About me - Noel Llopis
I've been working in the games industry for almost ten years, although I've been doing game development of some sort ever since I first came in contact with a computer. I cut my teeth on an Amstrad CPC, first with Basic and then quickly using Z80 assembly (here's a game that I almost got published back in those days). However, I continued studying instead of working in games full time.
A bunch of years and a few university degrees later, I decided that enough was enough and jumped ship to the games industry. After a few years working for companies like Day 1 Studios or High Moon Studios, I finally get to live my dream of starting my own company, Power of Two Games, with my friend Charles Nicholson. We're hoping that two guys in a closet can still make a splash in the game development scene.
The published games I've worked on include:- Darkwatch (PS2, Xbox) (2005)
- MechAssault 2 (Xbox) (2004)
- MechAssault (Xbox) (2002)
- Battleship: Surface Thunder (PC) (2000)
- Missile Command (PC, PSX) (1999)
I am an avid reader and I'm constantly reading any technical books and magazines that come into my hands. Maybe because of that, I also like to give back as much as possible so I try to contribute to the game development community by writing and giving presentations.
Books:- "Stay in the Game: Asset Hotloading for Fast Iteration" (with Charles Nicholson), Game Programming Gems 6, Charles River Media, 2006.
- Five chapters on programming and architecture for Introduction to Game Development, Charles River Media, 2005.
- "The Clock: Keeping Your Finger on the Pulse of the Game," Game Programming Gems 4, Charles River Media, 2004.
- "The Beauty of Weak References and Null Objects," Game Programming Gems 4, Charles River Media, 2004.
- C++ for Game Programmers, Charles River Media, 2003.
- "Adding Deprecation Facilities to C++," Game Programming Gems 2, Charles River Media, 2002.
- "Programming with Abstract Interfaces," Game Programming Gems 2, Charles River Media, 2002.
- "A Day in the Life", Game Developer Magazine, Career Guide 2005
- "Optimizing the Content Pipeline", Game Developer Magazine, April 2004
- Several product reviews in Game Developer Magazine
- Agile Game Development: Tales From The Trenches, Montréal Game Summit 2006
- Agile Game Development: Tales From The Trenches, Gamefest 2006
- Using Scrum and XP to Develop Games, XP San Diego, 2006
- Backwards Is Forward: Making Better Games With Test-Driven Development, Game Developers Conference 2006
- Adopting Middleware: What's Holding Us Back?, Game Developers Conference, 2005
- Agile Game Development: Dealing with Chaos in the Real World (pdf), Montréal Game Summit 2004
- By the Books: Solid Software Engineering for Games, Game Developers Conference 2004
- By the Books: Solid Software Engineering for Games, Game Developers Conference 2003
- By the Books: Solid Software Engineering for Games, Game Developers Conference 2002
When I'm not working (or writing about game development) I like getting out and enjoying the fresh air and doing physical exercise. I'm really enjoying the weather and activities here in San Diego and I'm constantly road cycling, hiking, running, mountain biking, or playing ultimate frisbee. Of course, I also have my share of geek hobbies, including writing software in my spare time, and playing all sorts of games (computer, consoles, board, cards, etc).
Noel Llopis
Email: llopis (at) convexhull (dot) com













