Ventures
Software Engineer B.Sc. CS, Stanford University
C++/C# engineer with 10+ years of experience specialized in developing tools, gameplay features, and AI behavior at AAA-scale. Passionate about performance optimization, documentation, and building teams to drive ambitious projects.
Main Quests
Snap Inc.
AR / AI Engineer (C++, TS, JS) on Lens Studio (a public game engine) for AR (SPECS) and mobile
- Led agentic-testing across an 81-person team, deploying cloud build agents to asynchronously validate in-house Lens Studio AI skills for Claude, Codex, and Cursor.
- The automated pipeline dynamically provisioned PCs, from a pool of 39 build machines, to download the latest Lens Studio builds, sync targeted commits from a skills repository, and execute both scenario and agentic testing to pinpoint system improvements.
- Infrastructure included Slack notifications to alert developers of build results in real-time, scheduled testing to identify regressions early, and support of A/B testing extensions for developers to test their skill changes prior to submission.
- Managed contractors from a 3rd party company to identify gaps in our documentation’s “AEO” (AI search optimization) and drive improvement.
- Championed customer perspective by continuously auditing our software to identify and eliminate critical UX blind-spots — mobilizing 15+ cross-functional contributors to resolve key friction points.
- Pioneered use of agentic AI workflows in my software development, ranking in the top 2% (#13 of 769 developers in Snap Inc.) for AI-generated code contribution across the company.
- Wrote user-facing docs for CLAD (Lens Studio’s agentic workflow), including front-end development of all the web pages on our public-facing site: developers.specs.com/docs/clad (opens in a new tab).
Amazon Games
Gameplay & Tools Engineer in Unreal Engine 5 (C++)(BP aka Blueprints) on Unannounced AAA game
- Designed C++/BP architecture for the staging and UI of conversations between players and gen-AI NPCs, supporting dynamic LLM-driven animations and real-time responses to player input
- Instrumented UE5 project’s editor load and automated uploading telemetry-data to CloudWatch
- Led Confluence documentation efforts across the team, contributing >20% of all engineering docs
- Parallelized data object loading to achieve a 7.2x (20.9s → 2.9s) improvement in editor load times
- Organized project-wide bug burndown, eliminating 875 asset errors, and implemented validation workflows to detect and prevent future regressions
- Led the Diversity Equity and Inclusion book club for all of Amazon Games 15+ consecutive months
id Software
Gameplay & AI Engineer in custom engine (C++) on Doom: The Dark Ages
- Led engineering support for several AI (Kreed Maykr, Imp Stalker, and Acolyte)
- Integrated cutting-edge destruction physics (Havok) into custom engine (id Tech 8)
- Led Confluence documentation efforts across the team, contributing ~50% of all engineering docs
- Started “Engineer’s Book Club” for team to regularly discuss AI whitepapers and tech talks
Raven Software (Activision-Blizzard-King)
Gameplay Engineer (Assoc.) in custom engine (C++)(GSC)(Lua) on Call of Duty: Warzone
- Designed and implemented new game modes from ideation to deployment
- Led implementation for seasonal content including Festive Fervor’s Christmas trees & elves
- Assisted in coordinating a cross-studio team to collaborate on engine documentation
Side Quests
Ventures Ventures LLC & Black Vein Productions (weekend indie projects)
Engineering / Design in Unity (C#)
- Developed award-winning indie games played by millions of players worldwide
- Featured by IGN: tinyurl.com/ign-dad (opens in a new tab)
Stanford University
Course Instructor
- Led development and instruction of Stanford’s games course: stanfordgamedev.weebly.com (opens in a new tab)
- Mentored students creating games and starting careers in the game development industry
Starter Quests (Internships)
Epic Games
Gameplay Engineer (intern) in Unreal Engine on Fortnite Creative
- Improved multiplayer level-design tools for player creators
Manticore Games
Developer Relations / Gameplay Engineer (intern) for Core, a custom UE4-based engine (Lua)
- Created user-facing documentation and tutorials for making games
Sony Santa Monica
Gameplay Engineer (contractor) in custom engine (C++) on God of War: Ragnarök
- Collaborated with animators to create tools for animation runtime debugging
- Supported designers by creating AI function nodes for visual-scripting behavior trees
Hangar 13 (2K Games)
Gameplay Engineer (intern) in custom engine (C++) (Lua) on Unannounced (Cancelled)
- Implemented player-combat abilities for an unannounced title
Facebook
Software Engineer (intern) in Unity VR (C#) on Facebook Spaces
- Facilitated rapid iteration of new user-facing VR-interactables for Facebook Spaces
- Implemented networking support for persistent data
Iron Tiger (NCsoft)
Tools Engineer (contractor) in Unity Mobile (C#) on Unannounced (Cancelled)
- Created a testing suite for the design team to rapidly evaluate player loadouts
Tilting Point
Game Designer (intern) on Pool Elite
- Simulated in-game economies to advise design of player monetization
Zynga
Gameplay Engineer (intern) in Java & Unity Mobile / VR (C#) on Unannounced (Cancelled)
- Rapid development/prototyping of new game ideas, automated scenario testing
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
Engineer in Java & Unity Mobile (C#) on FIP Glyph: fip-glyph.weebly.com (opens in a new tab)
- Designed and implemented app to translate, orate, and visually depict medication instructions
- Google Fair finalist, Intel ISEF & STS finalist, NY Science Fair finalist, US Surgeon General’s Award
NASA
- Studied El Niño Southern Oscillation and its impact on Southeast Asian economies
- Predicted coronal mass ejections based on solar flare data, presented research at AGU conference
SS&C
Software Engineer (intern) (Java)
- Implemented utility functions for insurance applications
Achievements of 2025
- GDC Conference Speaker on advocacy: tinyurl.com/ventures-gdc (opens in a new tab)
- Game Dev Heroes Finalist for industry advocacy: tinyurl.com/ventures-gdh (opens in a new tab)
- Internationally published author of game maths textbook: tinyurl.com/ventures-book (opens in a new tab)
Skill Points
- Two Black Belts (Taekwondo & Jiu-jitsu)
- Eagle Scout, with an archery merit badge
- Time Magazine’s 2006 Person of the Year
- Google Play game design awards finalist
Leaderboard
- 2000+ games in Halo 3 (rank: Commander)
- 2400+ hours in Runescape: tinyurl.com/ritjames (opens in a new tab) (Level 99 in Fishing)
- 2100+ hours in Escape from Tarkov