The Squad

When Andy was a kid, he said he was going to make a living playing games. Fam laughed at him and it got him so mad that he decided to spite everyone by dedicating his life to working on games.

With a background as both a Software Engineer and a Product Manager, Andy has worked on some of the most successful mobile and Facebook games of the past decade, but nothing has him more excited than Zenith and VR!

Favorite Games
Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy 7, NieR: Automata, Star Craft, DOTA AllStars, Diablo II!

Lauren was everyone's favorite type of technical whiz kid: the one who takes electronics apart, lays out the pieces, then gets bored and plays video games while you swear under your breath and try to rebuild your VCR. After graduating from UPenn with a Master's in Computer Science she worked for companies like Google and Unity before deciding to make the leap into game development full time. She enjoys solving hard engineering problems in gaming, but if games don't work out she's also a Shakespearean actor and light opera singer, so at least there's a fallback career option.

Favorite Games
Final Fantasy XIV, NieR: Automata, Skyrim, Overwatch

Kristani spent her formative years rerolling Animal Crossing characters, playing any MMO a 10 year old was allowed to play back then, and befriending neighborhood cats. Since then she's built games education programs and partnerships at Girls Make Games, produced indie games and co-founded a nonprofit in New York. In 2017 she found herself in the Oculus Launch Pad program, starry-eyed about the future of VR -- coincidentally alongside Andy and Lauren. Now Kristani is proudly pouring her passion into building Zenith alongside them and the many talented folks at Ramen VR.

Favorite Games:
EverQuest, Animal Crossing, Beat Saber, Mineko's Night Market

Raymond Graham was previously Director on the Platform Graphics team at Unity Technologies and is a board member and mentor at Gameheads Oakland. Ray has over 26 years experience developing 3D interactive entertainment products for various platforms (Xbox One, PS4, iOS, Xbox 360, PS3 and many others). Ray has worked in technical management, leadership and individual contributor graphics positions at several leading Gaming and Entertainment companies, including Ubisoft, 2K Marin, Electronic Arts, Visual Concepts and Apple.

Favorite Game:
X-COM: UFO Defense

From an early age Todd has had a deep appreciation for video games and animation. After spending nearly his entire youth in crafted online worlds, art classes and sketchbooks, it was the natural step for him to become a professional artist and game developer. Many years later he is delighted and honored to be a part of such a special team at Ramen VR.

Favorite Games:
Everquest, Dark Souls, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Conan Exiles, Arma 3

Raised on a steady diet of 90’s RPG’s, anime, and progressive rock, Jordan has always been fascinated with storytelling. Now he’s devoted himself to telling stories with music and sound. As both a longtime gamer and musician, creating game audio helps to fuel two of his major passions in life. When he’s not working on audio, he enjoys painting Warhammer miniatures, scoping out new places to eat, and playing with his dog (who also stars in Zenith). 

Favorite Games:
Final Fantasy VII, Diablo II, Bloodborne, Starcraft, Resident Evil 5, Persona 4

At school, learned C++ just to do graphics. And been weaving them into all the projects ever since, be it a website, a machine learning system or a simulation of simple living things. Enjoys deeply interconnected systems and the beautiful chaos they can produce.

Favorite Games:
Sekiro taught me how to breathe calmly.

Adam acquired his creative spark from video editing at a young age. In his teenage years he took an interest in VR at its early stages and got involved in making content for VR through modding communities. At RamenVR he focuses on creating rich marketing content alongside game development. Adam is an avid reader, enjoys listening to indie music and expanding his tea collection.

Favorite Games:
Tetris, Spelunky, Audica

Sam learned how to use a computer from the Windows XP self-help videos, before he even learned how to read. He has been dabbling in programming since he was about 8 years old, but it was only when he started secondary school that he really started taking it seriously. He often spends more time taking games apart to see why things are broken than he does actually playing them, but can still be found whiling away the hours until the sun comes up, entirely engrossed in a Rimworld colony or good story.

Favorite Games:
Rimworld, Beat Saber, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, VALORANT, League of Legends

Dreaming of creating massive virtual social worlds even as a kid, Jashan finally started actual game development after he found Unity and got a Mac to use it in 2007, building on a decade of freelance software-engineering experience and hobbyist music and 3D production. In 2015, he had one of the first books about Unity in German published and went full-time with his own Virtual Reality game development studio. Jashan also teaches meditation, enjoys Windsurfing and knows Kung Fu
(Matrix reference intended). To him, joining Ramen VR to help build Zenith means coming full circle.

Favorite Games:
Missile Commander (on Atari 2600), Elite (on C64 and later Amiga), Bard's Tale, Ambermoon, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Shenmue, EverQuest, World of Warcraft, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (only in VR), Half-Life: Alyx

George is a recent graduate, and a new game designer at Ramen VR. In his free time, George can be found running epic Dungeons and Dragons campaigns for his friends, working on personal game projects, and playing trading card games. With a passion for all things gaming, George is always looking for new and creative ways to engage with his favorite hobby, and as a VR game designer, George is excited to bring his love of gaming to the next level and help shape the future of virtual reality.  At Ramen VR he can be found working on economy, balance, and a few upcoming features.

Favorite Games:
Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim VR, DOOM, Heretic, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Having grown up playing everything from Atari 2600 to current-gen consoles, PC, and VR since the DK1, Stephen's passion for gaming led him to a nearly two-decades-long career in games at studios such as Konami, Rebellion, and Ubisoft. Now part of RamenVR's design team, Stephen leverages his wealth of design and XR experience to tackle the new and unique challenges of VRMMO development. Outside of work, Stephen enjoys working on his own game projects, board gaming, LEGO, and learning new dev-related skills.

Favorite Games:
Zelda series, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Moss, Asgards Wrath, Guild Wars 2, Monster Hunter World, Alien Isolation, Phantasy Star Online EP I&II, X-Com (Originals)

Despite being over 6 feet tall and a native Canadian, WinterZ traded in his hockey skates for a game controller at a young age. After Best Buy failed to deliver his piano, he bought his first VR headset instead. This brought about the great shift, where WinterZ evolved from a regular video game nerd to who he is today. As he delved into VRChat, he found his passion in 3D modeling, building worlds and avatars for VRChat and Synth Riders. After several years moderating the Zenith Discord and combining nearly two decades of support experience, WinterZ joined the Ramen team. His roles include Support, QA/Testing, Gamemaster, and the
voice of Marcus.

Favorite Games:
Super Mario 3, VRChat, Synth Riders, Diablo Series, Persona 4

As a kid, Merita was ride or die for her PS2, spending countless hours 100%ing the same handful of games. As a teenager, she stumbled into the Rpgmaker horror game niche, inspiring a lifelong passion for crunchy indie games.

Merita went on to study Game Design at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she made a lot of weird little games. Since graduating she’s gained industry experience as a producer at Riot and Pixelberry. Outside of work, you can find her at a game jam, an overrated cafe, or the local dog park.

Favorite Games:
Kingdom Hearts II, Outer Wilds, Shadow of the Colossus, 10 Beautiful Postcards, The Sims 3