Founder of Gendai Games LLC
Austin, Texas Area
- Current
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- Faculty at DeVry University
- Founder at Gendai Games LLC
- Past
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- Graduate Student at Carnegie Mellon University
- Software Engineer, Intern at Three Rings Design
- Software Engineer, Intern at Apple Computer
- Class Instructor at Austin Community College
- Game Programmer at Edge of Reality
- Education
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- Carnegie Mellon University
- The University of Texas at Austin
- Recommended
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6 people have recommended Michael - Connections
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500+
connections
- Industry
- Computer Games
- Websites
Michael Agustin’s Summary
An American-born Filipino, Michael Agustin grew up in the grand old state of Texas, where he developed a passion for not only playing games, but creating them. Driven by a childlike curiosity and the need to innovate, he aspires to breathe life into interactive entertainment and enrich the human experience.
Michael received his BA in Computer Science with a Minor in Business from The University of Texas at Austin. While there, he founded the Electronic Game Developers Society, a student organization for professional game development.
He also became an avid photographer and graphic designer, and he soon began to appreciate the form and function of a good Mac.
Upon completing his undergraduate degree, he worked for the console developer Edge of Reality, writing games for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and XBox. He then received a prestigious internship at Apple Computer, within their Platform Experience Group, where he worked on Mac OS X Leopard.
During his time with the Entertainment Technology Center, Michael helped to pioneer the ETC in Adelaide, Australia as a TA for its inaugural class. There, he co-led a team to explore the innovative technique known as Game Sketching, a design process and toolset for game pre-production.
He was then hired as an intern at the swashbuckling online game company known as Three Rings Design, the makers of Puzzle Pirates, Bang! Howdy, and Whirled. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon with a Masters of Entertainment Technology, Michael went to found Gendai Games LLC, which is determined to be a "new kind of game company".
Michael Agustin’s Specialties:
game programming, game design, human-computer interfaces, tools, artificial intelligence, computer graphics, C++, C, Objective-C, Java, Cocoa, Lua, Ruby, Python, Lisp, Melscript, Maya, Photoshop, Illustrator
Michael Agustin’s Experience
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Faculty
DeVry University
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; DV; Higher Education industry)
October 2007 — Present (10 months)
I teach the Game Design course at the Austin campus.
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Founder
Gendai Games LLC
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Games industry)
April 2007 — Present (1 year 4 months)
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Graduate Student
Carnegie Mellon University
(Educational Institution; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)
August 2005 — May 2007 (1 year 10 months)
The Entertainment Technology Center is an interdisciplinary, projects-based Masters program offered at Carnegie Mellon University, whose focus is to train graduate students for competitive and highly technical positions in the entertainment industries such as game development, movies, and location-based entertainment.
At the ETC, Michael has been involved in the following projects:
Game Sketching is a research project to develop tools and techniques to quickly and cheaply "sketch" the essential experience of a game design. A sketch is to a game what an animatic is to a movie.
Panda3D is an open-source game engine jointly developed by Disney and the ETC. Michael designed and developed a new level editor for the engine.
Building Virtual Worlds (BVW) is a project course where interdisciplinary teams build immersive and interactive virtual worlds using unconventional user interfaces. Michael served as Producer, Designer, Artist (and sometimes Programmer) on the worlds. -
Software Engineer, Intern
Three Rings Design
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Games industry)
January 2007 — April 2007 (4 months)
Programmed gameplay for an online strategy game called "Bang! Howdy"
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Software Engineer, Intern
Apple Computer
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AAPL; Computer Software industry)
June 2005 — August 2005 (3 months)
Michael worked on Carbon / Cocoa interoperability and other top secret projects for Apple's next generation operating system Mac OS X. Carbon is the transitioning API for the OS used by Microsoft and Adobe. Cocoa is Apple's modern object-oriented framework for developing applications.
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Class Instructor
Austin Community College
(Educational Institution; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)
January 2005 — March 2005 (3 months)
Michael designed & taught a Continuing Education class using Python for non-CS students.
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Game Programmer
Edge of Reality
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)
January 2003 — October 2004 (1 year 10 months)
Pitfall: The Lost Expedition (PS2, GC, XB)
In Pitfall, players assume the role of Pitfall Harry collecting treasures and rescuing his fellow explorers lost deep in the dangerous Peruvian Jungle. From evil henchmen and wiry natives to spiny porcupines and deadly crocodiles, our hero must avoid a slew of treacherous obstacles. As a game programmer, Michael designed and implemented AI for Harry's adversaries and mini-games in the Native Olympics. He also wrote a Visual Editor to aid in the creation of enemy AI that would be used in future game titles.
Shark Tale: The Game (PS2, GC, XB)
Based on the DreamWorks animated film, Shark Tale the game takes players on an adventure as the infamous Oscar the fish. With a blend of original and film-inspired gameplay, players immerse themselves in the gritty environments of Reef City and music from the film's soundtrack. As a game programmer, Michael designed and implemented the camera system, scripting API, HUD, and various gameplay features.
Michael Agustin’s Education
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Carnegie Mellon University
MET, Entertainment Technology, 2005 — 2007
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The University of Texas at Austin
BA, Computer Science, 1998 — 2002
- Activities and Societies:
- Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), Electronic Game Developers Society (EGaDS!), Filipino Students Association (FSA), International Game Developers Society (IGDA), MacATX (Macintosh Users Group)
Additional Information
Michael Agustin’s Websites:
Michael Agustin’s Interests:
photography, graphic design, web design, game design, interaction design, traveling, business, social media, user experience design, entrepreneurship, industrial design
Michael Agustin’s Groups:
International Game Developers Association (IGDA),
Austin Game Developers (AGD),
Electronic Game Developers Society (EGaDS!),
Texas-Exes (University of Texas Alumni Organization),
Entertainment Technology Center Alumni,
Carnegie Mellon Alumni,
CocoaHeads,
Digital Media Council
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International Game Developers Association member -
Austin High-Tech member -
Casual Games member -
Apple - Current and Former Employees member
Michael Agustin’s Honors:
Apple WWDC Scholarship 2005, 2006, 2007
Michael Agustin’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
