Joseph Walters
Director of engineering and technology with 30+ years of experience leading teams in gaming, VR/AR/XR, and simulation industries, skilled in setting strategic directions. Proven track record of managing cross-functional teams and fostering partnerships with major industry players like Sony and Disney. Successfully directed innovative projects that enhance product performance and customer engagement. Eager to leverage expertise in problem-solving and creating exceptional products that captivate customers.
MY BIO;
A CORPORATE MONTAGE
It’s a montage more like “School of Rock” than “Rocky” since it has more guitars than exercise.
This is the story of Joseph…
Joe has worked on every aspect of visual software and entertainment software starting. He works on any platform and in any environment but specializes in leading teams working on 3D visualization through games, simulations and AR/VR/XR development.
(Insert Van Halen “like” guitar music to avoid copyright issues)
Joe went to the Art Institute of Houston and was an artist until he discovered that children like to eat and have shelter. So, he set out to find an alternative that he would love doing but also provide sustenance for his family. Then one day he discovered that making video games was an actual job that he could do. So, for the next thirty or so years he did just that. He worked for, contracted with, and even started some of the top computer gaming and simulation companies in existence.
He has always looked for work that pushed the boundaries of what others thought possible. During his time working for Shockwave.com he created the first Flash multi-player games as well as the first Shockwave 3D web games. While at Unity he worked with external companies to help solve problems using the Unity engine. His highlights were working Qualcomm to integrate VR and AR capabilities into the Unity engine, helping NASA create the Mars Rover simulation using real-time data and helping Disney prototype their ride pre-visualization tools (pretty cool stuff). Somehow, during this time he also found the time to write a book on how to program video games.
He was leading a team of developers at Heartwood, Inc. where he has helped the company transition from contracting one-off projects for multiple customers to creating several re-usable B2B products with multiple customers. This allowed Heartwood to create one product for five customers and in turn reduced the development cost per customer to 20% of what it was (again, pretty cool stuff). Additionally, he worked on VR and AR products designed to train the railway industry employees in a safe virtual environment. Turns out this is cheaper and easier than FedExing a 286,000-pound freight car to each of the students.
Currently Joe is at Disney directing the Interactive Experiences team and building the foundation for mixed reality, games and experiences in the parks. We call it Arena and it is being built to provide the APIs and backend Games as a Service for game engines (web, Unity and Unreal) to function and interact with the parks through the existing apps as well as future parks apps. Arena includes a Multiplayer engine, Trivia Engine, Asset Delivery System, Rewards Engine, Quest Engine and so many more cool systems I will just let him tell you about it when you meet in person. This outstanding team also worked on the Play Disney Parks, Team of Heroes, the Droid Depot, and helped the Disney Cruise Lines team on the Uncharted Adventures apps.
To sum it all up he is a team leader, a programmer, a game designer and creator.