My name is Luke Hoffman, online handle BloodShot9001. I am a professional Software Developer with years of experience and an aspiring Game Developer in my free time. I've created several gameplay concepts and small demos with a focus on refining core gameplay mechanics. 

Project Showcase

I've been playing games for 20+ years, and ever since I was young I've had a deep appreciation for the nuance that goes into game development and design. In particular I've always had a fascination with glitches and exploits and how they can drastically change a player's experience for the better. When I was a kid after beating any video game, I'd immediately google "{video game name} cheat codes", and there would always be a section that included glitches that were fun for players to try. Of note I disinctly remember doing Space Jump early in Metroid Prime, and how that completely changes the opening of the game and makes exploring the early areas a much different experience. This way of playing games has shaped how I view and experience games, and it allows me to replay my favorite video games "for the first time" multiple times, as usually playing in this way is almost like an entirely new video game. I'm a firm believer in the "Death of the Author", that a creator's intentions should not need to be taken into account to understand a written work, and I extend this philosophy toward video games. While there's often an obvious way a game is designed or developed, if a player is having fun doing things their way, that's just as valid a way to play as any other.

Speedrunning

In addition to working as a game developer, I also spend my time speedrunning many video games, though I tend to focus on fast-paced FPS games with deep movement systems. Of note, I speedran Doom Eternal and participated in both ESA's "Break the Record Live" and SGDQ 2021 and 2022. Through my experience speedrunning, I've been able to interact with many developers and designers for games, and have even helped as a consultant on several projects. In addition, speedrunning has helped me to see that adding intuitive depth to a game tends to lead to higher replayability for games.

Tabletop Gaming