Curriculum Vitae : Tytn Hays

Dairy Farm Lodge, Fowlmere Road, Newton, Cambridgeshire, CB22 7PQ ~ 07841 398456 ~ tytn@tytn.org.uk

Profile: A creative, self-motivated and technically skilled Games Designer most recently employed by Jagex Ltd as a Lead Developer to manage a team of ten developers and write interactive content for ‘Runescape’. I have a proven and broad range of creative, IT and interpersonal skills.

Employment History

September 2008 – November 2010 : Jagex Ltd, Cambridge : Lead Developer (Runescape)

In 2008 I became a Lead Developer at Jagex, a role which involved organising my time between half content development and half line management duties leading a team of ten developers. I regularly held one to one meetings with my team members, sharing responsibility for project time-costings and overall project success. I also took part in weekly management meetings flagging issues and feeding back to my team on company wide updates.

Outside of work I use Unreal Development Kit to improve my abilities with industry standard tools; I've become familiar with the Editor, Unreal Kismet and Matinee. I've also used Hammer and the Fallout 3 : G.E.C.K.

Skills/qualifications:

  • Spearheading accurate project time-costing and better reporting on development milestones.

  • Line management for a team of 10; updating holidays, sickness and disciplinary issues.

  • Conducting one to one reviews, allocating quarterly scores and making remuneration recommendations.

  • Making department wide process improvements based on team feedback and analysis.

  • Team leadership; process change recommendations getting buy-in from my team and from senior management.

  • Time management and organisation; developing content while managing a team

April 2002 – 2008 : Jagex Ltd : SeniorContent Developer (Runescape)

Story writer and content developer for the massively multi-player on-line role-playing game, “Runescape” (www.Runescape.com). With over 1 million active members, Runescape is one of the most popular MMORPG's in the world.

I was responsible for creating content for this highly successful game. Usually this focused on designing and writing Quests; including storylines and characters, but I was also responsible for a number of skills in the game. The game world is highly detailed and the player base is incredibly focused on every update; it was always critical to get balancing and storyline elements absolutely correct.

Runescape uses a bespoke scripting language which is being constantly improved and allows for very detailed control over all elements of the game. There is added complexity in that any player can do anything at any time. On launch day there can be as many as two thousand players taking part in the same quest on the same server at the same time; I was also involved in testing and optimising the scripts to ensure that players were getting the best from the game either as a single player experience or with thousands of other players.

I started at Jagex as employee number eight and have helped the player subscriptions go from 20,000 to over 1 million within a period of two years.

Skills/qualifications:

  • Scripting of quests involving NPC dialogue and behaviour; entity interaction and balancing of content against player abilities.

  • Designing and implementing complex puzzles, action set-pieces and boss fights as part of a compelling narrative.

  • Analysis and understanding of in-game mechanics, especially the ability to take feedback on my own work and make adjustments.

  • Document production – from design brief, graphics and audio requirements to area custodian and story development.

  • Experience with in-house world and model editing tools.

June 1998 – April 2002 : Creature Labs Ltd, Cambridge : Customer support manager.

Technical software support and QA testing for leading Artificial Life computer games development company. Providing support for all software releases and assisting online store customers. Primary responses were through e-mail, telephone, fax and mail queries so communication was a key requirement in this role. Updating and maintaining the Creature Labs support website including FAQ’s, Troubleshooting guides and administration of the on-line support database was also one of my responsibilities.

Skills/qualifications:

  • Basic 3D skills, Lightwave & 3D Studio Max, Photoshop.

  • Dreamweaver, HTML and FTP, PERL scripting.

  • Game community support experience.

  • Advanced Outlook, Excel and Word.

Educational Background / Qualifications

Sept 1999 – June 2001 : Cambridge Regional College, King Hedges Road, Cambridge

Day release course lasting two years studying a BTEC HNC in Visual Communication. The course combines best elements of commercial graphic design with focus on creative development inspired by a fine art approach.

Skills/qualifications:

  • BTEC HNC Visual Communication

  • Freehand

  • Dreamweaver

  • 3D development with mixed media.

  • PhotoShop

Sept 1994 – June 1995 : Handsworth Community Project, Video Production Course

Short term Employment Training course which focused on video production techniques especially lighting and video recording.

Jan 1994 – July 1994 : BBC Pebble Mill and CSV Media

Employment training position on the “Good Morning with Anne and Nick” program, answering calls from viewers, taking notes and editing viewer feedback before it was sent to the production floor for transmission. Also passed the City and Guilds Journalism and Media techniques qualification.

Aug 1992 – July 1993 : Apex Trust, Coventry

Employment Training course focusing on 35mm photography and graphic design. I also studied and passed A-level Art as a night course.

Oct 1991 – July 1992 : North Warwickshire College of Technology and Art, Nuneaton

Work Experience placement on the Audio Visual course as department technician. Assisting students with technical issues, setting up SVHS edit suites for remote live video recording and mixing.

Skills/qualifications:

  • Assembling edit suites

  • Assisting lecturers and students

  • 35 mm and medium format photography

  • Database creation and administration

  • 3D and animation for video effects

Sept 1986 – June 1989 : North Warwickshire College of Technology and Art, Nuneaton

Full time course in Audio Visual Design concentrating on Video and Audio Production, Graphic Design and Photography.

Skills/qualifications:

  • BTEC OND Design in Audio Visual Merit

  • ‘O’ Level Design

  • ‘O’ Level English Language

  • Video editing

  • 35mm Photography

  • Graphic Design

  • Video Production

Hobbies Interests:

I'm a keen runner and have recently completed my first Marathon. I'm also an enthusiastic and experienced photographer. I've recently taken up archery and joined the City of Cambridge Bowmen. Favourite games include Portal, Tomb Raider series and epic role-playing games like Fallout 3. I also play real time strategy game 'Supreme Commander' competitively online gaining a top 200 rank. I'm also an avid film fan and created the 'Cambridge Film Club' group on Facebook, which allows Cambridge film fans to meet up, see films together and discuss.


Contact details:


Address : Tytn Hays, Dairy Farm Lodge, Fowlmere Road, Newton, Cambridgeshire. CB22 7PQ.

Mobile : (07841) 398456

E-mail : tytn@tytn.org.uk


Page 2 of 2