Astutepixel — Full-Stack Developer

Game Dev / Fintech / Creative Coding _
[ scroll to explore ]
~/about
$ cat about.txt
I'm Principal Engineer at Palestar, leading the revival of DarkSpace — a space-combat MMO that has been online since 2001 — onto a modernised engine with a Direct3D 12 renderer, x64 builds and Linux servers. At NMI I'm Director of Integration & Product Support, working across card-present, card-not-present and 3-D Secure payments.
When I'm not coding, I'm usually playing games — either MMOs or racing sims, whatever takes my current fancy.
18+
years developing
MMO
game dev background
Fintech
payments specialist
~/skills
$ ls -la skills/
Languages
C++TypeScript / JavaScriptC#PHPJava / KotlinRust (some)
Game & Engine
Custom C++ enginesDirect3D 12 renderingMMO server architectureMultiplayer networkingGame AI
Infrastructure
Linux serversDockerCI/CD pipelinesLive service operations
Fintech
Card Present (EMV)Card Not Present / eCommerce3-D SecurePayment integrations
Leadership
Team management across US & EUCross-functional collaborationMentoring & developmentCommunity management
~/projects
$ find . -name "*.project"
darkspace.sh
DarkSpace
A persistent space-combat MMO, online since 2001 and back in active development. Three player factions fight over planets across a dozen star systems, on Palestar's own C++ Medusa engine, modernised with a Direct3D 12 renderer, x64 builds, Linux servers and an RmlUi interface.
C++Direct3D 12NetworkingGame AILinuxDocker
darkspace.netpalestar.com
terminal_portfolio.sh
THIS SITE
Terminal Portfolio
Interactive terminal-style portfolio with real-time typing effects, WebGL shaders, command history, and 22 retro-futuristic themes.
TypeScriptWebGLWeb AudioCSS Animations
~/experience
$ git log --oneline career
network_merchants_inc..log
Director of Integration & Product Support @ Network Merchants Inc.
2018 — Present
  • Lead integration and product support across card-present (EMV), card-not-present, eCommerce and 3-D Secure payments
  • Help merchants and partners integrate with NMI and the latest fintech solutions
  • Helped build out and lead a team across the US and EU
  • Develop and maintain internal tools that streamline support processes
  • Cross-functional work with engineering, sales, support and product teams
  • Mentoring and personal development of team members
palestar.log
Principal Engineer · Community Manager · Director of Operations @ Palestar
2008 — Present
  • Leading the revival of DarkSpace — a persistent space-combat MMO online since December 2001
  • Modernising the proprietary Medusa engine: Direct3D 12 renderer, x64 throughout, Linux servers
  • Rebuilt the game interface on RmlUi and moved game assets to JSON
  • CI pipelines and Docker-based deployment for the game servers and platform services
  • Three player factions (UGTO, ICC, K'Luth) fight over planets across a dozen star-system servers
  • Running the live service and the player community
https://www.palestar.comhttps://www.darkspace.net
💻 terminal [active:bash]