Hey folks,

I’m Ken Kopecky.  I finally managed to get this domain off of Google’s hosting, where I couldn’t figure out how to do anything with it, and transferred it to DreamHost.  It was a huge pain that, ironically, required a lot of googling.

I’ll start with some words that describe me.  Sometimes it’s nice just to look at a list of words rather than wade through prose.  So here goes

Indie Game Developer, PhD Candidate, VR Expert, Animal Lover, Black Belt, Wannabe/Future Dad, Self-Taught Awesome Coder, Outdoors Lover

See something you like in there?  Then keep reading.

I love to make things.   Usually I accomplish this by programming, but sometimes I make things out of wood, PVC, or other materials.  I’m also the co-founder of (and programmer/designer at) Hex-Ray Studios.  We made Hexels, which is a one-of-a-kind (so far…) art tool based on shapes that aren’t always square pixels.  People love the Trixel mode for drawing isometric 3D stuff, so if that sounds like fun, you should check it out.

I like to pretend I’m a game developer.  In fact, when I go to the Game Developer’s Conference or other game dev shindigs, I fit in with game developers so well, most of them are none the wiser.  I do make games, but I’ve never released one widely.  My real talents lie in what I like to call “artist enablement”.   I love making tools to help artists and other content-creators create their content!  For games.

So I’m sort of a game developer.

I also do virtual reality.  I’ve been doing it for quite a while, and I’d like to think I’m pretty good with it.  My VR facility of choice is the C6 at Iowa State University, because being surrounded by 100 million pixels of your app is rather amazing.  I’ve written a number of demos (games) for it, and I plan on talking about them more on this site.  Maybe I’ve done that between the time I’m writing this and the time you’re reading it.  You should poke around and see if they’re up.

I also have a dog named Emmy.  She’s my best friend, and she goes everywhere with me.  She’s even been to a game jam or two.

I think that covers most of the “who’s Ken?” section. I’ll add other sections soon, talking about my projects and where I want to go in the future.  Thanks for reading!