Introduction
This is the index for a series of posts which will come together to form a portfolio of the features I have worked on over the course of my career in software design. In my time in the industry, I have led the development of new software features at PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, the two largest poker rooms in the world. The features I have designed reach an audience of hundreds of thousands of unique customers every day.
Although I’ve been designing and programming games my whole life (starting with text-based adventure games in BASIC and then side-scrolling platform games in Klik & Play and The Games Factory as a kid), I fell into designing features for PokerStars by accident. I’d shown an interest in new software features and had experience in interaction design from University, so I was given the opportunity to design a number of small features – which eventually developed into a career.
Over the course of my career I have worked on hundreds of software features for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and others. However, for some of these features I simply led the design team. I’m only including features in this index if I conceived the idea myself, or was substantially involved the design and/or implementation of the product.
One final note – due to the unfortunate events of 2011, many of the features that I conceived and designed at Full Tilt Poker have not yet been released. To preserve the confidentiality of these projects they will not be included here until they are publicly announced.
Features I Conceived and Designed
The following features were my own original creations:
- Several not-yet-released features – Full Tilt Poker – Q1 2011 to Q3 2012
- One-Click Colour Coding – Full Tilt Poker – Q2 2011
- Robocap (Dynamic Player Table Limits) – PokerStars – Q1 2010
- Sit & Go Registration Improvements – PokerStars – Q1 to Q2 2008
- Text Filtering – PokerStars – Q2 2008
Features I Designed
The following features were designed by me:
- Several not-yet-released features – Full Tilt Poker – Q1 2011 to Q3 2012
- ‘Edge’ Loyalty Program – Full Tilt Poker – Q4 2011 to Q2 2012
- Double and Triple Chance Tournaments – Full Tilt Poker – Q1 2011
- Cap Tables – PokerStars – Q2 2010 to Q3 2011
- Detached Chat – PokerStars – Q3 2009 to Q3 2010
- Synchronised Tournament Breaks – PokerStars – Q3 2009
- Game Speed Improvements – PokerStars – Q3 2009
- Notes Improvements (Colour Coding and Visibility) – PokerStars – Q3 2009
- Show Hole Cards When All-In Option (Ring Games) – PokerStars – Q2 2009
- Sit & Go Rematch – PokerStars – Q2 2009
- Auto Add-On (Tournaments) – PokerStars – Q2 2009
- Milestone Hands Countdown – PokerStars – Q1 2009
- Team Pro Visibility – PokerStars – Q4 2008 to Q3 2009
- Bounty Tournaments – PokerStars – Q4 2008 to Q3 2009
- Multi-Currency Accounts and Games – PokerStars – Q4 2008 to Q1 2010
- Datamining Control – PokerStars – Q4 2008
- Auto Rebuy and Add-On (Ring Games) – PokerStars – Q3 2008
- Fold and Show – PokerStars – Q2 2008 to Q3 2011
- Time Zone Support – PokerStars – Q2 2008
- Ring Game Highlighting – PokerStars – Q1 2008 to Q1 2009
- Black Lobby Theme – PokerStars – Q4 2007 to Q1 2008