I’m Brent Anderson
I am a technical co-founder who builds teams & crafts software. Currently, I am a founding software engineer @ Knock 🖖.
👨💻 Past roles include founder, engineering manager, full-stack software engineer, mobile developer, and non-profit board member. I have lead teams across a variety of industries, including tech startups, hospitality, education, entertainment, and logistics.
🗂️ Index Articles
These articles are jumping off points for collections of other essays.
On Space Ships
An index of posts about the Space Center, a field trip crossed with bridge simulators and live action, improvised theater all in one.
📝 Recent Articles
I write on a variety of topics, ranging from backend engineering in Elixir to building narrative-driven game experiences.
Nonviolence and Mechanics in Bridge Simulators
How might we nudge bridge simulators away from violence?
Violence in Interactive Storytelling
A loose consideration of the role of violence in interactive stories, and alternatives we could consider.
Think About the Nudge
A call to do better, starting with a bumper sticker.
Flows: A Story Concurrency Primitive
This essay explores the Flow primitive in Ink storytelling, and how it can be used to model concurrent branching flows running at the same time.
All you need is a teleprompter
Narrative experiences including bridge simulators could rely on teleprompter-like tools to help with storytelling, narration, and performing cues as part of show control. In this essay, we explore how the concept of a teleprompter could be incorporated into bridge simulators and other immersive, narrative-driven experiences -- with or without a human flight director/game master.
We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity; more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
~ Charlie Chaplin