top of page

Resume

Chris Wren

1302 Whitegate Avenue

San Jose, California 95125

 

Email: chris@wrenar.com | Website: www.wrenar.com | Phone: (510) 205-3597

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

 

ULTRAHAPTICS

Palo Alto, CA

Senior Solutions Engineer

July 2017 – Present

 

Lead US development of cutting edge AR/VR prototypes and demos to showcase Ultrahaptics’ mid-air haptic technology. Unity-based development for clients and marketing/trade shows targeting Location Based Entertainment, Social, Automotive, Digital Signage sectors.

 

Recent Projects:

 

WREN AR LLC

Alexandria, VA

CEO/Founder

2014 - 2017

 

Formed in 2014 to develop cutting edge AR/VR interfaces and interactive platforms

 

Recognition:

  • 2017 Grand Prize Winner Usens Developer Contest. I made a demo called “Monster Shop” which allows players to make their own monsters and interact with them using their hands and the USens hand tracking system in the HTC Vive. $50,000 Grand Prize awarded at AWE 2017.

 

Projects:

Skills:

  • 12 +  years AAA Game Industry Art & Production experience

  • 7 + years Current Gen VR/AR Development Expertise

  • Platforms: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, GearVR, Google Cardboard/Daydream, Android

  • UX & Interface Design/Scripting for VR/AR

  • Unity Expert(10 yrs)  / experience with all major game engines

  • C#, Unityscript, UNet, Photon Proficiency

  • Gesture-Based VR/AR Interactivity(Leap Motion, Tobii, USens, Nod, Kinect)

  • Custom VR and AR hardware rigs

  • AR prototyping with Metaio/Vuforia/ARToolkit

Recent Talks/Demos:

  • AWE 2017 - Beyond the Hands Talk

  • ECGC 2017 VR Peripehrals

  • ECGC 2016 – WrenAR VR Paint Demo at Expo

  • GDC 2016 – SVVR VR Mixer Rainbow Jellies Demo

  • ACM SIGGRAPH (DC Chapter), October 2016 – AR/VR presentation and demo

  • Aug 2016  – U.S. Congress VR Day – Rainbow Jellies Demo

  • DCVR 2015-7  – Demo and panels on developing VR interfaces in Unity

  • NPRA 2016 - Hosted Pokemon Go Webinar for national parks association

  • BaltimoreVR VR Expo 2016 - Wren's Quality Kicks Demo

  • Alexandria VR - Wren’s Quality Kicks Demo

  • District Arcade 2016 - Wren's Quality Kicks Demo

  • February 2015 – Hosted Chicago AR Meetup (sponsored by Patched Reality)

  • AWE 2015 – hosted a talk on advanced AR interactivity

  • DCIFF 2015 – Game Tech for Movies seminar

 

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

Fairfax, VA

Term Professor

2008-2017

 

Responsible for Instruction and Curriculum Design in the Computer Game Design Program

Curriculum Design/Instruction:

  • Founding Member of the Undergraduate and Graduate Game Design programs

  • Designed and Instructed a majority of the courses for this program early on

  • Now focused on upper division and Graduate level design, VR, and production coursework

  • Program is 8 years old, over 200 majors, 100 minors and over 700 students total

 

Other Duties/Service:

  • Faculty Moderator of GADIG (Game Design Student Group)

  • Outreach Committee Chair

  • Curriculum Committee Member

  • Member of the CGD Executive Advisory Board

  • Dean’s Committee

  • Research Council

 

BANDAI NAMCO

Santa Clara, CA

Senior Producer

2004-2007

 

Head of Business/Production for the PC division of NBGA

  • Including 2 AAA PC titles started in 2004 and completed in 2006

    • Notably Warhammer: Mark of Chaos RTS for the PC

  • Responsible for expanding NBGA distribution to Europe and Asian markets

    • Developing key partners in both regions to co-publish our products

  • In charge of production of PC development for NBGA

    • Directly managed 3 Producers for various products

    • Scheduling/Budgeting/Balancing P&Ls for projects/department

    • Day to Day management across multiple titles

    • Contract development/negotiations

    • New business prospecting

      • development teams, publishing partners, licensors, technology

  • Built a PC publishing pipeline for Namco including compatibility, localization and manufacturing

    • Expanded PC Division to include Current-Gen Console Development

    • Moved Warhammer franchise and development to the XBOX 360 console

    • Assisting in developing PR and Marketing campaigns/Press conferences/Trade Shows and Interviews

​

MAXIS/ELECTRONIC ARTS

Walnut Creek/Redwood Shores, CA

Producer

2000–2004

 

Creative design and production across multiple titles, exclusively worked on "The Sims" line of products. Working as part of an elite development group, we took the Sims from a moderate success and less than 1 million units sold, to the #1 PC game of all time and over 100 million units sold during my tenure here.

​

Key production and design responsibilities on:

  • Sims Hot Date

  • Sims Vacation

  • Sims Unleashed (Sim of the Year)

  • Sims Online (MMO)

  • Sims 2

  • Sims Bustin' Out (XBOX, PS2, Gamecube)

  • The Urbz: Sims in the City (XBOX, PS2, Gamecube)

Scheduling and Managing:

  • Art

  • Audio

  • Programming

  • Testing

  • Localization

  • Design

 

SPECTRUM HOLOBYTE/MICROPROSE/HASBRO INTERACTIVE

Alameda, CA

Lead Artist

1996–2000

 

Led art development for the Flight Sim group

 

Falcon 4.0 (Sim of the Year) and unreleased sequels for the PC:

  • Managing art schedules

  • Directly overseeing team of 6 artists

  • Providing Art Direction to Flight Sim group

  • Hiring new artists as needed

  • Managing Art pipeline into the game

  • Creating primary artwork and effects

  • Multigen/GameGen (SGI based) graphics tools

  • 3D Studio Max/Photoshop/Debabelizer

 

Star Trek: The Birth of the Federation – Developed special effects artwork

  • phasers/photon torpedoes/shields/battle scarring

 

EDUCATION

 

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

Fairfax, VA

Master of Education(MEd), Curriculum and Instruction

2010– 2013

 

  • Majored in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Instructional Technology

  • 3.97 GPA

 

UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco, CA

Bachelor of Arts(BA), Psychology

1992-1996

 

  • Liberal arts degree in Psychology earned with an emphasis in Brain and Behavior and Cognitive Research

  • Heavy load of computer science and computer networking classes as well

  • Member Psi-Chi (Psych Nat. Honor Soc.)

 

REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

 

 

bottom of page