Josh Hirshfield is an award winning Game Designer and Developer with 5+ years of experience working in AAA, Indie, and Educational games spaces, during which he has shipped 7 professional projects.
He's both given talks and had his work exhibited at the Game Developer's Conference, Waffle Games 6.0, ConnectiCon, CT Festival of Indie Games, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's GameFest, and many more.
He's currently an Adjunct Professor of Game Design at New York University, where he teaches a myriad of classes in design and development.
Work History
Lead Developer
Vivarium LLC
January 2023 - Present
Develop and technical-design for all game systems. Work extensively with artists to construct level design tools. Teach and guide junior developers.
Associate XR Game Developer
Outpost4
January 2023 - Present
Assisting in reprogramming and optimizing published title Nocturn for modern VR systems. Involved extensive custom audio tool construction.
Adjunct Professor of Game Design
New York University
January 2023 - Present
Teach and design undergraduate courses in design and development. Advise students. Currently teaching Introduction to Game Development.
3D Game Artist
Meta
March 2022 - August 2022 (6 months)
Hard modeled in 3DSMax + Blender, textured in Substance Suite, animated in Maya. Delivered to Unreal 5 for Oculus project.
Adjunct Professor of Game Design
Pratt Institute
January 2023 - Present
Teach and design undergraduate courses in design and development. Currently teaching Collaboration Studio, Mobile App Development.
CEO & Founder
Pyrebug Studios
April 2019 - Present (4 years)
Oversee operations of entire organization. Design, develop, produce, and ship digital games.
Game Developer
Wirescribe Corp.
November 2023 - Present
Develop game systems such as dynamic camera rig, player controller, and more. Assist with optimization and testing.
Games Producer & Development Lead
University of Connecticut
August 2020 - July 2023 (3 years)
Organized team of 7+ members. Owned product, made decisions based on stakeholder needs to fulfill organization goals.
Education
Master’s in Fine Arts in Game Design
New York University, Tisch
GPA 3.91, Magna Cum Laude
New York University, Tisch
GPA 3.91, Magna Cum Laude
Bachelor’s of Arts in Game Design
University of Connecticut, Department of Digital Media and Design
GPA 3.90
University of Connecticut, Department of Digital Media and Design
GPA 3.90
Talks & Awards
Affordances of XR Game Design: Stop forcing games into XR, make games for XR!
Featured Speaker | XR Guild | Nov 2023
GDC Talk | Mar 2023
Featured Speaker | WaffleGames | Apr 2023
Featured Speaker | WaffleGames | Apr 2023
RPI GameFest | March 2023
ConnectiCon | September 2021
ConnectiCon | September 2021
Frontiers in Playful Learning | Jun 2022
RPI GameFest | March 2018
Find me on the web