Instructors
Harry Teasley
Game Art and Animation Instructor
Harry Teasley graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art, covered in charcoal and oil paint, back when the Earth's crust was still doughy. He somehow landed a job at Microprose Software as an associate artist working on computers, where his boss said, "We'll teach you the computer part, we need people who can draw and paint." His first game was Sid Meier's Civilization.
In his 30 year career since then, he worked as a Production Artist and Art Director at several companies, on games like Half-Life, Lord of the Rings Online, and Magic Arena. His favorite aspect of being an Art Director was mentoring junior artists, so he decided to stop bothering with the other bits, and joined the AIE faculty, to make the best part of his job the only part of his job.
He lives with his wife and daughters in a house dominated by two ridiculous dogs. When he's not out shooting one of his too-many cameras, he spends his time thinking about cleaning out the garage someday, and getting chewed on by an adorably destructive bulldog puppy.
Terry Nguyen
Programming Instructor
Terry is one of many secret wizards of the modern age. His first act of magic occurred at the age of seven when he cast an incantation that led to the creation of a handful of colorful letters on a web browser. He has since continued to travel across the digital sea in hopes of parchments and treasures that would aid him in the creation of newer and more exciting tools of experiences.
By day, Terry serves as the Game Programming Instructor at the AIE. His duties include putting out figurative fires on student projects, sharing solutions to interesting problems, and actively professing his love for source control solutions (Git is life). A wealth of knowledge and experience with mobile development as well as general engine experience with Unity3D and Unreal Engine work well to supplement his ability to advise and propose solutions to practical problems in the classroom. Students are keen to query his knowledge to hear some insights on engineering efforts or test his aptitude for first person shooters in a game of Reflex or Team Fortress 2.
Terry graduated from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment with an Advanced Diploma in Game Development Specializing in Game Programming. He has also performed some contract work with other development firms and continues to work on Vextar, a first person shooty disk game with some alumni from the AIE.
Andy Romine
3D Animation and VFX for Film Instructor / Art and Animation Instructor
Andy knew he was destined to work in VFX from the moment he saw the very first Star Wars film. With the revolution in computer graphics in VFX, he took his love for modeling spaceships, animating dinosaurs and robots, and creating fictional worlds into the fully digital realm.
Andy's a veteran of the Hollywood VFX and animation industry, with experience on commercials, television, and film projects at small boutique shops and big studios including Walt Disney, DreamWorks, and Sony. Since moving to Seattle, he's also worked on indie games and VR projects as well. He currently serves on the board of the Washington chapter of the Visual Effects Society.
In addition to creating digital worlds, Andy is a published author who writes short stories, comics, novels, and screenplays. He stresses the importance of finding the story in everything, even in a single VFX shot.
Luke Fisher
Game Design and Production Instructor
Luke Fisher is a Game Design and Production Instructor at AIE Seattle, with a diverse career spanning museum exhibit design, software engineering, localization, motion graphics, and 3D animation. Luke eventually found game design, as it satisfied his lifelong interest in exploring the intersections of creative disciplines and his endless desire to learn new things. Throughout his professional career, he has always prioritized educating others. His diverse background and extensive teaching experience enable him to offer a comprehensive learning experience to his students, preparing them for various roles in the games industry.
When not working on games, he enjoys learning languages, playing DDR, and spending too much time skateboarding.
Hardy Lebel
Game Design and Production Instructor
Hardy has a bachelor’s Degree in English from Boston University, He is a veteran of 20+ years in the games industry with game design, producing and publishing credits on AAA titles like Halo series, FarCry, PacMan World and more.
Robert Rood
Game Programming Instructor
Robert is a freelance C# Developer/Technical Artist focusing on Cross-Platform Virtual Reality Development in Unity; three years’ experience teaching Game Development using C# and Unity to students from US, Netherlands, Mexico, and China; co-organizer for the Seattle Unity User Group.