Greetings, Programs! My name is James Ryan. I was born and raised in Colorado in the greater Denver area, where I fostered a love of storytelling through reading books and watching movies. My fascination with the intricacies of visual storytelling that drives movies eventually led me to video games, and I quickly fell in love with the world of interactive entertainment as a mode of storytelling.

I have been writing for as long as I can remember, crafting my own stories as a way to express my existence to the rest of the world. In high school, I discovered public speaking and further honed my ability to articulate my thoughts and perspectives to large groups of people. When I discovered programming just before entering college, I quickly realized that the next step on my storytelling journey was using code to tell stories through games and other interactive experiences.

Although I’ve always lived in Colorado, I love travel and have seen many different sites over the years. I have a great appreciation for the natural splendor of the world we live in, and that awe for beautiful worlds extends to my love of stories. Worlds such as Night City or Bright Falls really resonate with me, with their beauty shining through the foggy air despite unfavorable circumstances.

I graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2023 with a degree in Computer Science, two minors in Film Analysis and Leadership Studies respectively, and a certificate in Leadership in Engineering. I created many a game while pursuing my studies: some text-based, others 2D, a few 3D, and one in VR. More about these projects can be found on my Portfolio page elsewhere on this site. Exploring a wide range of genres and media increased my appreciation and understanding of the development process as a whole.

I briefly worked with the ACME Lab for about half of 2021, where as a Research Associate I worked on an AR Drum Circle for creating jam sessions in real time, as well as creating games that can be played with cardboard via the TinyCade project. Then I found Bolder Games, where I have been working since 2021. I originally was a part of the QA team on a project in collaboration with Walt Disney Imagineering, and since then I’ve gone on to be a technical designer, gameplay scripter, technical project manager, and UI developer across several exciting projects.

In my free time, you can always catch me playing games, watching movies, and reading books. I also love writing short stories whenever time allows. I play tennis whenever time permits, and also enjoy designing, 3D printing, and painting various designs and figures.

C’est tout pour le moment. Thank you for stopping by, and while you’re here, feel free to take a look at the rest of my portfolio to learn more about what I’ve done and what I’m doing! You can also contact me using the link in the top right - I look forward to learning more about you as well!

- James