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Ryan Westwood

Game Developer / Software Engineer

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About Me

I'm a Software Engineer and Technical Team Lead specializing in platform automation, quality engineering, test strategy, and scalable release-validation infrastructure. At Lutron, I lead a support team that enables four System Assurance teams through technical leadership, cross-team enablement, and the design of shared CI/CD platforms, hardware farms, and test frameworks.

I focus on transforming manual release processes into reliable, high-availability engineering services. One of my largest initiatives reduced a device-package sign-off from approximately 140 engineer-days and one month of elapsed turnaround to one engineer-day with next-day results.

Experience

Lutron

Engineering Technician (Technical Team Lead)

  • Architected a decentralized, highly available hardware farm and CI/CD platform that automated 95% of device-package validation, reducing a 28-device sign-off from approximately 140 engineer-days and one month of turnaround to one engineer-day with next-day results.
  • Introduced scheduled staging environments that increased development throughput from approximately 5 to 50 tests per day and restored testing availability during release-validation Thursdays.
  • Enabled unattended validation of up to 20 devices concurrently, expanding hardware testing from 2-3 annual device sign-offs to weekly execution capability and development-team pull requests.
  • Planned, designed, and delivered the organization's first end-to-end BACnet regression and integration testing platform, introducing hundreds of automated tests running daily and at every release sign-off.
  • Defined the test-framework architecture and built a schema-driven packet-generation library that replaced approximately 60 manual dictionary operations per test and reduced protocol-test authoring from days to minutes.
  • Led a large-scale test-architecture refactor across 9 developers, defining test strategy and standardizing coding practices, workflows, and reusable validation patterns.
  • Developed a centralized REST API for hardware orchestration, eliminating USB contention and supporting scalable multi-executor test infrastructure.
  • Redesigned the automation repository and removed approximately 90% of dead or unused code, replacing tribal knowledge with navigable architecture and documented onboarding.

Rebellion

Software Engineer

  • Implemented and optimized AI-driven gameplay features in a proprietary engine, improving enemy behaviors through production development and cross-discipline iteration.

Double Eleven

Software Engineer

  • Shipped gameplay improvements, platform-specific optimizations, bug fixes, and boss-mechanic enhancements for Minecraft Dungeons.
  • Used profiling and performance-analysis tools to evaluate gameplay systems, identify bottlenecks, and maintain performance targets.

Projects

BuildBuddy

Meet BuildBuddy, a streamlined project providing tailored Windows and Linux images and containers for self-hosted GitHub Actions. Focused on C/C++ projects utilizing CMake, Ninja, MSVC, GCC, and Clang, BuildBuddy enhances continuous integration while simplifying the build process for developers.

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Carlo's Dungeon Crusade

Introducing "Carlo's Dungeon Crusade", a 2D action-adventure game in C++ featuring Carlo, who conquers dungeon adversaries with four abilities. Engage in strategic combat against Bob and Paul, utilizing advanced AI techniques: Finite State Machines and Behaviour Trees with dynamic pathfinding. Built on Windows and Linux, this project showcases agile development, seamless integration with AI libraries, SDL and BuildBuddy, a custom CI solution for streamlined C/C++ builds.

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RenderBolt

This project showcases a versatile software renderer, skillfully integrating raytracing, rasterization, and multi-threading for direct scene comparison. Efficiency is enhanced through spatial data structures, binary tree serialization, and .OBJ/.MTL file parsing. The renderer demonstrates a strong grasp of C++ and a dedication to optimizing performance, with impressive render times achieved through multi-threading and bounding volume hierarchy.

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Unrealistic Engine 5

Unrealistic Engine 5 is a C++ project designed for university to showcase advanced graphics techniques using OpenGL. It has a robust ECS system, dynamic billboards, an immersive skybox, and an intuitive GUI. The engine supports seamless model loading and offers a smooth first-person camera experience. It compiles on both Windows and Linux, for cross-platform support.

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Wrath Of The Dead

A captivating 2D survival game developed using C++ and SDL2, showcasing expertise in game programming and creative design. The player's objective is to protect a central well from relentless zombie hordes, utilizing A* pathfinding for strategic gameplay. Health potions, essential for survival, add depth to the experience. Key features include animations, collision detection, optimization, and a dynamic UI, demonstrating a solid grasp of file I/O, checksum, scene management, sound integration, and achievements.

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Viking Village

In this project, I used Unity and FMOD to craft an immersive audio experience for a Viking village by the ocean. The environment is filled with dynamic sounds, from taverns and workshops to wildlife, windmills, fires, and crashing waves. FMOD’s real-time adaptive audio enhances the atmosphere, reacting to player actions and changes in the environment, creating an authentic, living world that draws players deeper into the Viking setting.

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Invaders From Outerspace

Introducing my first-ever C++ project, "Invaders From Outerspace," where I recreated the iconic arcade game. This 2D action game features engaging gameplay, sound effects, leaderboards, and an intuitive user interface. This project showcases my initial attempt at C++ game development, allowing players to experience a nostalgic classic with modern enhancements.

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Cuboid

Cuboid is an engaging infinite runner web game, leveraging Node.js and SQL for secure user registration and authentication. Players control a cube, skillfully dodging dynamically colored enemy cubes using the Colour API.

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AI Library

Introducing a cutting-edge C++ library, built with CMake and leveraging GitHub Actions for seamless CI/CD. Designed for game development, this robust solution empowers you with efficient pathfinding algorithms, versatile finite state machines, and dynamic behaviour trees. Accelerate your workflow and achieve exceptional results.

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FFXIV Rotation Teacher

FFXIV Rotation Tool is a Python application designed to help players of the popular MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV), learn effective rotations for different characters in boss fights. This tool automates the process of gathering player-used rotations and presents them to the user in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand format.

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Credits

Minecraft Dungeons

Fight your way through an exciting action-adventure game, inspired by classic dungeon crawlers and set in the Minecraft universe!

Outstanding Graduate Of The Year

The TIGA Awards celebrate innovation, technical excellence, and educational contributions within the UK game development industry, with a particular focus on recognizing exceptional graduates. My achievements demonstrate a strong ability to develop impactful, cutting-edge solutions, reflecting the expertise and creativity that align with the values celebrated by TIGA.

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Birmingham City University

During my time at university, I developed a multi-threaded optimization for rendering. I also gave a presentation on optimizing code by making algorithms cache-correct, memory-efficient, and using loop unrolling, with benchmarks to demonstrate effectiveness. Lastly, I created template GitHub repositories with C++ libraries built and linked correctly via CMake, which lecturers provided to students in future years to streamline project setup. All three contributions were preserved by the lecturers for future use, ensuring they continued to benefit students year after year.

Skills

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