ABOUT
I’m a software engineer and game developer with a background in iOS, product development, and business operations. I spent years working at Apple and Red Bull Media House before moving into independent development and business ownership.
These days I split my time between building software and games, running two retail stores, and making whatever project has managed to convince me it should exist.
BACKGROUND
I’ve never been especially interested in staying inside one lane.
I started at Apple in technical support, moved into business leadership, and eventually reached the part I had been working toward: building internal iOS software. From there I spent nearly three years developing production iOS and tvOS apps at Red Bull Media House.
Since then, I’ve kept building.
Asobimon became a full monster catching RPG, a roguelike, a backend, a content pipeline, and a testing playground because I kept finding new problems worth solving. Tend started because I wanted a better way to keep track of the small things that matter in a relationship. LeftoverAchievements grew out of wanting something physical sitting next to me that made RetroAchievements feel more alive.
That pattern shows up in most of my work. I usually start with something I wish existed, build the simplest version that proves the idea, and then keep pulling on the thread.
HOW I WORK
I’m happiest when I can understand why something needs to exist, not just the ticket describing what to build. That usually means moving between implementation, testing, UX, tooling, debugging, and product decisions instead of treating them as completely separate jobs.
Working software is the baseline. I pay a lot of attention to interaction, clarity, responsiveness, visual presentation, and the small details that make something feel finished rather than merely functional.
A lot of my systems begin as manual processes. Once that process becomes slow, fragile, or repetitive, I usually end up building something around it. I’ve built content importers, generated UI, debugging tools, simulators, and reusable components that way.
Several of the strongest systems I’ve built started as something that worked well enough until the project outgrew it. I don’t have much attachment to the first implementation if a better structure becomes obvious later.
OUTSIDE SOFTWARE
I own and operate two retail liquor stores in Portland through Gray Family Spirits, which means my day can move pretty quickly from software systems to inventory, purchasing, staffing, vendor relationships, licensing, and business operations.
I also spend time on visual work, including pixel art, illustration, UI design, Photoshop, and 3D work in Blender. Some of that ends up directly inside my games; some of it exists because I like making things with a completely different part of my brain.
That mix is probably why I tend to think about software as both an engineering problem and a product someone eventually has to look at, understand, and enjoy using.
CURRENTLY
A monster-catching RPG for Playdate, including the standalone-focused Expedition mode.
A native iOS relationship tracking app built with SwiftUI and SwiftData.
A Raspberry Pi based RetroAchievements display and software project.
Operating two retail locations while continuing independent software and game development.
OPPORTUNITIES
I’m open to opportunities in iOS development, game development, and software engineering.
I’m especially interested in teams where I can take a problem from idea to release and work closely with design and product, instead of only handling one narrow implementation task.
View experience →If you’re working on something interesting, hiring, or just want to talk software or games, I’m easy to reach.
Nick Gray
Portland, Oregon