Zack Hiwiller – I'm Zack Hiwiller, a game designer, educator, and writer living in Orlando, FL.

Digital Games

I’ve been a game designer and producer since 2004. I’ve worked for Electronic Arts, Gameloft, and by contract for number of independent studios and organizations.

My incomplete CV includes:

Sudoku Together (Mobile)
FortuneIt! (Mobile)
Fire & Dice (Mobile)
Warplanes (iPad)
War in the Pacific (iPad)
NCAA Football 08 (PS2, XBX)
Madden NFL 08 (X360)
Superman Returns: Fortress of Solitude (GBA)
Superman Returns (NDS)
NFL Street 2 (PS2/XBX/GCN)
Various other projects.

Writing and Speaking

I’m the author of Players Making Decisions from Pearson, a game design textbook which has been very successful. My second book, The Game Design Playlist, will be out by the end of 2018.

I’ve also contributed to the anthology 100 Principles of Game Design (also from Pearson) and have been published on Kotaku, GameSetWatch and in Hacker Quarterly.

I’ve spoken at the East Coast Games Conference, Orlando iX, Indienomicon, and IGDA Orlando. I’ve been an Independent Games Festival judge and Project Horseshoe facilitator.

Mark Zuckerberg once used an image from my now shuttered blog during his 2011 F8 conference keynote. His people scrubbed the watermark off of my image and did not credit me, not that I’m salty about it.

Miscellany

I have been department chair of the Game Design bachelor’s program (the largest program of its kind in the world) at Full Sail University since 2011.

I have been a football official at the high school level since 2008. I usually work the head linesman or line judge positions. I have been Rank 1 (the highest ranking) since 2016. In 2016, I worked the Florida 8A State Semifinal game which was attended by over 7,000 people. In 2017, I was on the crew that was scheduled to work the 2A Florida State championship, but an injury kept me from participating. My goal for 2018 is to work one of the state finals.