Drew K. Kennedy
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ABOUT.TXT — Notepad

Hello, visitor.


I'm Drew — a game developer and content creator based in Austin, TX, with 10+ years of shipped titles and an audience of 350,000+ subscribers who trust me to know video game history cold.

By day I'm a Senior Software Engineer II at Pocket Worlds, where I own the live event world gameplay experiences that ship to thousands of Highrise players every week — concept to code to live ops. I also architected, built, and operate the company's internal AI platform: an agentic analyst that answers cross-team questions with cited data from production systems, for every discipline from leadership to community. The thesis: every question it absorbs is an expert interruption that didn't happen — and the value compounds with every discipline it spans.

Before that: co-created and shipped C.A.R.L. to PC and every major console, led development on Draw a Stickman: EPIC 2, and spent a decade making Nintendrew the internet's home for retro gaming deep dives. I also compose, edit, and do voiceover!

Austin, TX. Two cats. One very complete N64 library. Make yourself at home — the guestbook is at the bottom.

C:\> SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
LANGUAGESC# · Python · TypeScript · Lua · Java · SQL · HTML/CSS
AI & LLMsAgentic Systems · RAG & Semantic Retrieval · LLM Tool-Use Orchestration · Prompt Engineering · Embeddings & Vector Search · MCP · LLM Eval & Verification · Anthropic / OpenAI / Gemini APIs · Generative Image / Video / Audio
ENGINESUnity · Unreal / UEFN · XNA · MonoGame · Xamarin
GAMEPLAYGameplay Programming · Game Design · Shaders · 3D Math · Physics · Optimization · Prototyping
AR / VRAR Development · VR Prototyping · Motion Tracking
BACKEND & WEBFastAPI · React / Next.js · Node.js · Postgres · SQLAlchemy · Docker · Railway · REST APIs · OAuth / SSO
PLATFORMSSteam / Steamworks · Switch · PlayStation · Xbox · iOS · Android · Windows · macOS · Linux
LIVE OPSLive Events · Live-Service Ops · User-Generated Content · UI Design · Community
PRACTICETeam Leadership · Code Review · Code Design · Version Control (Git) · Automated Testing · Agile / Scrum · Technical Writing
MUSICMusic Production · FL Studio · Piano · Chiptune & Scoring
VIDEO & VOICEVoiceover · Video Production · Editing & Post · Acting · Character Animation
AUDIENCEYouTube (350K+) · Online Content · Public Speaking
WORK.EXE — Shipped Titles

Selected work.


Highrise — Event WorldsNEW!

2025–now · Sr. Software Eng. II

I lead engineering on the live event gameplay shipped to thousands of players weekly — design, systems, live ops — and built HR Stream, the platform that lets live video hosts run interactive events like Bingo and Trivia. (Pocket Worlds)

■ CONFIDENTIALscreenshot redacted

Internal AI Platform

2025–now · Architect & Owner

Designed, built, and operate Pocket Worlds' company-wide AI analyst solo — consolidating a fleet of single-purpose bots into one agentic platform spanning 20+ live data sources. Cited, verified answers from production systems; every action human-approved. Serves every discipline: leadership, data, ops, engineering, trust & safety, community.

📄 Read the thesis →

Omni-Cast

2026 · Solo Developer

A surreal web game about surviving an avalanche of popups — mini-games, scam chats, a stock ticker, and a virtual pet, all living inside the windows attacking you. The (much politer) popup engine haunting this very site is its licensed descendant.

▶ Play in browser

C.A.R.L.

2022 · Co-Creator / Dev

Retro-style platformer built with Matt Bitner, in the lineage of Cave Story and Jazz Jackrabbit. I built the core gameplay mechanics, wrote the dialogue, composed the soundtrack, and drew the pixel art and promotional graphics. Steam, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox.

Draw a Stickman: EPIC 2

2015 · Lead Developer

Led development of the draw-your-own-hero sequel. C#/Unity, shipped across desktop and mobile, later ported to Switch.

Battlepillars

2014 · Gameplay Engineer

Real-time strategy with heavily armed caterpillars — one of two gameplay engineers. iOS, Android, and Steam.

Draw a Stickman: EPIC

2012 · Developer

Core gameplay engineering on the original. Tens of millions of downloads across six platforms.

🛠VARIOUS / NO PREVIEW

Prototypes & Tools

ongoing · Everything

Playable experiences built in Unreal (UEFN), a browser voxel sandbox with procedural textures and synthesized audio, AI-assisted music tooling, homebrew experiments. Ask me about these.

Earlier credits published under Andrew Kenady — full list on MobyGames.

NINTENDREW.AVI — Media Player

The channel.


Since 2016 I've hosted Nintendrew, a YouTube channel dedicated to video game history and preservation — obscure prototypes, ambitious homebrew, console mods, and the hardware everyone else forgot.

Practically, that's a decade of scripting, shooting, editing, scoring, and publishing broadcast-quality video on a schedule, plus the audience instincts that come from a comment section 350,000 strong. Frequent collaborations with Scott the Woz, Nathaniel Bandy, SMG4, and SimpleFlips.

For a studio, that means a developer who can also speak publicly, demo convincingly, and represent the product — conventions included. I'm a recurring guest at Retropalooza, OMG!Con, and Really Rad Weekend, and the channel is listed on IMDb.

*** CHANNEL STATS ***
Subscribers350,000+
Broadcasting since2016
Complete librariesN64/VB/GBAV
Convention guestRecurring
♬♬ NOW PLAYING: original compositions on SoundCloud
RESUME.DOC — WordPad

Experience.


JAN 2025 — NOW
Pocket Worlds — Austin, TX
Senior Software Engineer II · Gameplay & Live Events

Lead engineering of weekly live-service gameplay events for Highrise, shipping player-facing content on fixed production cadences in Unity/C#. Designed and built HR Stream, a gameplay platform that lets live video hosts run interactive events like Bingo and Trivia. Separately, architected and operate the company's internal AI platform end-to-end — plus generative AI pipelines for marketing creative and agent-assisted engineering workflows across the org.

2016 — NOW
Nintendrew Watch a sample
Content Creator

Writing, filming, scoring, and editing for a 350,000+ subscriber YouTube channel — reviews, retrospectives, DIY builds, and retro collecting, produced solo since 2016.

2020 — 2025
Independent Game Developer
Co-Creator · C.A.R.L.

Co-created and shipped C.A.R.L., a 2D puzzle-platformer released on PC, Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation. As one of a two-person team, I built the core gameplay mechanics in Unity/C#, handled cross-platform build pipelines and deployment, wrote the dialogue, composed the soundtrack, and drew the pixel art and promotional graphics.

2016 — 2017
Augterra — San Mateo, CA
Senior Unity Developer

Owned the code base and build management end-to-end; developed rapid prototypes for Karobi, an unreleased AR card battle game.

2015 — 2017
NC2 Media — Franklin, TN
Game Engineer · C#, Unity

Built and iterated on multiple simultaneously-developed Unity titles for an unannounced project in a closed-door R&D lab.

2013 — 2015
Hitcents — Bowling Green, KY
Game Developer → Lead Game Developer

Core gameplay engineering, then small-team leadership, across Draw a Stickman: EPIC 1 & 2 and Battlepillars, plus licensed AR experiences for Disney and Sony — C# with XNA and Unity, shipping to Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

EDUCATION
Western Kentucky University
B.S. Computer Science, Cum Laude · Minor in CIS · 2013

WKU Game Research Group. Entered via The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science — the nation's #1-ranked high school (Newsweek) — where I later returned as a computer science tutor.

💾 Download the résumé (PDF)

EXTRAS — Bonus Disc

Also in the toolkit.


Music Production

Original composition and scoring, chiptune to full production. Game soundtracks a specialty.

Listen →
Voiceover

Character and commercial VO. Credits include announcer work for SMG4. Reels on request.

Request reels →
Speaking & Events

Convention panels, guest spots, and developer talks. Comfortable on any stage. Con bookings go through my representation.

Book me via Malice Media →
CONTACT.HTM — Guestbook

Get in touch.


I'm open to what's next. Full-time roles, collaborations, or an interesting problem — if the work is meaningful and the craft matters, I want to hear about it. I answer everything personally, usually fast. For convention and event bookings, contact Malice Media.

Cool links (mine):