Simon Elliott - Portfolio
A qualified web developer, I have been building and maintaining websites for close to fifteen years - with eight years commercial experience in web development. I have worked with numerous technologies including PHP & MySQL, C# .Net MVC3, MSSQL, Javascript (including jQuery) and also have a solid understanding of HTML5 & CSS3. I graduated from Northumbria University in July 2011 with First Class Honours in Web Design & Development.
Holiday Discount Centre - Senior Web Developer
In my job at Holiday Discount Centre (2007-2012) I was the senior developer responsible for building all of their content management systems (PHP & C#), managing their servers, databases and domain names, ensuring the websites were well optimised for SEO and was also involved in designs for websites, newsletters and other media. I also did some work on a mobile version of their website using jQuery mobile.
Rockstar Games / Rockstar North - Web Developer
While working at Rockstar North (2012-2014) I worked as part of a large team of designers and developers where I was involved in numerous projects, including building the front end of the new RockstarNorth.com site and was primarily focused on the Grand Theft Auto V section of the Rockstar Games Social Club website where I developed game related content. I was responsible for communicating with the game team and ensuring data was made available from the game to the online services which could be used to generate pages on the website. I would then retrieve data from the online services, parse it and use it to create interesting content across various sections using a variety of technologies and jQuery plugins. I was responsible for designing and maintaining the story mission ranking system which awards a score and leaderboard rank based on how a player completes a mission in the game.
Personal Project - iOS Game Development
After leaving Rockstar North in 2014, I took some time away from web development and began learning how to develop applications and specifically games for iOS devices using Objective-C and SpriteKit. I am currently in the process of building my own game from scratch with two designers which I hope to complete and release at some point in 2015. It has been an exciting project so far and has taught me a lot about project management.
Previous Projects - Web Development
Previous experience has included developing numerous personal websites about video games, creating their content management systems and content from scratch and building up the communities into some of the most popular gaming websites in their respective categories. While I still have access to these websites and occasionally help out with minor developments, I no longer actively run them. The websites have been known to attract over 1 million unique visitors per month.
My Projects
Click the thumbnail images below for a more detailed look at my projects. Contact me if you'd like any extra information on anything I've worked on.
| 2014-2015 | iOS Game Development (More Info) |
| I learned my way around Objective-C, Xcode and SpriteKit and began developing my own 2D game engine with lots of functionality including animation, saving & loading data, a turn-based battle system, collectables and inventory system, UI & pause menu, multiple levels and mission script. The game is set in a world infested by zombies. A scientist wants to create a cure for the zombie plague, but needs you to go out and collect samples from all of the different zombie forms. Our hero will have to complete puzzles along his journey to locate new zombies, battle them and search their corpses for a specimen sample. The game is intended for completion and release in mid-to-late 2015. | |
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| 2012-2014 | Rockstar Games Social Club (Visit) |
| I was hugely involved in the Grand Theft Auto V section, working on almost every page and involved in the design process. I worked quite closely with the game team to ensure all of the data I wanted to display on the website could be provided by the game. I also fixed various bugs and added functionality to other sections on the Social Club website and was involved in plans and development for a mobile responsive website. | |
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| 2012 | RockstarNorth.com (Visit) |
| I converted the design into a web template and added the content with a variety of jQuery plugins. The website was built to be responsive. | |
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| HolidayDiscountCentre.co.uk (Mobile) (Visit) | |
| I developed a mobile-friendly holiday search with jQuery Mobile and PHP. | |
| 2011 | iGTA5.com Visit |
| A Grand Theft Auto V fan-site which I created for my final year project at Uni. It was built with user experience and SEO in mind. jQuery & AJAX ensure tasks can be completed efficiently by admins and website users, in most cases without leaving the page. Custom CMS with image uploads & renaming, content creation with SEO-focused short URL's, customisable navigation, comment system with up/down voting, custom BB-code editor, tag system. | |
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| ULookUBook.com (Visit) | |
| New website template, new holiday search, custom CMS, SEO, XML feeds. | |
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| 2010 | LA-Noire.TV (No Longer Available) |
| Created and formatted content. All hard-coded. | |
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| HolidayDiscountCentre.co.uk (Visit) | |
| Redesigned and developed, SEO, custom CMS with full website management via admin. Also built a comparison system which takes in millions of offers from third party XML files and generates a searchable database which is cached and indexed for optimum performance. Previous work also included building a mailing list system from scratch which emails newsletters to 100,000+ subscribers and allows them to view the email online if desired. | |
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| iRedDead.com (Visit) | |
| Launched new website with new design and modified functionality using my iGTA CMS. | |
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| 2009 | iGrandTheftAuto.com (Visit) |
| Huge custom built CMS with many features including user content submission, bb-code editor, dynamically generated images, website achievements, stat tracking, recent website activity, user blog and status updates, user yearbook, user image uploading, news feeds, custom templates for every game, notification system, full admin panel to manage content and user submissions. Over 1 year in development and by far the most complex system I've ever built. | |
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| 2006 | GTA4.TV (Visit) |
| Basic database driven website with admin panel. The website header changes each day. Custom CMS. One of the most popular features is a saveable 100% checklist. Users can create an account then check off game objectives. The checklist will automatically calculate their in-game percentage and highlight what they have left to complete. A completion card image is also automatically generated so that it can be shown on forums or users' personal websites. | |
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| 2003 | GTA-SanAndreas.com (Visit) |
| Very basic PHP website, mainly hard-coded with a strong focus on content. Still ranks well and receives a huge amount of traffic today despite the terrible HTML! | |
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| 2000-2003 | Psycopsy.com (No Longer Available) |
| A very basic personal website which covered a wide range of subjects. Mainly used for file hosting, experimenting and learning web development. |
Other Work
Alongside developing websites, I have also created a number of other media elements including videos, images and audio. Below is a selection of my favourites.
Video: Free Mode Stunting
Captured video from the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV and edited tens of hours of footage together. Created May 26, 2008. Source.
Video: Multiplayer Mayhem
Captured video from the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV and created a compilation of the best bits. Created September 25, 2008. Source.
Audio: Niko's Story
Using audio taken from Grand Theft Auto IV, I re-ordered and edited it to create an MP3 file which closely follows the story of the game. The video below was created by a fan of my audio file and features my original audio. I used the song "Now We Are Free" by Enya and Hans Zimmer from the Gladiator soundtrack. Created May 18, 2009. Source.
Video: San Andreas Stunting
Video captured from the PS2 version of GTA San Andreas. This video was re-uploaded by a fan. Created Dec 13, 2004. Source.
Contact
Drop me a message on Twitter or Linked In if you need to contact me.
About Me
I'm a guy who enjoys programming for the web, games or stand-alone applications. I love to learn new skills and technologies and I'm never satisfied with what I already know. I'm into video games, rock music and a huge fan of Liverpool FC.
About Me
Newcastle Upon Tyne United Kingdom
31 years old 01 May, 1987
Stalk Me
@Psyware Twitter
Psyware Facebook
Simon Elliott LinkedIn
My Sites
iGTA5.com 14 Mar, 2011
iRedDead.com14 Apr, 2010
iGrandTheftAuto.com 09 Sep, 2009
GTA4.TV 13 Dec, 2006
GTA-SanAndreas.com 17 Feb, 2003
Experience
Work
Senior Web Developer Sep 2015 - Current
At Holiday Discount Centre
Web Developer Feb 2015 - Aug 2015
At Flow Digital
iOS Game Developer June 2014 - Sep 2015
Self-Employed
Web Developer July 2012 - May 2014
At Rockstar North
Web Developer June 2007 - July 2012
At Holiday Discount Centre
Admin Assistant Aug 2006 - May 2007
At The Pension Service
Sales Assistant Nov 2004 - Feb 2005
At Woolworths
Education
Web Design & Development (BSc), Northumbria University (2008-2011) - First Class Honours
GCSE, St Thomas More RC High School (1998-2004) - A-C Grades In: English, Maths, Science, Geography, History, Design & Technology, Business Studies
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