Steve Rabin

Current

Instructor at DigiPen Institute of Technology
Instructor at University of Washington Extension
Principal Software Engineer at Nintendo of America

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Past

Series Founder and Editor at Charles River Media
Senior Software Engineer at Gas Powered Games
Software Engineer at WizBang Software Productions

Software Engineer at Surreal Software
Game Play Counselor Level III at Nintendo of America

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2 more...

Education

University of Washington
University of Washington

Recommended

6 people have recommended Steve

Connections

370 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

Steve Rabin’s Summary

Steve is a Principal Software Engineer at Nintendo of America, where he researches new techniques for Nintendo’s current and future platforms, architects development tools such as the WiiProfiler, and supports Nintendo developers. Before Nintendo, Steve worked primarily as an AI engineer at several Seattle start-ups including Gas Powered Games, WizBang Software Productions, and Surreal Software. He organized and edited the AI Game Programming Wisdom series of books, the book Introduction to Game Development, and has over a dozen articles published in the Game Programming Gems series. He’s spoken at the AIIDE conference at Stanford, the Game Developers Conference, and numerous Nintendo development conferences in North America and Europe. He organized the two-day AI Summit at GDC 2009 and has moderated the GDC AI roundtables. Steve also founded and manages the professional group known as the AI Game Programmers Guild. Steve teaches artificial intelligence at both the University of Washington Extension and at the DigiPen Institute of Technology. He earned a B.S. in Computer Engineering and a M.S. in Computer Science, both from the University of Washington. Finally, Steve maintains a Website that catalogs over 1000 game development articles at www.introgamedev.com.

Steve Rabin’s Specialties:

Artificial Intelligence, Wii and DS development, optimization, technical editing

Steve Rabin’s Experience

Instructor

DigiPen Institute of Technology

(Educational Institution; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

September 2005 — Present (4 years 3 months)

Instructor for CS380/CS580 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (Spring and Summer semesters). From 2005-2007 co-instructor for GAM300 which is a team-based project class for students in their Junior year.
Instructor

University of Washington Extension

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

January 2004 — Present (5 years 11 months)

Instructor for the Artificial Intelligence class in the Game Development Certificate Program.
Principal Software Engineer

Nintendo of America

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; NTDOY; Computer Games industry)

November 1999 — Present (10 years 1 month)

I research techniques and develop tools for Wii, DS, and next-gen development, as well as provide Wii and DS technical support to Nintendo developers. Developed a statistical sampling profiler known as the Wii Profiler. Presented information to Nintendo developers at the Wii Summit 2008, Wii Developers Conference 2007, and the DS Developers Conference 2005. Over half a dozen patents pending on the Wii Remote, Wii Profiler, and Starlight Fun Center.
Series Founder and Editor

Charles River Media

(Privately Held; Publishing industry)

March 2001 — June 2009 (8 years 4 months)

Edited four books in the AI Game Programming Wisdom series as well as Introduction to Game Development (First and Second editions). This involved soliciting articles, selecting articles, composing guidelines, defining the schedule, overseeing peer reviews, organizing layout, managing section editors, managing authors, and editing each article for grammar, flow, and technical accuracy. Edited a total of 290 articles consisting of over 4000 printed pages.
Senior Software Engineer

Gas Powered Games

(Computer Software industry)

May 1998 — November 1999 (1 year 7 months)

Responsible for AI architecture on Dungeon Siege.
Software Engineer

WizBang Software Productions

(Computer Software industry)

April 1996 — May 1998 (2 years 2 months)

Responsible for AI programming on Activision's HyperBlade and Microsoft Baseball 3D. Developed new game concepts and prototypes for two unreleased games.
Software Engineer

Surreal Software

(Public Company; Computer Software industry)

June 1995 — April 1996 (11 months)

Developed PC-based game editing tool that would later be used as the editor for Drakan: Order of the Flame and other Surreal titles.
Game Play Counselor Level III

Nintendo of America

(Public Company; Computer Software industry)

June 1990 — September 1994 (4 years 4 months)

Provided part-time phone support to game players who needed help with Nintendo and licensee titles (SNES, NES, and GameBoy). Estimated that I spoke with 100,000 game players during my time with Nintendo.

Steve Rabin’s Education

University of Washington

Masters , Computer Science , 2002 — 2005

GPA 3.61
University of Washington

B.S. , Computer Engineering , 1991 — 1996

GPA 3.65, cum laude

Activities and Societies:

Founded and organized SIG for video game development, consisting of programmers and artists (12 members). Held weekly meetings for a little over a year.

Additional Information

Steve Rabin’s Websites:

Steve Rabin’s Groups:

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), AIAS Visual Engineering Peer Review Panel, International Game Developers Association (IGDA), IGDA Eric Dybsand Memorial AI Scholarship Review Panel