Who we are

We are passionate game developers who played and built games all our lives. We founded Alta with the goal of creating a strong studio culture based on respect for our players, professionalism, and ownership of the work we create. We believe that it is impossible to create epic games without great studio structure and intimate communication with our players.

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Tima Anoshechkin

CEO


Tima is a co-founder of Alta. He has passion for ambitious projects and working with amazing people.

Outside of work, he loves to learn new things about technology and how scientific advances can make life better every day.

Favourite Games

Civilization, Crusader Kings and Football Manager.

Allison Howard

COO


Allison is the founding COO of Alta.  She has worked a number of roles in creative industries (Hollywood) and in start-ups (tech/content unicorns).  

She has worked on a number of IP-driven franchises including James Bond and Hobbit Trilogy.  In her former lives, she worked at McKinsey and was a competitive classical pianist who performed at The White House, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.  Her main goal is to work with amazing people on interesting things.  

Outside of work, she enjoys film, music, fitness (running and hiking) and writing. 

Favourite Games

Last of Us, Bioshock, Zelda:BOTW, Stardew Valley, Kirby, Fallout

Matt Stokes

CPO


Matt has been in games for almost two decades, and has worked on such franchises as Gears of War, Borderlands , XCOM, and The Evil Within. If a piece of hardware can run a game on it, odds are he’s probably worked on it. He even helped build a high-tech amusement park in downtown LA full of VR attractions and other wild stuff.

As Alta’s Chief Production Officer, Matt is committed to making sure as many players as possible can experience the incredible worlds Alta develops.

Favourite Games

Chrono Trigger, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Mega Man 2, Final Fantasy VI, Mass Effect 2, Starcraft, Resident Evil

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Joel van de Vorstenbosch

Tech Lead


Joel is the technical co-founder of Alta. He has a passion for development of all kinds, having worked on many aspects of the technical stack. At Alta, his focus is the game side of development, leading teams to velocity through effective workflows, tooling, and architecture.

Outside of programming, he loves spending time with his wife + cats, playing board games, and swimming.

Favourite Games

The Curse of Monkey Island, Hearthstone Battlegrounds, and Great Western Trail.

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Ben Barnes

Gameplay Engineer


Transitioned to Game dev in 2017 while writing a thesis on Mexican Literature. Previously worked on various freelance projects for artists who wanted virtual spaces for installations. Enjoys running, cycling, B Grade Cinema, folk fiction (fan fics, creepy pastas, user generated content, mythology etc.)

Favourite Games

Caves of Qud, Return of the Obra Dinn, AOE 2, Dwarf Fortress, The Sims

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Alex de Oliveira

Game Designer


Alex de Oliveira is a designer with a passion for crafting memorable experiences,  he particularly enjoys telling stories through level design and visual cues.

SandBox MMORPGs have a special place in his heart, as it is where he "lived" many memorable adventures.

When he is not making or playing games, Alex enjoys cooking and riding motorcycles.

Favourite Games

Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima Online, Sea of Thieves, Last of Us

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Tiarna Kilmister

Character Artist


Tiarna is somewhat new to the industry as a career, she has always loved, admired and enjoyed playing video games since early days in her childhood.

Coming from a rural and agricultural/husbandry background Tiarna wanted to try and turn her hobby and enjoyment of art and videos into something more, in 2018 she enrolled into AIE, a game and film college where she finished her studies and moved on to be able to work at Alta on their project A Township tale, where she works mainly on cosmetics and leading the art team.

In Tiarna's free time she likes to enjoy playing video games, movies, and doing art where she can.

Favourite Games

Okami, Psychonauts 1&2, TLOU 1&2, Obra Dinn, Cuphead, Spyro trilogy, Uncharted (all of them)

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Ivy Cheng

Art


As a passionate and enthusiastic artist with a love for pretty pixels, Ivy wishes to create engaging and memorable experiences through the power of visuals.

With a strong desire to grow, she also values learning and taking on new challenges, all of which will help in creating better art.

Favourite Games

Genshin Impact, Overwatch, Valorant, Tetris

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Dan Serebro

Senior Unity Developer


Dan is a Senior Game Developer from Sydney, Australia and has worked both in the defense simulation industry as well as games, in studios such as Hammerfall, Immutable, Amplitude-Sega and now Alta. As a result Dan has been exposed to a wide range of development practices across a myriad of devices and has experience in systems and games engineering as well as design and community management.

Dan realized one day when he was playing Halo that the only career he could imagine himself being in was games, and now is living the dream. He also realized he was pretty bad at Halo.

When not working or playing games, Dan is hanging out with his wife and daughter, often dressing the latter up as Pikachu.

Favourite Games

Breath of the Wild, Breath of Fire 1, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, Pokemon Gold, Kingdom Hearts 2, Smash Bros Ultimate and Melee

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Joshua Barko

Gameplay Engineer


Josh is a Gameplay Engineer hailing from Sydney, Australia. Josh has always had a passion for games, and when he discovered the magical world of coding, combining the two was the obvious choice. His creativity and love of puzzles allows him to come up with creative solutions to help implement new gameplay features.

In his spare time, you will likely find Josh playing tennis or basketball, working on wacky game ideas, playing video games, or cheering on the Rabbitohs in the NRL.

Favourite Games

Hollow Knight, Professor Layton, Fable, Dishonored, The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Celeste, Horizon: Zero Dawn

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Facundo Calderon

Production Assistant


Facundo is a games producer based in Sydney, Australia. Having always worked in teams, he discovered a knack for team management and enjoys the challenge of maintaining a healthy team while meeting deadlines. At Alta, he helps the team by removing any roadblocks that may come up during development. He has worked in award winning Australian game “RUMU” and took part in organising “The Working Lunch”, a mentorship program aimed towards helping minorities get started in the games industry. 

When Facundo isn’t putting out fires, you may find him hiking, cooking, doing makeup or raiding with his guild in World of Warcraft.

Favourite Games

Legend of Mana, Dragon Age series, Mass Effect series, World of Warcraft, Persona 5

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Xia Knobloch

Character Artist


Xia is a nonbinary artist from Sydney and since they could remember they always wanted to get into a creative industry. They’ve always had an artistic mindset and after starting study on 3D art and screen media in 2017 they knew they wanted to be a part of the games industry, especially after knowing that it is possible for them to contribute to making something amazing like the games they enjoy playing. Even though Xia’s a new member of the industry they enjoy being part of it after all the years since they first started delving into study.

When Xia’s not working, honestly they’re also doing art. They spend a lot of their free time drawing art for things they have a fixation on or making merchandise of their art to sell at pop culture conventions in Australia! If on the off chance Xia’s not doing art, they’re either doom scrolling on social media or playing video games with their friends.

Favourite Games

Final Fantasy VII and XV, Kingdom Hearts Series, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Left 4 Dead 2, Halo Reach and Minecraft

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Anna Ross

Artist


Anna is a 3D artist, originally from the UK but has been living in Sydney for over 6 years. She has loved both games and art for as long as she can remember, so it felt only natural to get into an industry where she can channel her creative passions.

When she's not working, she enjoys playing games with friends, exercising and generally being active, reading books and watching both 'good' and 'bad' TV shows.

Favourite Games

The Last of Us Parts 1 & 2, Zelda: Majora's Mask & Twilight Princess, World of Warcraft, God of War, Little Nightmares 1 & 2

Ivan Nixon

Head of People


Ivan is a games industry start-up specialist and entrepreneur, passionate about building and supporting amazing teams, in order to make the most distinctive and memorable video games.

He recently helped to build Darewise Entertainment from pre-seed through to its acquisition by Animoca Brands, and has supported many studios to design and deliver their people strategies. As an indie dev, Ivan published a Top 5 launch on iTunes and an Official Title of the Razer Gaming Phone, as one half of the UK-based indie studio, The Fight Brothers.

Favourite Games

Doom, Resistance: Fall of Man, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Earthworm Jim

Calvin Richmond

Game Designer


Calvin is a technical designer with a focus on fun, streamlined gameplay.  He got started at the young age of twelve writing mods for his favorite games, and has been working ever since to make games as fun as he can make them.

Calvin loves a good challenge, both in a game and in life, and is always looking to push the gaming experience to be more enjoyable to a wider audience.

Favourite Games

Battlefield 3 & 4, Company of Heroes 1 & 2, Rimworld, Stellaris, Team Fortress 2, The Half Life series

Jack Gillespie

Senior Gameplay Engineer


Jack is a Senior Software Engineer on the gameplay team. Jack loves resource management games and nerds out on process optimisation, learning new ways of working and building high-performance teams.

Jack is excited about making both the game and the developers go fast.

Favourite Games

Mario Galaxy 2, Metal Slug 3, Witcher 3, Rocket League, Counter-Strike GO, Frost Punk, Hotline Miami 2, and Day of the Tentacle.

Nic Gomez

Senior Designer


Nic is a game designer that has worked on hundreds of projects, from game installations in museums to virtual roller coasters. He specializes in designing friendly systems that are fun to use and accessible to all.

In his spare time, he enjoys playing interesting games, making weird art and then learning random facts that will never be useful in real life. Ask him about Kayfabe.

Favourite Games

Tetris, Portal, Metal Gear Solids, Psychonauts, Papers Please, Room of 1000 snakes, Yakuza 0, Persona 4

Alex Huneycutt

2D & Concept Artist


As a Concept Artist on A Township Tale, Alex crafts visual solutions for Alta's needs.

Alex has always been a creative individual at his core, having explored a broad range of interests from music and music production, to writing, information technology and now art.

Thanks to his varied background, Alex is uniquely positioned to tackle many creative challenges and help Alta provide affecting visuals.

Outside of art, Alex enjoys spending time with his wife and family, playing guitar, or training his dogs.

Favourite Games

Persona 5, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Halo 3, Spider-Man 2018, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

Cameron Owen

Senior Gameplay Engineer


Cameron is the Lead Gameplay Engineer for A Township Tail and has worked in games and interactive entertainment for more than 15 years at companies like The Creative Assembly, Gameloft and Defiant as both a designer and software engineer. He enjoys crafting unique and creative experiences and exploring new ways to engage and delight audiences.

Favourite Games

Portal, Mirror's Edge, Left 4 Dead, R.U.S.E, Skyrim, Counterstrike, Mass Effect, Hearthstone, Streets of Rage, Master of Magic & Marvel Snap

Aeli Hunziker

QA Lead


Aeli has worked in the Software Quality Assurance field for 16 years and is extremely passionate about the games industry. She has primarily grown up with MMORPGs, RPGs, and FPS games, and through these communities enjoys interacting with the diverse playstyles and people that enjoy them.

She enjoys Taekwondo, video games, and learning about new things!

Favourite Games

Final Fantasy Tactics, Legend of Legaia, Everquest, Skies of Arcadia Legends, FFXIV

Katie Crom

Producer


Katie is a Producer from California who has loved playing video games her whole life. With over 6 years in the industry, she enjoys working with her team to make an awesome game come together. 

When she’s not making games, you can find Katie riding her bike, hiking, rock climbing, or throwing herself out of an airplane.

Favourite Games

World of Warcraft, Portal 1&2, Grand Theft Auto, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Faris Elrayes

Technical Artist


Faris is a Technical Artist with broad 3D pipeline experience. He has a background in software engineering, with a CS degree from Melbourne University and his masters from Carnegie Mellon. He helps with developing tools, working on lighting/rendering pipelines and researching new ways of doing things.

When Faris is away from his many screens, he likes to travel, play guitar and hang out with his dog. His favourite games include Skyrim, Undertale and VRChat.

Favourite Games

Gary Meads

Production | Senior QA


Gary has worked in the Quality Assurance field for 12 years, and has a passion for bringing fun and exciting experiences to gamers of all types.

When not working, he enjoys playing video games, watching movies, and chilling with his 2 cats.

Favourite Games

Legend of Zelda series, World of Warcraft, FFXIV, Resident Evil Series

Michael Hoopes

Technical Art Director


Michael Hoopes is the Technical Art Director living in Juneau, Alaska. He has been in the industry for over 20 years and has worked at both large AAA studios and smaller indie studios. He's the one who starts digging in and figuring out what needs to be done and finding solutions to our problems, translating high level aesthetic goals into tools and pipelines needed to achieve those goals and allowing the art team to be productive. He is also a talented artist who has worked on characters, environments, lighting, and so on. 

He enjoys spending time with his dogs on long walks and hikes in the mountains of Alaska, loves to cook BBQ, and has a passion for old-school film photography.

Favourite Games

Never Alone, Half-Life: Alyx, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Super Metroid

Sean Ellis

Lead Environment Artist


Sean is a Lead Environment Artist from South Wales, UK. Ever since he played Alex Kidd on the Sega Master System he knew he wanted to work in the video games industry. Sean fell in love with Virtual Reality back when the Oculus Developer Kit 1 was released and he has spent the last few years of his career creating environments for VR games. When Sean isn’t modeling, texturing, lighting or dressing environments, he enjoys bouldering, BBQ’s on the beach, playing video games and riding around on his e-bike.

Favourite Games

Fable, Bioshock, The Last of Us, Manhunt, Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners and Dead Space

James Reynolds

Head of Platform


James is determined to achieve whatever he sets out to do. With a background in enterprise software engineering, he focuses on seeing the bigger picture and building towards that goal with passion and determination.

When not writing code, James can probably be found on a motorcycle, making strange noises, hours into a good RPG, or far away from technology in the Kruger National Park.

Favourite Games

Horizon: Zero Dawn, Death Stranding, The Last of Us Series, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Dylan Engelbrecht

Gameplay Engineer


Dylan is a gameplay engineer and published author of multiple technical books on Unity. He has a background in enterprise and commercial game development, where he has learned to push the boundaries of VR development.

When he is not working, he's throwing himself into smaller projects, honing his craft - or sinking hours into a good game.

Favourite Games

Rust, ARK: Survival Evolved, Age of Empires 4, Star Citizen, League of Legends, Path of Exile

Bjorn Klaassen

Lead Technical Artist


Bjorn is a lead technical artist from The Netherlands and has worked in games, post-production, and theme parks since 2006. In games, he worked for both Indie and AAA studios as an environment artist, rigger/animator and technical artist with an emphasis on building pipelines the last couple of years.

Career highlights are the 'Dood Eind' movie and the shipped AAA games Horizon Zero Dawn + The Division 2 + New York DLC.

Outside work and when time permits (kids), Bjorn is an avid Formula 1 fan, follows the latest trends in paleontology and enjoys listening to certain metal and synth-wave music.

Favourite Games

Automobilista 2, Doom 2016, Assetto Corsa, Horizon Zero Dawn 1&2

Elandré van der Walt

Senior Backend Engineer


Elandré is a seasoned software engineer from South Africa with a history in enterprise cloud development. His approach to development is making use of cloud services in order to rapidly deliver robust solutions at affordable prices.

When not looking at graphs or creating new alerts, Elandré can be found re-seasoning a old cast iron pot or pan, having a braai, or within a good open world game.

Favourite Games

World of Warcraft, Rust, Arma, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, The Incredible Machine

Hannah Jarvis

Talent Acquisition Specialist


Hannah has been a talent acquisition manager in the gaming space for 7 years. She has both partnered with founders to build studios from scratch and supported some of the biggest names in the space to grow. Before joining Alta, she founded the gaming recruitment company, Haptic Recruit, which supports studios across Europe and the USA to recruit amazing game developers to make incredible games.

When she’s not working, she loves travel, reading, cooking, writing and is a passionate advocate for mental health.

Favourite Games

As a kid, Simpsons hit and Run. As an adult anything Tycoon based! Currently loving to play in the VR space!

Jason Minor

Art Director


Jason Minor has worked in the game industry for over twenty years as an artist and Art Director for such games as STAR WARS GALAXIES and STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC, and several others. He has been running art teams, in various capacities, for over fourteen years

Before games, Jason spent ten years as a comic book freelance artist, working for Marvel, DC Comics, Image, Dark Horse, and many others. He has worked on such titles as, "The Books of Magic," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Deadpool", "Batman," "X-Men," and the Eisner Award-winning anthology "The Big Book of Urban Legends."

In his personal time, Jason has been focusing on writing and has published several short stories for different anthologies.

Favourite Games

Last of Us 1 and 2, Detroit: Become Human, Ghost of Tsushima, What Remains of Edith Finch, Last Day in June, Never Alone

Jason Justice

Lead Character Artist


I started in the entertainment industry in the early 2000s after attending the Gnomon School of Visual Effects. Since then, I've worked for studios of all sizes, shipped AAA titles on most platforms, and have been credited on games in multiple genres. Some career highlights; working with Paul Debevec at ICT’s Graphics Lab, NFL2k5 (my first big role), and being a part of the original development team on Star Wars the Old Republic.

Outside of work, I like to paint and draw. I show whenever possible. I teach portfolio development to high school kids. And lastly, I hang out with my tri-pawed Chihuahua named “Buddy”.

Favourite Games

Soul Caliber 2 on the Dreamcast, Last of Us 1 and 2, Elden Ring, Team Fortress 2

Cody McNealy

Technical Support


Cody is a Technical Support Engineer in the US and can be seen around the community either working Technical Support tickets or just hanging out with the community at A Township Tale. They have an incredibly big passion for video games and growing gaming communities. Another passion of theirs is green energy and aspires to cut out as much as their carbon footprint as possible.

When he is not working on tickets or chatting with the community, he can be found probably playing with his kitties or delving deep into a good MMORPG. They are also a big advocate for LGBTQIA+ community and neurodivergent communities struggling with mental health.

Favourite Games

RuneScape, Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, Valheim, Destiny 1&2, Halo: Reach, Call of Duty: Black Ops(Zombies), Human Fall Flat

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