Catt Symonds
Catt Symonds is a game developer living in Toronto, Ontario.
She believes that puzzles can change people, that the a-ha moment prompts us to ask, "What else could I do, if I had the chance?"
In 2015, she graduated with merit from a Masters program in English Literature at Newcastle University, having completed her Bachelors at the same institution where she served as Valedictorian of her graduating class. She moved to Toronto the day after her Masters graduation ceremony and spent the next years writing music, poems, and stories, eventually co-authoring the memoir of a recovering heroin addict and bank robber.
In early 2018, Catt rediscovered her childhood love of videogames and set out on a new journey, enrolling in a diploma program in Game Programming at George Brown College.
In her first year, Catt programmed this small SDL/C++ game, Oh Lawd, He Comin':
Shortly afterwards, she began working in Escape Room management, her life characterized - at school, at work and at play - by the delight of puzzles at every turn. She was selected in 2019 for multiple field placements through GBC, and worked with the college's industry partners to take projects from concept through to release.
For one industry client, she was the programmer on a project that involved designing and 3D-printing a gyroscope-esque controller to manipulate a concentric circle puzzle she designed in Unreal. She was involved in every step of the process.
For the same project, she provided the programming and animation for a rigged Statue of David avatar which mirrored the actions of the user:
In 2020, she took on another field placement, creating minigames in Unity for a living novel. She is also currently working as a Unity Developer on Gap Year, an upcoming game by Mythical Voltage.
Catt is currently undertaking her final year in the Game Programming program at George Brown College while already working in the IDM field. She is actively seeking a junior game development position at an established Canadian studio to begin immediately following her graduation in April 2021, or sooner.
She also has a cat named Lovelace. 
If you'd like to contact Catt or Lovelace regarding work or chicken, you can do so at cattsymonds@gmail.com. They'd love to hear from you.
