Benjamin Rowan
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Benjamin Rowan

Game Designer At UW-Stout

My Name is Ben Rowan, I am a Game Designer based in Minnesota! Throughout my career, I have been apart of several game projects as a general programmer, project lead, and programming manager! I have an extensive background in agile development, software development with C++, and video game design with Unity, Godot, and Unreal Engine. I am incredibly passionate about game making, spending a majority of my time working to gain experience in the field of game development. I am poised and committed to creating software and games that can impact peoples lives through creative design processes.

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University of Wisconsin - Stout

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Focus: Game Design and Development

Minor: Mathematics

Years Attended: 2021 - 2025

During my time at UW-Stout, I developed strong skills in software engineering, agile development, and game design. I participated in several team projects, honing my leadership abilities and technical expertise. My education provided me with a solid foundation in both theoretical and practical aspects of computer science.

Relevant Courses

Relevant Skills

Languages

  • C++
  • C#
  • Python
  • Java
  • HTML & CSS
  • GLSL
  • SQL
  • GScript

Methodologies

  • Agile Development
  • Scrum
  • Test-Driven Development

Project Management

  • Team Management
  • Task Delegation
  • Version Control (Git, Subversion)
  • Scheduling
  • Culture Building

Interests

  • Game Design
  • Graphics Programming
  • Engine Programming
  • Procedural Generation
  • Physics Simulations

Development

  • Unreal Engine
  • Unity
  • Godot
  • JetBrains IDE
  • Eclipse IDE
Game Development

One of the first video games that inspired me to chose my career path was Warframe by Digital Extremes Ltd.©

My Projects

My Game Engine

The Blubber Engine

The Blubber Engine is a custom game engine in development since October of 2024. The Blubber Engine is currently only being developed by Ben Rowan, using the Vulkan Graphics Frameworks API. The goal of this engine is to make a fully functional 3D and 2D engine hybrid with different options of lighting, and shader presets. Inspired by my frustration with available lighting and shaders in current engines, and being very unfriendly variations in what you can do, ultimately the goal is to create an engine that you can make whatever you want in. Below is a link to the page where I intend to blog my experience, and eventually share the source code with anyone interested!

Explore Engine Details →
Engine Preview

Game Development Projects

Project 1

Atom's Embrace

A Narrative Walking Simulator About Survivors Guilt

Project2

Dread Not

A Co-op Experience Set In A Submarine, Where Both Played Must Work Together To Ascend

Project3

What Lies Beneath

A Single Player 2D Dungeon Crawler, Focused on Puzzle Solving

Project 9

Game of Life Web Game

A Web Game built for a UW-Stout course with Phaser and Javascript. A take on the "game of life" board game.

Doodle Dice (48 Hour Jam Game)

A Game Based on Chance. You roll dice to defeat a monster and win the game!

Other Projects

Project5

Python Physics Based Games

A collection of games made with physics calculations such as: Collision, Friction, Gravity, Bond Forces, etc.

Project 6

Game Tracking App

A Flutter Application Built With the IGDB API For the Intention of Keeping a Backlog of Games, and Tracking Notes for Them

Project 7

Barnes-Hut N-Body Solution

A Flutter Application Built With the IGDB API For the Intention of Keeping a Backlog of Games, and Tracking Notes for Them

Project 8

Shader Programming

A Flutter Application Built With the IGDB API For the Intention of Keeping a Backlog of Games, and Tracking Notes for Them

Game Development

When I was in high school, I helped create and structure a game design course!

Image 1

Graduation from High School/Arrival at UW-Stout

Upon arriving at the University of Wisconsin - Stout, I worked to adapt to my new life quickly, and focused on beginning my college career

Fall 2021
Image 2

My First Game!

In 2024, I was fortunate enough to be the lead designer of a team of developers on a semester long game project. Learning much about the development process.

January 2024 - Present
Image 3

Employed Game Developer for UW-Stout

In May, 2024, I was employed by the University of Wisconsin - Stout's instructional design lab to work on game projects that professors requested.

May 2024 - Present
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My Capstone Project

In Fall of 2024, I began my Capstone class, where I was fortunate enough to be elected as a Project Manager for our game, Submerged!

Fall 2024 - Present
Game Development

My all time favorite movie, and another inspiration for my journey, is Interstellar

Contact Me!

Email: Benrowan910@gmail.com | rowanb7507@my.uwstout.edu