AJAY BALARAM
GAME DESIGNER, UX DESIGN
San Francisco, 94122
abalaramdev@gmail.com (or ajaybalaramdev@gmail.com)
661.476.7900
WORK EXPERIENCE
2022–PRESENT
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Final Fantasy XIV
Volunteer Free Company Leader
As community coordinator, administers user support regarding gameplay issues, tracking to resolution.
Moderates online forums to ensure that users adhere to community rules and guidelines, and educates players on gameplay, basic mechanics, game objectives, and access to community spaces.
Provides guidance on how to reinforce positive behaviors when engaging in online spaces, emphasizing emotional intelligence and cyberbullying preventative practices.
02/2019–10/2019
SANTA CLARITA, CA
Immersive Excursions (creative experiences for theme parks, television, and film production)
Experience Design Intern
Developed and storyboarded immersive installations based on nature. For each storyboarding process, researched client goals and formulated relevant story arcs.
Proofed products in Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
Immersive Exclusions works with a wide range of clients, including Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort, Walt Disney Engineering, IMAX experiences for Fox, and the Bronx Zoo.
Website, for reference: https://www.adventuresbeneaththeseas.com/
2016–2018
SANTA CRUZ, CA
University of California, Santa Cruz (game design program)
Lead Designer and Producer
2017–2018: Led three-person team for a multiplayer real-time strategy game, Rite of Conquest. The team worked in Unity as part of my senior design sequence.
2017: Created a simple trading card game as part of a graphic design course, titled Empire Building Trading Card Game. Matched trading card gameplay with economy management from computer strategy games.
2017: Produced a Pico-8 toolset (Pico-8 Tactics Mapmaker) for dynamically creating levels and enemies for turn-based tactics games on the Pico-8 virtual console program.
2017: Lead Designer for long-form collection and battling board game (Kanto Adventures) designed to remedy the problems identified in the original Pokémon Master Trainer board game.
2016: Developed coding unit, behavior, level design, and enemy behavior for a simple RTS game in gamemaker.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts, Art and Design (Games and Playable Media), University of California, Santa Cruz, 2018
CORE COMPETENCIES
Communication • Research • Writing • Project Management • Remote Work • Working Independently • Game Design • Visual Communications & Interaction Design • Storyboarding • Storytelling • Google Docs • Time Management • Attention to Detail • Human-Centered Design • Graphic Design (Illustrator, Photoshop) • Code (Javascript, C, Java) • WordPress • User Support • Customer Service • Video (Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere Pro, iMovie) • 3D Animation (Blender) Game Systems • Game Engines • Digital Audio • Accessible Games • History of Digital Games • Audio (Audacity, Reaper) • Game Dev Tools (Unity, Unreal, Gamemaker, Git, Twine) • Social Media Channels • Community Building • Forums • Feedback Metrics
SKILLS AND INTERESTS
Real-time Strategy, Grand Strategy, Fighting Games, Esports and Viewability, Card Games, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Video Games (MOBAs), Game Systems. MMORPGs.