Jared Cocomazzi

Jared Cocomazzi

EDUCATION
Clark University, Becker School of Design 2026
Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Interactive Media Worecester MA
● Master’s Thesis: Advancing Scientific Research & Education Through the Use of Gamification and Crowdsourcing
● Relevant Coursework: Intermediate Game Dev in Unity, Narrative Design, Creative Writing Independent Study

Union College Bachelor of Science (BS) 2021
Major in Biology and English, Minor in Philosophy Schenectady, NY 2021
● Relevant Coursework: Creatures of Myth and Legend, Film as Fictive Art, Samurai: Lives, Loves & Legacies

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Clark University, Becker School of Design
Worcester, MA 2024 – Present
Founding Director & Lead Game Designer, Team Exogenesis 2025 – Present
● Established Team Exogenesis, an indie game development studio focusing on its debut project
The Exogenesis Protocol (working title), a narrative-driven evolution simulation game inspired by EteRNA
● Hired and managed core 10-person dev team (programmers, artists, marketing, UI/UX, writing, sound design); led biweekly Agile sprints via Trello and Jira across the core Creative team and Simulation team
● Wrote 20-page narrative script (10,000 words of content) for the branching storyline of The Exogenesis Protocol, with a focus on examining moral & philosophical dilemmas from a multitude of different perspectives
● Developed neural networks by utilizing the Neurological Evolution of Augmented Topologies (NEAT) algorithm with the guidance of biology department faculty to simulate evolutionary conditions for the core gameplay loop

Narrative Game Designer, Narrative & Cinematic Team – Arcadia Project 2024 – 2025
● Led narrative design for the visual novel Snooze or Looze in the 2024 IGDA Clark Harvest Game Jam, writing the 1300-word script for the game in 48 hours in collaboration with 5 other team members (1 programmer, 4 artists)
● Spearheaded a paid fellowship research project alongside faculty researchers to create Gaia, a narrative-based game exploring the similar exploitative rhetoric and environmental impact between data mining and fracking
● Developed an AI-assisted AR e-learning mobile app as a stealth project for the Clark Game Studio, with the goal of gamifying the learning process for acquiring and developing English literary skills among middle school students

Game Rant Ogden, UT
Features Writer 2022 – 2023
● Wrote 800-1000 word headline opinion articles for Game Rant Originals based on personal insights and experiences
● Conducted industry research for writer team using press releases, official publications, and third-party statistics

EXTRACURRICULAR EXPERIENCE
Independent Game Designer 2016 – Present
● Built custom faction mods for Starcraft 2 and custom side quest dungeon mods for Neverwinter Nights 2 using Unreal
● Designed single-player FPS platformer with Unreal inspired by Metroid Prime, using Unreal Tournament as codebase
● Wrote 5,000-word narrative script as first draft for comedic visual novel “The Adventure of Joost Vekkes Klaarkens”
● Designed 3D action platformer “SkyMaze” (YouTube demo) and 2D side-scrolling platformer “Reign of Chaos” (YouTube demo) as Lead Programmer and UX Designer for the Champlain College Summer Game Design Academy

Random Hacks of Kindness 2016
● Provided individualized guidance as a computer science mentor to eight middle school students on how to create homebrew mobile iOS apps using the GameSalad iOS engine; received positive reviews and feedback from nonprofit
● Organized Hackathon event logistics and structured event space for 50 participants and 10 staff members

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
● Skills: Unity, Unreal, UEFN, Marvelous Designer, Twine, Inkarnate, Trello, Miro, ChatGPT, NaomiAI, Python, SQL, C#, Maya, GameSalad, RPGMaker, 3D Modeling (Tinkercad), Photoshop, WordPress, iMovie, Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), Google Suite, Facebook, YouTube, Discord
● Languages: English
● Interests: Starcraft, J-RPGS, D&D, MTG, creative writing, reading (sci-fi, philosophy, nonfiction), hiking