Theo Erickson

Industry experience

1. Senior Technical Designer, Sovereign Axe Studios

   June 2025 to Present

   Unannounced Action Platformer, New IP | Unreal Engine 5

   • Designed core gameplay architecture in Unreal Engine 5, building the foundational systems for character and combat mechanics.
   • Architected the C++ structure for character classes, combat integration through Unreal's Gameplay Ability System.
   • Implemented extensible gameplay frameworks supporting input combos, player upgrades, and combat flow, ensuring scalability and ease of iteration across content teams.
   • Constructed data-driven pipelines using Unreal's Data Assets, so designers can rapidly iterate upon gameplay implementations.
   • Mentored junior designers and programmers, delegating work, providing technical guidance, and fostering collaboration.
   • Contributed to planning milestones and project timelines, balancing individual technical contributions with leadership responsibilities to support project vision.

2. Technical Designer II, Super Evil Megacorp

   June 2023 to May 2025

   TMNT: Splintered Fate & Unannounced AAA Project, New IP | Proprietary engine

   • Designed and implemented a new playable character, from concept through full gameplay integration, with a unique combat kit, narrative events, and balance and feedback passes.
   • Contributed to early-stage prototyping and post-launch development, creating new systems and ideas for the cancelled AAA title and live service content and updates to TMNT.
   • Collaborated with senior designers to develop two unique boss characters, creating their combat kits, balancing, and integration into the game's dynamic combat system.
   • Drove the technical design efforts, creating streamlined C++ and custom scripting tools that empowered the design team to implement complex systems more efficiently.
   • Contributed to system and workflow improvements, enhancing iteration speed and collaboration across teams through prototyping and technical improvements.
   • Worked cross-departmentally with Art, Animation, VFX, and Engineering to iterate on core gameplay, FX, UI, and animations for the moment-to-moment player experience.

3. Technical Designer, Deviation Games

   April 2020 to May 2023

   Unannounced AAA Project, New IP | Unreal Engine 5

   • Designed and integrated the weapon system via a data-driven framework in C++ with Blueprint exposure.
   • Collaborated across teams to iterate on core combat systems, player abilities, weapons, and balancing for PvE and PvP.
   • Developed the weapon attachment system, and rapid prototyping and customization of weapon configurations.
   • Hosted design discussions and created documentation to guide Art and Engineering on combat system design plans.
   • Extended the Inventory System to integrate player equipment with active and passive combat effects for custom loadouts.
   • Incorporated gameplay feedback to refine combat designs, ensuring engaging experiences for both PvE and PvP.

Key skills

Relevant skills

C++, Unreal 4/5, C#, Unity, P4V, Proprietary engines, Tools engineering, Cross-department collaboration, Game AI

Perks

English and Spanish, 2nd degree black belt samurai warrior, Facilities Supervisor for a local non-profit makerspace

Education and internships

UCSC: Baskin School of Engineering

BS Computer Science: Game DesignGame AI, Interactive Narratives, Foundations of Play.

Code Crew

Unity Game Development Course Creator (Summer)Created Unity courses for high school game dev classes.