john c

founder, lead developer and project manager

John's obsession with gaming began when he was gifted a Nintendo Entertainment System at 3 years old. By 8, he had drawn countless engineering plans, and by 14 he had published multiple websites on the topic of video game level design. By adulthood, John, who earned the nickname "splen" after a snowboarding injury (short for "splenectomy"), had already mastered HTML programming and published several mods and custom levels for a slew of online games. An honors graduate, John entered college early at 17 and took courses in computer science, journalism, advanced mathematics, engineering, economics and business administration. After years programming and QA for big corporate companies, John finally founded SplenSoft in 2019 to fulfill his dream of starting his own development firm. A fierce competitor, "Splen" has won multiple awards as a racer in the space sim Star Citizen and advocates for helping others learn how to be better on the tracks. When he's not coding, you'll find John playing retro games, enjoying a nice jog, or serving up a tennis match.

mack l

developer and QA specialist

A former car mechanic and child youth services specialist, Mack is well-versed at tackling the toughest challenges. His work ethic is second to none, and when you couple this with his feverish desire to reach new heights, its obvious why Mack was chosen to fill the developer role at splensoft. Brilliant and dedicated, Mack handles quality assurance, manages game development assets and is a skilled programmer. His meticulous attention to detail allows our software to meet the demands of the modern world.

preform.io / be.FORE

digital art installation and portfolio website

In this project, SplenSoft was in charge of setting up the code and UI framework for be.Fore, as well as fully developing the logic and laying the groundwork for the preform.io website. Using the Unity engine, be.Fore, which can be experienced online, is a complex, multi-faceted work of art that utilizes Google's MediaPipe to transport the user's image to a surreal visual stage. Among the challenges of this project was conceptualizing the data flow between MediaPipe and Unity, which involves performance friendly serialization from the browser environment to multiple running binaries, and also developing a standalone version of the app that can be used offline. Later in the development, support was added for external stage effect controllers using a NodeJS-powered OSC and HTML server. The preform.io website project was a collaboration between an incredible design team and SplenSoft. Most of the work was bringing mocks to life using HTML, CSS and JavaScript programming, as well as creating a proprietary special effects renderer using WebGL and custom shaders.

SkateBud

skateboarding video game

SkateBud is a unique side-scrolling game that abandons traditional scoring mechanics in favor of artistic expression and chill/psychedelic vibes. It features music from Zach Moldof, the game's brain and artistic director, as well as other nationally known artists. SkateBud as a brand is a west-coast-based skateboarding emporium that features heavily in the local skatepark scene via live events and community involvement. The game is currently available on the Apple App Store.