The Team
ZaaLabs consists of a small team of talented developers, designers and artists. If you see us out and about, or at a conference… please feel free to say hello. We’re really nice, we promise.
Nate Beck — Principal Architect | Founder
Based in Seattle, Washington… Nate has been playing around and working with Flash since 2001, and has been programming Flex since version 1.5 (2004). Nate has worked for a variety of companies including Boeing and T-Mobile USA.
Nate worked as the Senior Adobe Developer for T-Mobile’s research and innovation team. His job was to quickly prototype time and money saving solutions for the company.
Recently Nate has been diversifying from the Flash Platform, he’s been spending time working with C# (XNA & WPF), C++. He’s been working a lot with hardware integration including: DirectInput (Steering Wheel & Pedal, XBox 360 controllers), Arduino and the Microsoft Kinect.
Nate is also a game developer (both mobile and desktop) and an active contributor to the PushButton Engine open source Flash game engine.
Nate also is an avid gamer, His Xbox Live gamer tag is Knaughty. So if you play Halo or Call of Duty, hit him up. Oh, and if you see that gamer tag playing Viva Pinata… that’s his wife (or so he says).
Blog :: blog.natebeck.net
Gamertag :: Knaughty
Twitter :: @jnbeck
GitHub :: natebeck
Jeremy Saenz — Usability Architect | Gangsta’
Jeremy loves usability almost as much as he loves being a Gangsta! Starting off his software career at the tiny shop of Asfusion, Jeremy set out with the goal of creating some of the most engaging rich internet applications ever, while also bustin’ a few rhymes along the way.
Jeremy specializes in UI architectures, skinning, styling, and application development with Flash platform and Flex technologies.
In his spare time, Jeremy plays a lot of games, for, ummm… inspiration?
Blog :: FlexGangsta.com
GamerTag :: TheFlexGangsta
Twitter :: @JeremySaenz
GitHub :: jeremysaenz
Hanspeter Ziegler — Lead Game Designer
Hans has wandered far from his home in Virginia to attend Digipen Institute of Technology, and now to join with the rest of the team at ZaaLabs.
Hans has been gaming for most of his life on consoles, where his original desire to design games came from. Over the years, he has had a hand in playing (and creating things for) just about any gaming medium you can think of, from collectible card games, to table-top roleplaying, to war-gaming.
His favorite movie is an indie film about (shockingly, I’m sure) Role-playing games, or possibly Spaceballs. He’s a collector of Sonic the Hedgehog merchandise.
Playstation Network :: Faltharen
GitHub :: HansZiegler
Twitter :: @ZaaFox
Nathan Reed — Concept and Production 2D/3D Artist
A diverse artist, Nathan has a background in both traditional and digital art as well as animation. He attended Bellevue College and Digipen Institute of Technology, and has found a happy home in ZaaLabs.
His prior and current work includes covers and spot illustrations for books, environment concept art for games, user interface design and animation, as well as 3D environment modeling and animation in 3D Studio Max. His software skills include 3DS Max, Silo, Photoshop, Flash, and a little Zbrush and Topogun knowledge tossed in for good measure.
He enjoys painting in his off time, and occasionally he finds time to sleep.
GitHub :: nreed
Twitter :: @thatreedguy
Portfolio :: nathanreed.daportfolio.com
Ryan Sand — Production 2D/3D Artist | Producer
Ryan is a graduate from Digipen Institute of Technology, and currently an Generalist Artist working at ZaaLabs. He is fully capable in all areas of game and cinematic art, with a primary focus in 3D.
He is extremely proficient with 3DS Max, Maya, a majority of Adobe programs, and has strong foundations in traditional drawing, painting, and animation.
Ryan is well organized, which makes him a fantastic producer. Ryan does whatever is needed to deliver a polished product on time, including being an enforcer when people break the build.
GitHub :: RyanVSand
Twitter :: @ryanvsand
Portfolio :: ryanvsand.com