Resume
Elan is a passionate and self-motivated individual who prides himself on standing up features quickly and executing to a high quality bar, aligning deeply to both project and player needs. His original background in indie development leading his own company gave him a deep skillset in core design craft and technical knowhow, making him a powerful IC in the AAA industry. He is able to tackle complex problems in creative ways, think critically across all game systems, communicate designs clearly and efficiently, and lead multiple cross-discipline teams at once in execution and delivery. At both Riot Games and 343 Industries (now Halo Studios) Elan made waves as a top contributor, highly respected and trusted by his peers to deliver the highest level of value to players and the team.
Elan graduated with two BAs in Media & Information and Music from Michigan State University (MSU) where he trained in Video Game Design and Development. During his time at MSU, he was employed at the Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab (GEL) where he was a project lead and game designer. While in school he worked on over 10 different games with 6 from concept to completion. These games ranged widely in platform and genre and have received multiple awards and acknowledgements.
Upon graduating, Elan founded oddByte LLC along with some fellow graduates from MSU. They spent a year and a half finishing development and releasing Rogues Like Us, a Hack n’ Slash rogue-lite game they had started while still students at MSU. During this year and a half, Rogues Like Us was a two time finalist at the Seattle Indie Game Competition and official selection at the Seattle Indies Expo, GDEX, and SIGGRAPH Indies with Intel.
Soon after founding oddByte, Elan also joined Hashbang Games LLC, and quickly rose to a lead developer position. His work at Hashbang focused on rapid prototyping for client contract games as well as systems design, development, and optimization on all titles.
After releasing his game Rogues Like Us with oddByte and working on multiple contract titles, Elan went on to join 343 Industries as a Sandbox Designer working on equipment such as the Drop Wall, Quantum Translocator, and the iconic Grappleshot, a centerpiece of the both the campaign and multiplier and praised by many as “the best addition to the Halo franchise since the Magnum”.
Following 343 Industries Elan joined the R&D department at Riot Games on an unnanounced FPS title, leading the design and development of foundational combat systems across Abilities, Gunplay, Movement, and the Health and Damage model. Working closely with leadership he developed vision and frameworks for combat, as well as rapidly standing up a multitude of systems and content to experiment and iterate on, delivering to players in playtests. Elan also upheld team direction and playtest culture by managing and running playtests and design discussions on a regular cadence.