Keep warm, stay fearless, play around

RISA TANEDA

ART

Risa has always held a deep love for characters, animals and the human form. She has been building characters in games for over 15 years including the Battlefield franchise at DICE in Sweden, the Mercenaries franchise at Pandemic Studios in LA and most recently, as the Lead Character Artist and Art Manager for Valkyrie Entertainment here in Seattle.

Risa’s family originally hails from Japan, where her great grandfather was a Samurai working for Hosokawa, Lord of Kumamoto.

JOSHUA COLINDRES

TECHNICAL ART

One part artist, one part tinkerer, Joshua is driven by his passion for the art of animation and expression. Prior to joining Midwinter, Joshua began his career as a lead technical artist for the visual effects studio Hive-Fx, creating realistic creature rigs, and developing/maintaining pipeline tools. Joshua has also been working as a freelance/contract artist for various gaming studios including Liquid Development and Oculus.

In his leisure time "Other Josh" enjoys plein air painting and eating cheese.

ANGEL VILLEDA

FINANCE & OPERATIONS

Angel has a passion for figuring out what makes a business tick and a life-long love for gaming. Before Midwinter, he led the Business team at 343 industries, where he oversaw the financial and business operations, delved into the mystical arts of strategic planning, and partnered on the design of monetization systems. Before 343, he held several finance roles at Microsoft.

As a Mexico City native, he’s in a never-ending quest for a great taco in Seattle (no luck so far…) but has found a passion for great coffee (French Press FTW!)

DANIEL ALEXANDER

ANIMATION

Since having been introduced to his father’s old Intellivision & Commodore 64 as a small child, Daniel has been a life-long gamer. Later, in his teens, after discovering a passion for animation, he set off to pursue the path of incorporating the two together. He is driven to go beyond his passion for creating and developing games, by infusing life into them through his love and fascination for movement, body mechanics and strong, interesting character performances. Before Midwinter Daniel had the pleasure to be a part of many freelance, indie projects, and most recently, WBgames and Lead Animator for HardsuitLabs.

Daniel’s blood is 3/4 coffee and enjoys spending his free time hitting the city in search for new favorite restaurants and breweries.

AUDREY MLADINA

PRODUCTION

Audrey loves learning what makes a person tick and how their life experiences and culture shape their world. Before Midwinter, she was in college studying production and game design with a focus on level design and UI/UX. She grew up playing games with her older brother and found her interest in game design in the Halo Forge.

In her spare time, Audrey likes to read, garden, and collect things with flowers/fruit/plants on them. She also lived in a castle keep for a short period in her life, though she was more of a maid than a princess while there.

DAVID FELSTEAD

ENGINEERING

David is an avid learner and is driven by an (occasionally unhealthy) need to understand how, and more importantly, why things work. Before Midwinter he spent time bouncing through various iterations of consulting, engineering and management before eventually finding his passion in game development as the analytics and data engineering lead at 343 Industries.

In his spare time you'll find him obsessing over where to find Seattle's best sandwiches and ramen, and trying to balance that with how many extra Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes to take to burn off those extra calories.

TJ PERILLO

DESIGN

TJ has nearly 20 years of experience as a video game designer. His focus is on the subtle forces that shape human behavior, an obsession that also fuels his interests in politics, policy, history, the mysteries of the human story, and hosting parties. Most recently TJ spent 7 years on the Halo franchise and is overjoyed to work alongside so many of his favorite people once again at Midwinter.

TJ enjoys travelling with his wife and their 2 boys, cooking meat, scribbling notes, and making people laugh.

CHRIS FRENCH

DESIGN

Chris has been in the video game industry for 16+ years and is inspired by games that offer a robust sandbox that allow players to experiment, play how they want, and create memorable momnets. Previously Chris worked at 343 industries, Propaganda, Pandemic Studios, InXile, Black Isle Studios, and Rockstar San Diego.

If given the opportunity, in any game, Chris will always choose to be an Orc on the Orc faction. When not playing an Orc, Chris likes to hike, play music, paint miniatures and drink coffee.

MARIO COLINDRES

ART

Mario has always had a passion for art and any challenges that would push him to become better artist. He's inspired by the process of creating believable characters, learning and developing new methods to produce high quality art. Prior to joining Midwinter, Mario was a Character Artist / Hard-Surface Artist for over six years at Liquid Development, an outsourcing studio in Portland, Oregon. It's here where he was exposed to a variety art styles and pipelines from a variety of clients and video game projects, ranging from small mobile games to high-end AAA video games. This cemented his love for video game art and the process behind creating video games.

In his spare time, Mario likes to go kickboxing, indoor rock-climbing, and salsa dancing. He also enjoys going out to catch latest Marvel movie with friends, have a laugh at the local comedy clubs, and recently in the process of learning how to make music.

JOE SOLA

ENGINEERING

Joe has been playing and creating games for most of his life, and lives to make high quality games that feel as good as they look. As a gameplay programmer, he's worked on a variety of titles across multiple genres, from the bloody slasher horror in The Suffering to the adorable back yard battles in Plants vs. Zombies 2.

In his free time, Joe can be found perfecting his Chicago-style thin crust pizza recipe and practicing his combos in fighting games. Dorya!

MATTHEW OAKES

ENGINEERING

Matt is inspired by incredible visuals and technology in games. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Matt aspires to create games that inspire players as much as the games he grew up playing. He is a recent graduate from DigiPen Institute of Technology with a focus in graphics engineering, and was an intern at NVIDIA Research before joining Midwinter.

When he is not drawing triangles, Matt often enjoys exploring the culinary arts.

EVAN KAU

ENGINEERING

Evan is a tools and graphics programmer, greatly enjoys helping others with their problems, and loves creating things for the sake of doing so. Native to the Seattle area, he was led to DigiPen Institute of Technology, wound up in ArenaNet as a Technical Artist Intern, and now resides here at Midwinter.

He has exceptional tolerance for the cold, wearing t-shirts in weather that others need coats and jackets for. He also owes Audrey a lot of money, due to the quantity of puns and dad jokes he's made. (And will likely rack up significantly more debt in the near future.)

CASSANDRA GREY

ENGINEERING

Hailing from rural Colorado, Cassandra got her start in game dev making maps for Portal 2. Inspired by the lighting provided by the Source Engine as well as visuals and audio in games such as Kentucky Route Zero and Thumper, Cassandra specialized in graphics and audio programming during her time at DigiPen Institute of Technology.

Outside of work, Cassandra keeps busy with tech art projects, D&D, music production, and more Dota than is entirely healthy.

MARY OLSON

PRODUCTION

Mary began her career many years ago as a Sound Designer, which became her gateway into a lifelong passion for making games. She’s held many other grown up jobs since - running her own Audio production company working on Sports, Racing, Sims, and Shooters, as an Audio Director for Sony, and Audio Producer, Lead Producer, and Executive Producer for the Halo Franchise.

Mary has 2 grown kids who make her a better person. When not making games, Mary can be found on a mountain, playing music, or trying to expand her world view.

AMANDA HUDSON

OPERATIONS

Amanda is passionate about storytelling and shared adventures. She finds inspiration in the stunning environmental and cultural diversity of the world around her. In a past life, Amanda worked as a lawyer, but a series of saying 'yes' instead of 'no' led her to Sweden and video game development.

In her spare time, Amanda is likely lifting weights, attempting to make a dent in her to-be-read list, writing fiction, or off on an outdoor adventure.

BEN BATSTONE

DESIGN

Ben is fascinated with what it means to play and how we grow and learn through it. Like most people, he started designing games collaboratively on the playground as a child, but wasn't paid to do it until he was old enough to put childish things behind him (spoiler, he never did). He's built big budget Marvel games as well as tiny documentary games with lots of interesting stuff in between. He once got away with building a set of levels inspired by South American revolutionaries for a match-3 game.

When he's not making or playing games, you can find him digging holes in the earth in an attempt to grow a decent garden. This year's goal: kohlrabi!

HAZEL HAMILTON

ENGINEERING

From a young age, Hazel has always loved to take things apart and figure out how they work. Hazel started her career inventing and engineering at Intellectual Ventures Laboratory with a focus on photography, but that was a stepping stone towards working on games, where she continues to take things apart and put them back together at Midwinter.

Outside of work, she spreads her hobbies wide: from baking to music to backpacking, from gardening to rock climbing, from skiing to occasionally even relaxing and playing the games she works tirelessly to make.

SUSAN SCHWARTZ

UX/UI

Over the past ten years, Susan has worked up and down the west coast making a pile of fun games. She adores the collaborative and creative nature of game development, and can't imagine doing anything else. She's a champion of user-centered design, game accessibility and celebrating the joy in games.

When she's not making and playing games, she's a travel, cooking and crafting enthusiast. It is not hoarding if its yarn! She also designs enamel pins and stickers and is the DM of an all-women DnD group called the Broadswords.

BEN BERRY

ENGINEERING

Ben is inspired by worlds that provide constant joy, an escape from reality, and a really good progression system.

He started in games working on Project Gotham Racing 3, Shadowrun, and Viva Piñata. The next 12 years were spent doing side quests, filling out his QA skill tree working in the legal and voice recognition software industries. But now he’s back to making progress in his career’s main campaign at Midwinter.

A lot of his time is spent ignoring his friends list as he completes pause-able single player games from a backlog that never stops growing, while listening to his favorite Kinda Funny podcasts. Ben also enjoys cooking, technology, and the local Seattle sports teams.

MICHAEL SHREFFLER

PRODUCTION

Mike's love of games started with the arcade machines at his local pizza shop in the early 1990s, and has only expanded since. He is fascinated by the connection between games, the passionate communities that build around them, and how great game experiences are crafted. A career in the gaming industry felt almost predestined, and after 8 years as a producer and product manager he joined Midwinter Entertainment.

Mike lives in Southern California and on his days off can be found reading at the beach, playing piano, building his next gaming PC, and hunting down the best Mediterranean food SoCal has to offer.

JAKE CUDDIHY

DESIGN

Jake is a user experience designer and avid player of all things VIDEO GAME! He graduated from DigiPen Institute of Technology as a Valedictorian with a BA in game design. The third-person shooter Rocket Arena was his first entry into the game industry with Final Strike Games, where he worked as a multiplayer designer creating character abilities.

Jake is also a cyclist, runner, amateur photographer, and lover of tacos!

CHRISTINE ANSELL

COMMUNITY MANAGER

An avid World of Tanks player, Christine went from participating in tournaments to running tournaments for other players. As a community manager, she loves chatting with other gamers to see what they like (and don’t like!) about the games they play.

When not at work, she enjoys reading, cooking, and playing games - especially when she can drag her friends along with her! She dreams of taking a culinary world tour and loves testing out new recipes.

DAVID HELM

IT

David is a gamer and computer enthusiast. David has spent his career in Information Technology and has always enjoyed helping people solve their technological problems. He has worked as a Data Center Technician all the way to doing technical writing for Microsoft’s marketing teams, but none of those have been as rewarding as working for Midwinter.

When not at work, David is either saving Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV with friends, or out taking a hike with his dog Lucy Fluffybottom.

LUKAS KULIGOWSKI

ENGINEERING

Lukas loves every step of game development and is always excited to hear any and all game development stories. His wide range of technical skills makes him a true swiss army knife of a gameplay programmer, and his positive attitude makes him a great teammate.

He can be found in the off hours scouring movie prop replica forums and practicing his Gundam model painting skills.

PONTUS PETRIDIS

ART

Pontus has always been inspired by the world around him, and the recreation or interpretation of it in art. He spent most of his childhood drawing and painting, and after a brief stint working in restaurant kitchens he finally found his passion in creating environments for games. You'll often find him studying or taking pictures of random objects, surfaces, or types of vegetation when out for a stroll or on vacation, to the bemusement of his wife and son.

Prior to joining Midwinter, he spent over 9 years at DICE building environments for Battlefield, Mirrors Edge, and Star Wars Battlefront.

When not making or playing games, Pontus likes to cook, paint miniatures, or tend to his bonsai trees.

ALEX GELLES

ENGINEERING

Alex has been playing videogames since the age of 1.5, and eventually learned that you could make them for a living. As an engineer, he's dabbled in UI, gameplay, and tools before deciding AI was the most fun. He's worked on games in the Disney, Universal, Star Wars, Plants Vs Zombies, and Battlefield universes!

Outside of work, Alex competes in Street Fighter, speedruns for charity, plays piano, and explores the vast Washingtonian countryside.

LENNY FRIMPONG

DESIGN

Lenny has worked on games such as Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry.

Before he was in the games industry, Lenny was in broadcasting, which just proves you never know where life will take you. Lenny not only wants to create well balanced games that enriches the player experiences, but also wants to create more diverse characters in the games he works on.

When he is not designing games, he likes listening to music, working out, rock climbing, and playing any sport that doesn't involve a stick or a racket.

GREG MARQUES

DESIGN

Greg’s personality was forged in the fires of Monty Python, the Muppets, the Marx Brothers, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. His adoration of video games started with Adventure on the Atari 2600. These days he slays the dragons of systems & game design with passion.

Greg has worked on all sorts of game types, including card games like Magic: the Gathering and shooters like Crucible. He loves collaborating with others to accomplish things he couldn’t do alone; sharing both the trials and victories that come with making games.

Greg is also fond of baking, traveling, and watching anime.

RILEY FRAMBES

ART

Riley has always had a love for beautiful images and visual storytelling. Growing up drawing and painting, he spent time exploring a variety of interests before landing a career as an illustrator and concept artist. He loves how video games combine visuals, storytelling, and gameplay to create unique worlds for players to experience.

Prior to Midwinter, he worked for Certain Affinity, Microsoft, and spent time freelancing for a variety of studios.

Being outside and exploring the world is a constant source of inspiration for him. He loves spending time with his family, backpacking, hiking, and trying new foods. When time allows, he can also be found trying to capture nature's beauty through oil painting.

SAPPHIRA RIZA

ENGINEERING

Starting game development when she was a kid, Sapphira enjoys tinkering with random oddities till they shine. After formalizing her training, she started her career as a lighting engineer at Highwire Games before joining Midwinter.

Outside of work, Sapphira enjoys a breadth of games, from Outer Wilds to Kero Blaster, and practices an assortment of hobbies, from pottery to pixel art.

LEO BURKE

DESIGN

Leo is a game designer with over a decade in the business, having worked as a designer on many high profile titles from Halo to Call of Duty. His specialty is systems and vehicles, tuning numbers and highly complex systems to create emergent behavior. He is a fan of nearly everything on 2 or 4 wheels, and has played nearly every racing game (The best is, of course, Outrun 2).

In his spare time Leo makes games, draws webcomics, and maintains multiple bikes and cars in various states of disrepair.

NAM LESAGE

ENGINEERING

An avid gamer from a young age, Nam drifted away during a brief time in Electrical Engineering at university, before finding his way back to the right path by graduating in software engineering at Polytechnique Montreal.

Before joining the Midwinter team, Nam worked on Dead by Daylight for several years and had the opportunity to specialize in gameplay. His thirst for learning is also reflected in his daily life, especially through his list of passions that keeps growing every year: cooking, woodworking, gardening, movies, beer making, biking, tennis (and many more).

When you see him on the street, you can find Nam feeding squirrels, petting cats or smelling tomato plants, enjoying the little things!

CHARLES-ÉTIENNE GAGNON

ENGINEERING

Charles is a system programmer who enjoys keeping his programming diet varied. His favourite is a base of systems that most players won't ever notice, with a side of fixing horrible bugs and a healthy sprinkle of UI, Audio and even Gameplay to keep things fresh. He has previously worked on Gotham Knights and Dead By Daylight.

Outside of work, Charles enjoys tormenting others with terrible puns, imitating goblin voices in roleplaying games and painting miniatures for wargaming.

RODRIGO MENDES

ANIMATION

Rodrigo has been a 3D animator since 2009. Rodrigo's animation passion started when he watched the movie "Iron Giant". The emotion of seeing this film was so great that he decided to study animation so that one day he could help tell a story and move people as he was moved at that moment.

After 10 years working with TV shows and feature films, Rodrigo decided to change areas and focus on animation for games. Since then, he's found that being part of a game development team is like being part of a big family.

In his free time, Rodrigo likes to play with his kids and have fun with his wife. When he's solo, he likes to play games; his favorite genre is fighting games. Rodrigo is also passionate about music and he played drums in a few bands when he was younger.

STEPHANIE PADDOCK

DESIGN

Stephanie is a senior game designer with over 8 years of experience in creating compelling games. She used to study psychology and statistics until a summer job, a book club, and helping some roommates with a project got out of hand, resulting in a career change to game design. Now she is passionate about solving gnarly problems and creating game systems in ways that balance fun, cooperation, challenge, and strategy.

In her off duty hours, Stephanie is usually found reading a book, squeezing into a mosh pit, or getting paint all over her apartment.

GUILLAUME MINET

ART

Guillaume has worked as an environment artist for fifteen years. He’s very attracted by projects with a stylized art direction. Rocked by Japanese anime and Disney cartoons, he’s always loved drawing and creating mini universes for fun. Guillaume has previously worked on anime games like Naruto x Boruto Connection, Dragon Ball Z Kakarot, and Demon slayer.

In his spare time, Guillaume likes to bake cakes, eat good food, build Legos, collect and play retro games, and travel.

CHRISTINE ZHU

AN

Christine is an environment artist passionate about creating art assets using procedural art tools. She constantly seeks new techniques and tools to experiment with, pushing the boundaries of her creativity.

Christine enjoys diverse artistic pursuits in her spare time, including drawing, painting, playing games, watching anime, and indulging in movies. Immersed in cinema, she draws inspiration from storytelling, visuals, and aesthetics, further fueling her artistic vision and broadening her creative horizons.

EDUARDO KOMABA

ANIMATION

Ed always wanted to work with games. His interest in gaming started when he saw the 3D graphics of the PlayStation 1, a moment that excited him and set him on his path to the gaming industry.

He began his career as a 3D animator, but his curiosity about how things work led him to rigging and scripting. This combination of creativity and technical skill allowed him to make unique contributions to various projects.

In his free time, Ed likes to play all kinds of games, including classic CRPGs, Shooter RPGs, and some sports games. His personal love for gaming continues to inspire his professional work.

RIWAN FEZZOUA

UI DESIGN

Riwan was born in France and moved to Montréal in 2009 to study Communication and Marketing at UQAM. Then a big strike happened in 2012, and he rediscovered a passion for illustration and creativity that had been dormant. He finished his degree and went on to study video game development at UQAM for two years.

After graduation, Riwan went to work as a packaging designer for Mattel Canada and worked on Halo toys for two years. From there he received an opportunity to do an internship for Behaviour to work as a UI designer.

Beyond work, Riwan is passionate about soccer and illustration. You can find his art on Instagram, link below.

YVES POUREAU

DESIGN

Ever since Yves was young, he's had a passion for design: creating tabletop RPGs for his friends and crafting card games that his mom lovingly endured. Eventually, Yves realized he could make a living from it.

Navigating his way through the industry took Yves across the sea, starting at Ubisoft Quebec, before a detour at Massive in Sweden. Later, Yves returned to Montreal to work at Cloud Chamber and finally anchored at Midwinter in 2023. Along that journey, Yves has served as a level designer on a range of iconic IPs such as Assassin's Creed, Avatar, and Bioshock, familiarizing himself with as many engines in the process.

Yves has come to understand that the craft is about distilling complex systems until they are comprehensible for both people and computers. This process fascinates Yves because it's the same he uses to understand the world around him.