Professional Game Experience

5 years – Senior QA Tester for Zenimax Online Studios for the following releases Elder Scrolls Online Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Edition Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind

1.5 years – Online Game Journalist & Editor

1 year – Tabletop Game Designer for Raven City Studios Contract work for West End Games; D6 Legends Revised



Related Experience

Knowledge of the Elder Scrolls Online GRID, combat, and scripting system

Knowledge in Elder Scrolls Lore

20+ years playing/designing/writing tabletop RPG games – mostly in the Gamemaster role, I’ve designed, written, and run countless campaigns, encounters, and 1-shots for dozens of game systems. In addition I’ve written two game systems from scratch and revised West End Games’s D6 Legends system

Computer Skills and Experience

Scripting knowledge for branching dialogue in games such as Neverwinter Nights, Shadowrun Returns, Skyrim

Advanced user in Google+, Twitter, WordPress, Facebook, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, JIRA, Confluence, Slack, Skype, Dischord

Intermediate user in ESO GRID, Adobe Acrobat, Macromedia Freehand, Adobe Dreamweaver, Sonic Foundry Vegas Video, Microsoft Office, and HTML with CSS.

Limited user in LUA, PHP Programming and MySQL Databases.

Education

Rosemont College

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Thesis: The Saga of Aranor (Novel)

Purdue University

Bachelor of Science of Technology

Concentration: Computer Graphics, Technology and Multimedia

Detailed Work Descriptions

Senior QA Tester

Zenimax Online Studios (2012 – Present)

As a tester in QA Functionality, my job was to test various aspects of The Elder Scrolls Online. These tasks included testing for server and game stability post-patches, following up on player-submitted bug inquiries, dialogue and lore viability, crafting, PVP functionality, art and bug passes, participating in and running playtest verifications, and a myriad of other duties. Being part of QA, it was part of my job to know the game as a sum of its parts, as well as its specialized components.

Gaming Columnist/Editor

RepublicTrooper.com, AmalurVoice.com, & Titan Everything (2011 – 2012)

My primary functions include editing editorial pieces for publishing on the website, authoring informative news editorials and participating in cultivating a community with twitter, web forums and Google+.

Adjunct Lecturer of English – Writing

Holy Family University, Philadelphia PA (2010 – 2011)

Teach college level writing to undergraduate students, including the basics of writing academic papers, using correct grammar and diction use, and formulating a strong writing process.

Fiction Blog

http://www.mikekernfiction.com (2012-Present)

My personal writing blog started out as an experiment in self-publishing and advertising. I wanted to try my hand at writing serial fiction and using Twitter, Google+ and Facebook to promote myself and my writing. In the span of a month I managed to gather over a thousand views and some regular readers. It’s given me a great deal of experience in writing deadlines, self-advertising in social media and writing in the serial form.

Publishing Credits

“To Light, My Dearest” 2015 Quarterly Honorable Mention – Writers of the Future

“To Light, My Dearest” 2015 Quarterly Honorable Mention – Writers of the Future “What I Wish I Could Say to You” Published in 971 Menu (2007) – Literary Short Fiction

“Cups of Coffee” Published in Issue 2 of 34th Parallel (2007) – Literary Short Fiction

“Icarus” Serial Science Fiction on personal blog (2012) – Science Fiction

“Patch 1.2 and the Gunnery Commando” Published on RepublicTrooper.com (2012) – Editorial

“Patch 1.2 and the Combat Medic” Published on RepublicTrooper.com (2012) – Editorial

“Is There Light at the End of 38s Tunnel?” Published on AmalurVoice.com (2012) – Editorial

“38 Studios Suffering Financial Woes” Published on AmalurVoice.com (2012) – Editorial

“The Rules of Engagement: Gut” Published on RepublicTrooper.com (2012) – Editorial

“38 Studios Not Attending E3” Published on AmalurVoice.com (2012) – Editorial/News

“Those Left Behind: Saying Goodbye To Your MMO” Published on RepublicTrooper.com (2012) – Editorial

“Wings of the Confederation” Published on Subspace.net (2007) – Science Fiction

“The ‘reality’ in Battlestar Galactica” Published on Battlestargalactica.com (2005) – Editorial

Other Work Experience

Production Artist

TEVA Pharmaceuticals USA, North Wales, PA (2007 – 2012)

I create artwork for the production of labeling such inserts, outserts, cartons, carton labels, packaged inserts and medical guides. Other duties include sending and receiving art from various vendors, correcting artwork, ensuring colors, fonts, and general typography comply within SOPs.