Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Games Shipped as Associate Technical Artist
Games Shipped as Quality Assurance
Personal Interests and Hobbies
Timeline
Generic

Aaron Broster

Foster City,CA

Summary

Self-taught Quality Analyst and Technical Artist with 13 years of experience across almost every gaming platform available. Recently moved departments from Quality Assurance to Technical Art and weapons rigging. I started my journey as a Technical Artist knowing the bare minimum of Maya to completing multiple unique weapon rigs from start to finish. It has always a dream of mine to work in the video game industry since I got my first computer 30 years ago. I tend to throw myself completely into my passions and teach myself everything there is to know about my chosen pursuits, whether that be building computers or my own racing drones from scratch, I never do anything half-heartedly.

Overview

14
14
years of professional experience

Work History

Associate Technical Artist

Sledgehammer Games
Foster City, CA
05.2021 - 01.2024
  • Being self driven, I was able to utilise on-site training with mentorship to advance from knowing only the very basics of Maya to rigging complicated weapon scenes solo and provide training and assistance to other fledgling Tech Artists.
  • Worked closely with adjacent disciplines, such as Modeling and Animation to deliver complicated or high volume rigging work on time and efficiently.
  • Performed peer reviews and provided assistance to other Technical Artists work to maintain the highest quality of Maya rig scenes in a timely and efficient manner.
  • Created and maintained General Data Templates and xmodel exports to allow our Maya scenes to function in the game engine correctly.
  • Studied additional departmental techniques on how to create and apply materials and textures to blockout models.
  • Created custom weapon skeletons for unique blueprints to be used in-game.
  • Provided custom or unique workflow procedures during the rigging process to alleviate potential problems being encountered by any developmental partners.
  • Maintained constant open communication with multiple developmental departments from a weapons concept stage to game implementation and public acquisition.
  • Taught myself the concepts and implementation of how to apply dynamics to rigged assets, including weapon charms, guns and thrown items.
  • Able to learn new techniques quickly with minimal guidance.
  • Excelled in cross disciplinary communication to organise asset deliverables.

Quality Assurance

Sledgehammer Games
Foster City, CA
12.2019 - 05.2021
  • Trained personnel on proper use of tools, equipment, materials, and software used for quality assurance purposes.
  • Maintained quality assurance procedure documentation.
  • Implemented corrective actions when necessary to improve overall product quality.
  • Maintained and executed all weapons documentation, Jira management and testing solo.
  • Trained multiple other QA personnel in the processes of weapons testing.

Sr Live Ops Quality Analyst

Machine Zone
Palo Alto, CA
12.2019 - 05.2020
  • Performed daily In-game live events testing to minimise potential revenue loss.
  • Worked closely with the Live Operations Dev team to ensure build stability with minimal issues once features go live.
  • Facilitated the execution of features and events in a live environment efficiently to minimise potential bugs as quickly as possible.
  • Responsible for testing all sale packs in a live environment to make sure the project and players are not losing money due to non-functioning live events and sales.
  • Trained multiple personnel on and off site to perform the same tasks to the highest degree for other projects.

Sr Quality Analyst

Trion Worlds
Redwood City, CA
04.2015 - 10.2018
  • Worked closely with the Development team as part of Embedded QA for the Trove and Rift Development teams, including personally helping create and refine the newly implemented colour-blind options for many of Trion's games
  • Collaborated with an off-site team managing customer requests and in-game store verifications from Microsoft, as well as trained others on how to perform these checks
  • Performed multiple daily smoke checks for numerous game titles, as well as maintaining daily bug writing and regression duties.

Quality Analyst

Electronic Arts
Redwood City, CA
03.2010 - 03.2015
  • Identified and fixed bugs using Frostbite with minimal training
  • Tuned various weapon parameters and adjusting values based on player feedback to create a more realistic final user experience
  • Sole QA owner responsible for all multiplayer weapons and items in-game
  • Provided personal qualitative feedback on the state of the weapons for multiplayer, also taking responsibility for thoroughly stress testing against exploitative locations on all multiplayer maps
  • Represented the QA team during all weapons systems related meetings, taking part in multiple scrums and meetings per day to assess testing priorities and ensure highest deliverable standards
  • Coordinated and executed daily play tests, collecting feedback from 30+ players and providing a detailed report to lead game designers and developers
  • Managed the bug database using JIRA, setting priorities, assigning bugs, and obtaining additional information for both an on and off-site team to efficiently manage bug entry while maintaining regression schedules
  • Wrote multiple extensive onboarding and training material for all QA teams while also training multiple entry level testers for different projects
  • Worked closely with Design, Production and Animation, coordinating between multiple groups to identify, research and prevent possible future bugs through multiple design changes and ensure complete testing coverage
  • Performed as the main actor in all Battlefield: Hardline multiplayer trailers.

Education

High school diploma -

Sir John Talbot's School

NVQ in food and drinks manufacture -

Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology

Skills

  • Superb Attention to Detail
  • Proficient in the use of Maya 2022, Perforce and APE
  • Performance Optimization
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Teamwork and Cooperation

Games Shipped as Associate Technical Artist

  • Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
  • Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
  • Call of Duty Vanguard (Hybrid Role)

Games Shipped as Quality Assurance

  • Sims 3DS
  • Battlefield 3
  • Battlefield 4
  • Battlefield Hardline
  • Star Wars Battlefront
  • Call of Duty Vanguard (Hybrid Role)

Personal Interests and Hobbies

  • Avid practitioner of Archery for the past 30 plus years.
  • Building and flying racing drones with Bryan Little.
  • Assembling and maintaining my own and my families gaming PC's.
  • Intermediary practitioner of Historical European Martial Arts.
  • Modeling and painting miniatures mostly Warhammer 40,000.

Timeline

Associate Technical Artist

Sledgehammer Games
05.2021 - 01.2024

Quality Assurance

Sledgehammer Games
12.2019 - 05.2021

Sr Live Ops Quality Analyst

Machine Zone
12.2019 - 05.2020

Sr Quality Analyst

Trion Worlds
04.2015 - 10.2018

Quality Analyst

Electronic Arts
03.2010 - 03.2015

High school diploma -

Sir John Talbot's School

NVQ in food and drinks manufacture -

Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology

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Aaron Broster