Hi, my name is

Benjamin Rowan

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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Benjamin Rowan

Professional Experience

Current

Software Development Intern

Nagios
Enterprise IT Solutions
August 2025 - Present
Full-stack development intern working on enterprise IT monitoring and infrastructure solutions. Contributing to core platform development and user experience improvements.
  • Developing full-stack features for enterprise IT monitoring platform
  • Contributing to both frontend and backend development
  • Working with enterprise-scale infrastructure solutions
Full-Stack Development Enterprise Solutions IT Infrastructure Web Development Linux Development
Professional

Software Development Intern

IndieCade
Game Development Program
June 2025 - July 2025
Back-end deveopment intern tasked with building tools and systems for the development of a game project for the IndieCade 2025 Summer Climate Jam.
  • Developing gameplay system and development tools
  • Contributing to backend development
  • Working with others in an agile multi-department remote setting
Back-End Development Development Solutions Gameplay Systems Game Development
Professional

Software Developer Intern

UW-Stout Instructional Design Lab
Menomonie, WI
May 2024 - May 2025
Professional Game Developer creating educational games for university departments. Full-stack development from concept to deployment.
  • Developed educational games for multiple academic departments
  • Collaborated with professors on pedagogical requirements
  • Delivered substantial updates and improvements to research and development projects
Phaser Godot JavaScript, GDScript Agile Development and Project Management
Project

Project Manager

Dread Not - Capstone Project
Team Leadership
Fall 2024 - Present
Leading development team for "Dread Not", a cooperative submarine adventure game. Managing project planning and core systems development.
  • Published game on steam!
  • Managing cross-functional development team
  • Implementing agile development methodologies
  • Leading technical architecture decisions
Unreal Team Leadership Agile SVN
Project

Team Leader

Atom's Embrace
Narrative Game
January - Summer 2024
Lead designer for narrative walking simulator exploring survivors guilt. First major game development project.
  • Led design decisions for narrative and gameplay
  • Developed core systems in Unreal Engine
  • Published game on itch.io platform
Unreal Engine C++ Game Design Narrative Design
Education

Computer Science Student

University of Wisconsin - Stout
Game Design Focus and Mathematics Minor
2021 - 2025
Computer Science degree with Game Design focus and Mathematics minor. Building foundational programming and design skills.
  • Specialized in Game Design and Development
  • Advanced my skills and understanding in operating systems, data structures, systems architecture, and other CS concepts
  • Participated in multiple team-based projects
  • Maintained strong academic performance in every category of class
C++ Data Structures Algorithms Mathematics

Skills & Expertise

Programming Languages

  • C++
  • C#
  • Python
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • GLSL
  • SQL
  • GDScript
  • Rust

Game Development

  • Unreal Engine
  • Unity
  • Godot
  • Shader Programming
  • Physics Simulations
  • VR Development

Web & Enterprise

  • Full-Stack Development | Backend Development
  • HTML & CSS
  • Enterprise IT Solutions
  • Database Management
  • API Services
  • System Architecture

Development Tools

  • Git Version Control
  • Visual Studio
  • JetBrains Products
  • SVN
  • CI/CD Pipelines
  • Agile Development Tools (Jira, Trello)
  • Linux Development Tools
  • Command Line

Leadership & Soft Skills

  • Team Leadership
  • Project Management
  • Agile Methodologies
  • Problem Solving
  • Client Communication
  • Time Management and Communication

Specializations

  • Game Engine Architecture
  • Educational Game Design
  • Graphics Programming
  • Procedural Generation
  • Narrative Design
  • Performance Optimization

Projects

Showing 8 of 8 projects
Nessy Engine

The Nessy Engine

A custom game engine built with OpenGL and Vulkan, focused on high-fidelity environments and flexible lighting systems. Designed to solve bloat issues in existing engines.

C++ Vulkan OpenGL Engine
Explore Blog
Atom's Embrace

Atom's Embrace

A narrative walking simulator exploring survivors guilt, developed with Unreal Engine. Served as lead designer and systems programmer.

Unreal C++ Narrative
Play Game
Dread Not

Dread Not

Cooperative submarine adventure where players work together to ascend while being chased by a mysterious creature. Developed as capstone project.

Unreal C+ Multiplayer
Play Game
Earthline Protocol

Earthline Protocol

Single-Player tower defense climate game developed for the 2025 summer IndieCade Climate Jam. Players defend a city against climate threats and upgrade their defenses using sustainable technologies.

Unity C# Single-Player
Play Game
Dread Not

Python Physics Projects

A collection of python projects created using Pygame with custom physics calculations and functions to simulate real world physics concepts in 2 dimensional games.

Low Level Concepts Python Physics
View Source
Dread Not

N-Body Simulation

A Barnes-Hut N-Body simulation built with OpenFrameworks to efficiently simulate gravitational interactions between a large number of bodies. Also used to explore optimization techniques in C++.

OpenFrameworks C++ Graphics Programming
View Source
Shader Programming

Shader Programming

An Unreal Engine Project focused on learning Shader concepts as well as Procedural modelling concepts. Utilizing shader code for visual processing as well as procedural modelling for world generation.

Unreal Engine HLSL/GLSL, C++ Graphics Programming Procedural Programming
View Source
GOL Web Game

The Game of Life

A web-based implementation of the 90s board game; The Game of Life, using the Phaser framework. Features interactive grid, customizable rules, and real-time simulation controls.

Phaser JavaScript Web Hosting
View Source

Get In Touch

Wanna Connect?

I'm currently open to freelance opportunities, full-time positions, and exciting collaborations. Whether you need a game developer, engine programmer, or technical consultant, I'd love to hear from you.

Location

Minnesota, USA

Available for remote work and on-site opportunities

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