team, I wrote and edited NPC dialogue, cutscene
text and quest content for Aion: The Tower of Eternity and Aion: Assault on
Balaurea. I headed up audio production efforts for those titles, including audio
engineering, creative direction, voice casting, script wrangling and
scriptwriting.

Game Designer, Turpitude Design—Walnut Creek, CA	’08–‘09
* As part of a team of five, I designed mechanics, missions, worlds and dialogue
for two undisclosed, unreleased MMO titles. I also generated game design specs,
dialogue and missions for Facebook and MySpace games created by a top social
gaming company.

Technical Writer, (UltraDNS, Softbook Press, Onyx, Tello, Fox/IGN,
1Cast)—Various	’00–’01, ’05-’09
* As the sole Tech Writer in each instance I wrote documentation for both
Engineering and Marketing departments, including use cases, user guides, FAQs,
release notes and help files. In each case I improved documentation quality by:
creating and maintaining intranets, wikis, document repositories and version
control systems; establishing standards; and driving company-wide adoption of
said tools and standards.

Content Designer, Perpetual Entertainment—San Francisco, CA	’07
* I designed, wrote and implemented quests for Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, an
unreleased AAA MMORPG with a historical and mythological theme. After only a few
weeks on the job I was given control of the game’s central story arc, detailing
the player character’s apotheosis and ascension to the realm of the gods through
quests within an already-implemented game world. In support of this effort, I
wrote voiceover and cinematic dialogue, screened and selected voice actors and
attended recording sessions.

EXPERIENCE (CONT'D)

Designer, Karen Brown’s Guides—San Mateo, CA	’02–’05
* I designed and laid out 17 annual travel guides, as well as associated PDF and
web-based content. I reduced costs by bringing design efforts in-house, creating
and updating maps, graphics and covers for each edition. I acted as the main
point of contact with our overseas printer. I helped keep sales steady despite
industry decline by assisting with the writing and editing of marketing copy, a
redesign of a Yahoo-based storefront, and the design of effective print
advertisements.

Head Copywriter, AnotherUniverse.com—Manassas, VA	’99–’00
* As part of a team of 10—including a junior copywriter, who I directly
managed—I wrote copy for, designed and laid out monthly and quarterly catalogs
devoted to comic books, games and collectibles. I composed and edited monthly
print ads, email and direct mail pieces, increasing sales and conversion rates
over previous years, even in the wake of a comic book industry on a severe
downturn.

Creative Director, Sinclair Broadcasting—Buffalo, NY	’97–’99
* I headed a three-person Creative Services division that provided web, print
and broadcast material for six FM and AM radio stations in a Top 50 market. As
the sole copywriter, I wrote, edited and produced radio commercials, selected
voice talent and attended recording and production sessions. I also designed and
maintained station websites as part of the company’s initial implementation and
embrace of web content.

Assistant Editor, The RAMA Group—Buffalo, NY	’95–’97
* As part of a team of four, I wrote and edited feature and news stories for,
and assisted in the weekly layout of, 16 editions of Metro Community News and
Metro Weekend. I managed several “stringers” and other freelance staff, and
updated and maintained the fledgling Metro Weekend website.


AWARDS

* Brain Chef, Editor’s Pick, MySpace Developer Team, March ’09 
* Folkloric: Baba Yaga, Winner, ’06 ENnie Award for Best Electronic Book,
Nominee for Best Writing
* Iconoclast, a text-based cyberpunk game, January ’98 MUD of the Month
* HELLAS: Worlds of Sun & Stone, Nominee, ’09 ENnie Awards for Interior Art,
Production Values
* The House, a horror-themed RPG, First place, ’09 Lulu.com Most Creative Mini
Book Contest


EDUCATION/ASSOCIATIONS
* Member, International Game Developers Association and IGDA Writers SIG
* Member, Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society
* Bachelor of Arts in English Honors, cum laude, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY,
’95


MISCELLANY
* Software Skills: Adobe Suite, Aurora Toolset, BBEdit, Bugzilla, CircleMUD,
CVS/svn, hand-coded HTML, Jira, MediaWiki, MS Office Suite, Perforce, Quark
XPress, RightNow, TWiki, Unix, VBulletin, vi, et al
* Interests: I am learning to enjoy gardening by necessity, since my house came
with a heaping side of nature. I just finished my first novel, Blackbird: The
Chronicles of Edison North, and am shopping the title around with the assistance
of my literary agent. I am the creator of the “Day of the Ninja,” an annual
ninja-themed holiday held every year on December 5. Really—NPR covered it and
everything.
* For more information about me, visit http://www.aeforge.com/~aeon and
http://www.ninjaburger.com