AJ Smith
Game Producer
Insatiable hunger for big problems and a keen wit for putting out fires
Once reduced a 3-year-long backlog of work down to 6 months by creating a new JIRA workflow from scratch!
4 YEARS EXPERIENCE | 2 RELEASED TITLES
RELEASED TITLES
Five Nights at Freddy's:
Security Breach RUIN
horror, survival, puzzle
Associate Producer
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Acted as a liaison between the external audio team and internal teams, streamlining processes and communications on timeline expectations for deliverables based on milestones and publisher expectations.
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Audio and Gameplay
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Audio and Narrative
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Audio and Level Design
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Audio and Engineering
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Identified the need for a pipeline for the UX/UI departments, presented and implemented a new process to ensure clarity of ownership between departments for a more successful collaboration.
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Triaged bugs, identified priorities and allocated resources based on risk and labor intensity and management.
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Utilized JIRA to track where projects were regarding completion and scheduling work to match timelines.
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Recorded sessions with voiceover talent, marking takes then delivering recordings to audio team and engineering team for processing and implementation.
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Took notes on recording takes
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Audio file delivery
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Suggested changes in live recording session to solve problems (i.e. awkward sentence structure)
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Served as the key point of contact for collecting and disseminating information on key changes and business decisions.
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Managed source control for the narrative team
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Updating the script to match changes made during gameplay and level design iterations, during VO sessions
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Updating the script to match player cues
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Alerted writers to narrative/gameplay inconsistencies
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Assigned asset IDs to lines
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Liaised for localization teams, communicating subtle cultural concepts
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Managed subtitle pipeline
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Generated subtitle lines
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Wrote utterances
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Determined timing length
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My proudest scene:
Use the arrows to navigate between pictures.
Click on the selected image to blow it up.
(Don't worry, it'll survive!)
Frankenfur!
horror, comedy, strategy, tabletop, S.T.E.A.M.
Director
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Project manager from concept to publication
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Spearheaded the asset creation process, working with artists and designers, collaborating on content, and tracking the progress of 100+ individual cards.
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Researched manufacturing options, accessing both cost and quality, ensuring the product remains budget friendly without sacrificing the integrity of the final product.
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Served as the project manager for Frankenfur! managing the development timeline, production budget and quality, ensuring the end product was ready for conventions.
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Identified and researched gaming conventions both locally and nationally to choose opportunities to best bring attention to the product, managing the cost-benefit analysis, engagement rates, supply procurement, travel, and stock logistics.
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Organized and operated tournaments for gameplay, teaching new players rules and strategies while engaging consistent players and serving as referee.
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Managed marketing posts and customer engagement on social media, tracking SEO and engagements, bringing attention to the product, and ensuring a positive customer experience.
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Designed the product packaging, cards, and SKU for Frankenfur!
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Sold through 33%+ of first run stock within the first year of operations.
DEVELOPING TITLES
Frankenfur! Chapter 2
horror, comedy, strategy, tabletop, S.T.E.A.M.
Director
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Directing Kickstarter campaign
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Timeline planning
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Tier rewards design and costing out
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Stretch goal budgeting
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Creating marketing assets to feature in the Kickstarter campaign to teach the game's value to an audience and why they will want to get involved
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Planning social media marketing campaigns
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Collaborating with external vendors to explore manufacturing options and costs
LoveTap!
sex comedy, romance, drama, puzzle
Director
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Writing and directing sequences for cutscenes and overarching, nonlinear plot
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Writing and managing scripts
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Filtering auditions for VO
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Managing documentation for puzzle diagrams
Originally inspired by classic adventure series Leisure Suit Larry and media that combines live action and traditional animation, LoveTap! is a sex comedy point-and-click adventure puzzler and has come into an identity all of its own.
The backbone of LoveTap!'s development is love for its source material and the industry that produces it. From obvious pop culture references (Kooky Kookaburra alluding to Who Framed Roger Rabbit) to deep cuts (Vivi alluding to Volere Volare), LoveTap! presents lovable characters with diverse backgrounds, raunchy yet thoughtful humor, and heartwarming character growth.
LEISURE WORK
Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix - Mega City Blues
fan project, translation, localization
Translator and Localizer
This official supplementary comic book for the Netflix show Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix was only released in France, so I translated it for my own purposes. I ended up loving it so much that I went the extra step and made a fully fleshed out localization guide for other non-French speaking fans to enjoy it as well.
To boot, I don't know a lick of French. This was entirely done through research and reference. When I sourced a native French speaker to proofread my work, and they declared it "practically perfect", and was acknowledged by the director of Captain Laserhawk, Adi Shankar.
You can read the localization guide in its entirety here.