Today we continue our goal of showcasing the myriad of talents we have at Resonance Games, by providing a 1:1 conversation with our team members - hopefully learning some things, and certainly having one or two laughs along the way.

This "Meet the Team" segment, we chat with Taylor Doud, Principal Programmer on the project!

Taylor's journey didn't start in games- he actually primarily worked in software, coding analytics and data-driven solutions for energy-adjacent companies. After joining the project in 2021, he quickly began to master the Unity game engine, and eventually went on to build out all of our core systems, including the combat system, FMOD integration, narrative system and integration of our custom-made SDK solution, 'Monolith'.

The project truly wouldn't be where it is without this powerhouse programmer, so without further ado- let's see what Taylor had to say about his career, game dev and Resonance Games!

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KURIN LAING (resonance founder):
Welcome back to another Resonance Meet the Team. And we are here today with our legendary programmer, Taylor Doud. 

TAYLOR DOUD (principal programmer):
That's me.

KURIN LAING:
Very good. Taylor, we're gonna be talking a bit about Resonance Games and about your programming journey. First off, I think one thing that a lot of people don't know, and even people on the team don't know, is that we actually have been friends for a long time.

TAYLOR DOUD:
I would say far too long, actually. *laughs*

KURIN LAING:
Damn savage. Right out of the gate, swinging. *laughs*

TAYLOR DOUD:
I would expect nothing else.

KURIN LAING:
But yeah, we've been friends since junior high in good old Calgary Alberta. And uh it's kind of crazy to think now we're working on a game together. 

TAYLOR DOUD:
Yeah. It's all culminated into this!

KURIN LAING:
The only way I can get people to work on this game is if they know me for 20 years. *laughs*
I don't think we've talked about it much, but, like, you weren't really into programming growing up that I can remember. So what got you into it? 

TAYLOR DOUD:
Well, originally I was gonna be a paramedic. And then I realized that's the kind of avenue that gets you burnt out very quickly, turns out. So, I needed to make a decision and I'd always been kind of a logically focused person. I imagine programming in a lot of ways is kind of like playing with LEGO, right? You have a bunch of bricks that are like tools within your tool kit and you're building upon this, you know, small project into a greater whole. And each piece has a certain functionality, whether it's, you know, part of the foundation or not. And yeah, I feel like programming is the same. That's kind of why I went down that route is that programming really allows you to not only get in tune with your logical side, but there's tonnes of ways to approach a problem and that's kind of the creative aspect to it.  So that's originally what got me into programming was just the concept behind it. Also, all the other engineering fields were like, "man, this physics sucks".

KURIN LAING:
Did you just stumble upon programming or did somebody guide you to it? Like, what got you to actually jump in? 

TAYLOR DOUD:
Well, I was like, "Holy fuck. I don't know if I can last being an EMT for more than maybe three or four, maybe even five years." And I was working at a gym before that, which was all right but I did not want to become a personal trainer. *laughs*
As much as I love working out. I work out, like, 5 to 6 times a week. But at the gym, the only reason gyms make money is just from people not coming into the gym! So I would only be able to train the most dedicated people and that's not how you make money. Usually.

KURIN LAING:
 I guess my next question is twofold. The first part being, how did you start with your programming? How'd you get into that? And also why not games from the start? We've been gamers our whole lives. I know this. So, I'm curious, what made you not look for game jobs originally, or was it just a matter of getting a job in Calgary? 

TAYLOR DOUD:
I mean, there's that. So kind of like you said before, Calgary  isn't the hub of games. So I was just looking for jobs in Calgary and it turns out, you know, for games, it's hard to get into. Then when I graduated university, the place that I interned at was a company called RS Energy Group, and they were really good, they were a really cool start up. And once they got bought at a billion dollar valuation I was like, "man, this is so amazing. I'm gonna stay here for a while". Games would have been cool, but that avenue wasn't really open to me at the time. 

KURIN LAING:
My next question, is if there was one game franchise you could work for, program for, what would it be?

TAYLOR DOUD:
Yeah, that's really hard. I've been such a die hard Resident Evil and Street Fighter fan that working at Capcom would be awesome. Whether it's at Capcom, the publishing house or at a developer under Capcom's umbrella.

KURIN LAING:
If you had to work on Resident Evil or Street Fighter, which one do you pick?

TAYLOR DOUD:
The thing is that fighting games are like in a lot of ways, a solved problem, right? Like as soon as rollback net code was brought into the forefront, it's like you've already kind of done 90% of the work because networking is what makes those games playable, right? So, I feel like there's probably not as much new ground you're gonna be treading. So probably more on the Resident Evil side. Like, for fighting games, I think there's lots of space to iterate design wise, right? They're more simplified from a programming perspective. Like, it's not hard to think and implement those systems as much. Though you know, with Resident Evil, that shit has also been solved in a lot of ways. *laughs*

KURIN LAING:
So tell me a little bit about your Resonance Games journey. What has it been like being on the Resonance Games team? We've been doing it for 2.5 years? 

TAYLOR DOUD:
So I think you started in 2020. I tossed you $15 on itch for your shit. I was like, if  you need a programmer, just give me a heads up. *laughs*

KURIN LAING:
That was your first mistake. *laughs*
So what have been the highs, what have been the lows?

TAYLOR DOUD:
I mean, it's been a high for, I would say 99% of it. It's definitely been an adventure. I'd been toiling around with unity and unreal to a lesser degree but nothing really super crazy outside of, you know, a one level Bullet Hell game.
I come from a Java background into a Python background with my current job. So pivoting to C# was very easy for me, I would say. I've just been toiling away at the systems trying to get them slick.

KURIN LAING:
Working in Unity like this, it was kind of your first time getting into a game engine as deep as you have for us, right?

TAYLOR DOUD:
Yeah, definitely.

KURIN LAING:
What were some challenges of getting into game engines and game tech?

TAYLOR DOUD:
Well there's the bevy of tools, right? It's like you have this giant toolbox and you're like, "oh what do I use for this, for this scenario?" Figuring out what tool works best for what use case. That's like the biggest hurdle: the amount of tools provided to you and how to use each one.

KURIN LAING:
I guess in a lot of ways you have to, when you're programming games, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but you kinda of have to do a lot more variety of things versus if you're working as a software engineer at a specific company, doing a specific thing.

TAYLOR DOUD:
I feel like that is also indicative of our team size in some ways. Like, I would imagine that other larger companies have, you know, they have their tool kit guy and then the person for something else.
But yeah, it's liberating to be in a space where I feel like I can move to work on something that is extremely different from the previous thing that I spent, you know, like two weeks on or whatever. You know, working on new things is novel, right?

KURIN LAING:
For sure. So what's been your favourite system to code in Resonance?

TAYLOR DOUD:
Oh, I think it's probably the main combat scene, right? Like, the combat system is probably the thing that is the most 'my code' in the code base.

KURIN LAING:
So what system has been the most challenging for you?

TAYLOR DOUD:
The audio system we're working on right now, definitely. Only because I don't necessarily know the existing patterns. So learning like, "oh we have audio buses", OK? We're gonna put all these audio, and all these sound effects into here and that's gonna be able to control all the sound effects. All for, like, setting volume levels and all that jazz. So that has probably been the most eye opening. I play some guitar but also, the audio lingo... dude...

KURIN LAING:
Ok, so what's the one thing in the game you love the most? Your favourite part of the game, whether it's a musical track, a character design etc...

TAYLOR DOUD:
I love the music. Like, I'm gonna be real if you, Jeff just kills it. As someone who has to sit and play the game constantly, having good music helps so much because you're just sitting there and you're just jamming out.

KURIN LAING:
If you had bad music you wouldn't last *laughs*
What's your favourite music track in the entire game?

TAYLOR DOUD:
I'm really, really liking the new intro music.  Dude, it's so good.

KURIN LAING:
I'm sure Jeff will be happy to hear that.
Taylor, I guess last but not least, for a prospective programmer coming up in either the game industry or outside it, what would be one piece of advice you would give to them?

TAYLOR DOUD:
Don't be intimidated. You know, like this is a field that is dominated by very intelligent people and that can be really intimidating. When I got my first job and was a lowly intern. I felt the imposter syndrome bad dude. Bad.
But 95% of the time, you're gonna have a great team that is gonna rally around you and lift you up and make you stronger.  So just know that, and know that everybody's felt that way. You're gonna learn so much and just keep at it and you're gonna be an amazing programmer someday

KURIN LAING:
Yeah, I think imposter syndrome is a big thing for a lot of disciplines for sure. I can see how for programming it could especially be.  But you know, they don't call it a programming language for nothing. You can only learn a language by continuing to practice. You can only get better if you're doing it every day.

TAYLOR DOUD:
That is true.

KURIN LAING:
Very cool. Well, Taylor, thank you so much for joining us here on Meet the Team. You have been an instrumental part of what makes Resonance  what it is. And so from the team and the community, we thank you for that, and we hope we can continue to create an awesome project. 

TAYLOR DOUD:
Thanks, buddy. 

KURIN LAING:
All right, talk to you guys soon and stay tuned for more by following all of our socials. The links will be around somewhere if you want to see more of this segment and meet more of our awesome team.
But for now we will have to see where the music takes us.
Bye!

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To see more stay tuned and follow the Resonance Games team on all forms of social media to learn more about our team, project and studio. You can find this and more at resonancegames.ca!