James Bates

Creative Developer | Game Developer

Hey! I'm James, a creative developer passionate about crafting immersive digital experiences through game development. With a blend of technical skills and artistic vision, I transform complex coding challenges into engaging interactive worlds that captivate players and push the boundaries of interactive storytelling. My work combines innovative design, sophisticated programming techniques, and a deep love for creating memorable gaming experiences that connect with audiences on an emotional level.

Skills

Technology

  • Unity

  • Unreal

  • C#

  • AR/VR

  • Hardware integration

  • Mobile apps

Collaboration

  • Agile workflow

  • Prototyping

  • Project planning

  • Scoping

  • Team culture

  • Agile workflow

  • Prototyping

  • Project planning

  • Scoping

Design

  • Adobe Photoshop

  • Adobe Premiere Pro

  • Adobe After Effects

  • Figma

  • Miro

  • 3D Texture making

  • UI/UX

  • Ideation

3D

  • Maya

  • Substance Painter

  • Blender

  • Modelling

  • Animations

  • Lighting

  • Rigging

  • Motion Capture

With five years of experience in creative agencies complemented by a Master's degree in Computer Games Design, I have developed comprehensive expertise in game development. My professional journey in dynamic, innovation-driven environments has honed my proficiency across the entire game production pipeline. This encompasses initial concept development, product design and implementation, through to post-launch support and lifecycle management. I maintain a commitment to technological advancement, continuously expanding my knowledge to optimize game development processes. Through collaboration with cross-functional teams of varying scales, I have cultivated strong interpersonal and project coordination abilities, enabling seamless product development and delivery.

Projects

JBL Arcade Games

The goal

JBL, a global leader in audio technology, sought to develop an innovative marketing activation that would simultaneously engage consumers and highlight the superior audio quality of its product line. The campaign concept centered on an interactive arcade booth featuring custom-designed endless runner games, strategically placed in prominent electronics retailers across Europe, such as MediaMarkt.

This immersive experience would serve dual strategic objectives: first, to create an engaging competition platform that offers participants the opportunity to win tickets to premier music festivals, and second, to provide a hands-on demonstration of JBL's cutting-edge headphones and speakers. By allowing customers to experience the brand's audio performance through interactive gameplay, JBL aimed to create a memorable and compelling marketing touchpoint that goes beyond traditional product demonstrations.

My Contribution

As a key developer on the JBL interactive arcade project, I was responsible for designing and implementing the endless runner game variants within the Unity game engine. My role encompassed translating design specifications into robust game mechanics, ensuring a seamless and engaging user experience across multiple iterations of the interactive booth installation.

The technical development involved intricate game logic implementation, strategic asset optimization, and comprehensive asset management. I meticulously adapted both 2D and 3D assets to create scalable and visually consistent game environments that could be efficiently replicated across different booth locations. This required careful consideration of performance optimization and visual fidelity.

Additionally, I developed a sophisticated deployment framework that enabled multi-language support and sophisticated analytics tracking. The system was designed to capture user engagement metrics and localization data specific to each installation site, providing JBL with valuable insights into the marketing activation's performance across different European markets.

Employment: OMM

The International Rugby Experience, located in Limerick, Ireland, stands as a comprehensive tribute to the rich heritage and dynamic spirit of rugby. Commissioned to create an immersive and educational interactive experience, our team at OMM developed a series of innovative digital installations designed to engage visitors and celebrate the nuanced skills that define exceptional rugby players.

We conceptualized and executed five distinct interactive activities that comprehensively assess and showcase various rugby-specific abilities. These meticulously crafted experiences were strategically designed to both entertain and educate visitors, allowing them to explore and evaluate their potential as rugby athletes through engaging, skill-based challenges.

International Rugby Experience

The goal

My Contribution

As the primary Unity developer for the project, I played a critical role in architecting and implementing a comprehensive suite of four interactive applications designed to capture user data through diverse hardware interfaces. My responsibilities extended beyond traditional development, encompassing strategic project structuring, technical coordination, and on-site hardware integration.

Working collaboratively with a distributed team of developers, I facilitated a cohesive development approach where remote team members focused on visual design and game logic, while I specialized in hardware interfacing and Unity implementation. This collaborative model allowed for efficient workflow optimization and ensured seamless technical integration across the application ecosystem.

Employment: OMM

Nike - Keeps You Cool & Dry Experiential

The goal

Nike sought to create an innovative marketing activation that would highlight the advanced technical capabilities of their Dri-Fit ADV material, specifically designed for the UEFA Euro 2024 football kits. The strategic initiative centered on developing two immersive, interactive installations within the Nike Town London flagship store, engineered to demonstrate the material's key performance attributes of moisture management and thermal regulation. To achieve this, we at OMM created the digital elements, whilst collaborating with MoveAi to leverage their motion-tracking technology.

My Contribution

As the creative developer for the "Keeping You Cool" interactive experience, I collaborated closely with a fellow developer within Unreal Engine 5 to create an innovative motion-tracking avatar demonstration. The installation was designed to showcase Nike's Dri-Fit ADV material's performance capabilities through a dynamic, user-interactive visualization.

We integrated MoveAi's motion-tracking technology to create a real-time avatar that precisely mimics user movements, with accompanying visual transformations that illustrate the material's cooling and performance attributes. My primary technical responsibility focused on system integration, connecting the motion-tracking functionality with the experience's visual components.

This collaborative approach proved strategically advantageous, allowing me to dedicate concentrated effort to refining the technical logic and ensuring seamless hardware integration. The development process involved meticulous calibration and optimization of the interactive installation, addressing the complex challenges of on-site hardware setup and performance consistency.

The result was a technically sophisticated and engaging interactive experience that effectively communicated the advanced technological features of Nike's performance apparel, transforming product demonstration into an immersive, personalized interaction.

Employment: OMM

Contact me

Interested in working together? Fill out some info and I will be in touch shortly. Can’t wait to hear from you!