General Info

Nathan has always had a passion for computers. His first computer experience was at age five on his Apple IIe. He grew up tinkering on the family computer (and breaking several of them in the process). Over the years Nathan learned how to design graphics, code websites, and make video games.

Nathan attended Tallahasse Community College where he obtained an Associate of Science degree in Graphic Design and Multimedia Technology. (He’s also currently working on a Video Game Development degree as well.) He learned a lot at TCC and his experiences there helped influence and improve his career choices and work skills.

Nathan’s has a wide range of computer skills that have developed over the years. His interest and desire to make video games have really forced that skill set to expand. Some of his more technical skills include… HTML/CSS/Javascript/PHP coding, Python coding, 3D modeling with Blender, assembling and repairing computer hardware, and setting up Linux servers.

Skills

Web

A portion of this site's cascading style sheet.

HTML/CSS
Nathan has almost 10 years of experience with Hyper Text Markup Language(HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets(CSS). He has a lot of experience with converting a design (usually made with Photoshop) to HTML/CSS. His turn around times for completing such a task are usually very fast (2-3 hours).

Javascript
Nathan uses Javascript (and jQuery) to extend the functionality of a web page. It can be used to add more interactive features to a website and in modern web browser replace the need for Adobe Flash.

PHP
‘PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor’ is often used to add dynamic functionality to websites. It can be used to display information that is tailored to a specific user or to allow users to post information from their web browser and save it to a database. Many major websites including Facebook use PHP. Nathan has about 6 years of PHP experience and can certainly craft a website that offers users the best experience possible.

SSL/HTTPS
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is often used to encrypt sensitive data, such as credit card numbers. Nathan has experience with setting up websites that make use of secure HTTP connections. He knows how to generate SSL keys and setup certificates.

HTML5 Canvas / WebGL
Technologies that allow interactive content to be displayed in a web browser without the need for external plugins such as Flash. Nathan is currently experimenting with these technologies.

Graphics

A character from DreamSphere created with Blender.

Adobe Photoshop / Indesign / Illustrator
Nathan has nearly 10 years of experience with Photoshop and other Adobe products and has taken many college classes on Graphic Design. While generally coding and programming is the strong point of Nathan’s computing skills he’s also trained and knowledgeable in graphic design.

Gimp / Scribus / Inkscape
Open source alternatives to the above software. Nathan is familiar with these software programs and uses them in a Linux environment where the above programs aren’t available.

Blender
Blender is a completely free and open source 3D modeling and animation software program. It’s a feature rich program with many of the capabilities of the commercial modeling software. Nathan has experience with creating and animating models in Blender.

Programming

Python
Python is a easy to use and understand programming language. It’s powerful enough to create full software packages. Nathan has about 3 years of experience with Python and is currently using it as his language of choice in his video games.

C / C++
Nathan has limited knowledge of both the C and C++ programming languages. He learned C when he made a small game for the Nintendo DS with a game development engine called ‘DevKitPro.’ He’d learn a little bit of C++ when he took two classes on it.

General Computer

Linux
Nathan is experienced with the operation of Linux servers (as well as Linux desktop environments). He sets up and maintains Linux servers on a regular basis that handle things like hosting websites, handling DNS, sending mail, and hosting multiplayer video games. Ubuntu is Nathan’s operating system of choice for most task.

Server Setup
Nathan is experienced with setting up Linux servers with software such as… Apache2, Nginx, Bind9, Postfix, and Pure-FTPD.

Assembly and Repair
Nathan builds and repairs computers regularly. He understands how to check for certain types of hardware failures as well as repair a computer with virus’s and other software issues.

Version Control (SVN & Git)
Nathan uses version control on all of his projects to ensure that any and all changes are documented and accessible.

Video Game

Nathan's game UpChomp developed with Pygame.

Panda3D
An open source 3D video game engine. Nathan is currently developing his video game ‘DreamSphere’ with it. The engine was originally created by Disney and is used for some of their games.

PyGame
A open source 2D video game engine. Nathan created the game ‘UpChomp’ with this engine. It has a Android port which Nathan has experimented with.