Hello there.

Jerome Hutson,

Enemy AI Designer

Combat Designer

Technical Designer

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I am an AI Combatant Designer, specializing in behaviors and abilities, with experience on Zenimax Online Studios' now-canceled AAA title. I enjoy the puzzle of taking the systems and mechanics built by engineers and finding unique ways to integrate them, and when there is no perfect piece, I script it myself.

  • Experience
  • Education
January 2024 - October 2025

Associate Combatant Designer

Unannounced (now canceled) AAA MMO

• Owned multiple AI combatants from pitch to "ship" for vertical slice milestone
• Created functional AI behaviors and abilities using hierarchical state machines and visual scripts
• Authored design primers, docs, and phase breakdowns for multiple AI combatant systems
• Provided combatant design perspective feedback in mocap sessions
• "Kit-bashed" existing assets to rapidly prototype new mechanics
• Represented combatant design on multi-disciplinary strike teams

June 2023 - January 2024

Design Intern at Zenimax Online Studios

Unannounced (now canceled) AAA MMO

• Navigated nascent tools to create rapid prototypes of AI combatants in a proprietary, in-development engine
• Paper-designed new combatants, abilities, and weapons
• Completed comp-analyses of competing games' mechanics and features
• Provided feedback on current tools and systems, and wrote requests to expand/introduce new ones

August 2021 - June 2023

Technical Designer (Freelance) at QuadraTron Games

Deeper

• Created AI behaviors for the Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Missile Mage, Fire Mage, Rogue, and Bard using TopDown Engine's AI Brain and custom action and decision C# scripts
• Adapted TopDown Engine's Dialogue zone mechanic to create state-based dialogue quips for the AI characters

Strange Stars

• Scripted the multi-phase boss encounters for Singularity and Nasty & Nastier
• Created AI behaviors for the Grunt, Tank, Jumper, Rogue, Seeker, and Deceptor

2019 - 2022

B.S. in Game Design and Development, Wilmington University

Curriculum consisted of classes in Unity development, C# scripting, Maya 3D modeling, texturing and rigging, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro video editing, After Effects, and screenwriting.

2011 - 2016

B.A. in Liberal Studies, West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Completed minors in Astronomy and Information Technology. Other areas of focus included Japanese language and meteorology.

2013

Study Abroad, American College of Norway

2008 - 2011

Focus in Animation and Game Design, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Courses at UH included 3D modeling and animation, traditional hand-drawn animation, Japanese language, and astronomy.

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