I'm Patrick Barnhardt, a software developer in Charlotte, North Carolina. The day job is Salesforce, internal web applications and integration work at a pipe manufacturer. The other one is One Man's Poison, a survival-horror game I've been building in Unreal Engine 5 — code, design, and everything around it.
They look unrelated on a resumé. What they share is that most of the work is figuring out what the thing actually has to do — the code is usually the easy part.
The day job
Software & business systems
Salesforce administration and development, internal web applications, integrations, and the support work that keeps all of it running once it's live.
Gameplay systems in C++ and Blueprint, Unreal Engine tooling, platform and integration work, and whatever technical work, or art I can't hand to somebody better at it than me.
Character model, texture and render by Sherry Chen
Featured independent game
One Man's Poison
A solo-developed third-person survival-horror game in Unreal Engine 5, turning a missing-person case into a focused vertical slice built around investigation, scarcity, and systemic threat.
C++ core, Blueprint tuning
Gameplay systems live in a C++ foundation with a designer-facing Blueprint layer for iteration.
A real spatial inventory
Grid placement, rotation and drag-and-drop, presented as a layered 3D attaché case inside the UI.
Integration and platform work
FMOD audio, CrowdControl, custom Twitch interactivity and the work to run the game on Steam Deck.
Lead and sole developer
All gameplay programming to date, plus design, scoping, art direction and coordination of specialist collaborators.
I like knowing how a thing works all the way down. Most of what I do starts the
same way: something is broken, or slow, or quietly annoying everyone who has to
touch it, and the fix turns out to be somewhere under the surface.
Professionally that means Salesforce administration and development, internal
web applications, and integration work, with years of IT and end-user support
underneath it. I spent a long stretch being the person who had to explain a
system to whoever it had just broken for, which is where most of my opinions
about documentation come from.
Away from that I run CrimsonStrife Games and build One Man’s Poison, a
survival-horror game in Unreal Engine 5 — gameplay code in C++ and Blueprint,
plus design, scoping, and briefing the specialists whose work I either can’t do
myself, or need to delegate to focus on other things. It both is, and isn’t a hobby, since I am bad about making my hobbies into work. But both are the
same exercise: work out what the system actually has to do, then go from there.
I’m open to conversations — about work, about a project, or about something
you’re building.
Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company — Charlotte, NC
March 2023 - Present
Salesforce administration and development for a pipe and fitting manufacturer, plus internal web applications and the support that comes with both.
Build and maintain the Salesforce applications the business runs on, and support the people using them when something stops working.
Design screen flows and automations in Flow first, and write Apex or Lightning Web Components when a declarative build genuinely won't do the job.
Manage the org's integrations with the systems around it. Includes but not limited: LinkedIn Sales Nav, PDF Butler, EventSpark, RingCentral, and Mulesoft. As well as proprietary apps.
Build internal web applications and tools outside Salesforce.
IT Technician / Webmaster
Modern Impressions — Charlotte, NC
December 2020 - March 2023
Ran the company website for a Charlotte office-technology dealer while doing IT support for its managed-services customers.
Kept networked copiers and printers working inside customer environments — drivers, scan destinations and authentication.
Handled general IT support for managed-services customers, and sat on the internal sysadmin team.
Ran the company website: a purchased WordPress theme I extended rather than replaced, including a Net Promoter Score panel on the homepage fed live from the dealer's survey service.
Wrote the technical knowledge-base articles, including two printer service-code guides on Experts Exchange that have each passed 40,000 views.
Supported the specialty software customers depended on, mostly AutoStore document capture.
IT Support Technician
Modern Impressions — Charlotte, NC
July 2018 - December 2020
The support-side role I started in at Modern Impressions, before picking up the webmaster work.
Kept networked copiers and printers working inside customer environments — drivers, scan destinations and authentication.
Handled general IT support for managed-services customers.
Supported the specialty software customers depended on, mostly AutoStore document capture.
GIS Technician & Software Troubleshooting
QC Data — Charlotte, NC Area
June 2013 - July 2018
Five years of GIS data work and the software support that came with it.
Utilized various software to update AT&T databases on multiple projects per AT&T guidelines.
Drafted and engineered construction workprints for various AT&T Fiber and Copper Cable projects.
Joined the Specialized Services team to learn new software and perform tasks for AT&T engineers.
Corrected database errors for production users.
Supported the proprietary GIS software for roughly 60 to 80 local users, and handled the errors it threw at them.
Windows support, software and hardware installation, and machine migration and re-imaging.
Founder, Project Lead, Modeler/Animator
Helical Games — Charlotte, NC
October 2012 - January 2018
An indie studio I founded and ran for five years, leading the projects and doing the modeling and animation myself.
Led and designed DIVERSE, the studio's main project. We shut development down before release because we couldn't cover the cost.
Did not, with hindsight, have anything like enough experience to be running this at the time.
Summer Temp Packaging
Charlotte Pipe and Foundry — Monroe, NC
May 2012 - August 2012
Night shift packing PVC and ABS parts for shipping.
Marketing and Media Studio Intern
Stanly Community College — Albemarle, NC
June 2011 - August 2012
A year in the college's media department, on the production side.
Worked the film crew in the recording studio.
Archived the back catalogue of past recordings.
Made animations for TV presentations, and helped produce several TV specials.
Cashier / Pizza Maker
Sbarro — Concord, NC
November 2010 - December 2010
Cooked pizza and ran the front line, including a register.
Game Design Examiner
Examiner.com — Remote
April 2010 - March 2013
Wrote videogame reviews that argued about design rather than handing out scores.
Senior Sales Associate, Game Rentals and Sales
Movie Gallery — Rockwell, NC
August 2009 - November 2009
The person on the floor who knew the consoles, the games and the peripherals.
Education
Bachelor of Science, Software Development
Western Governors University
2018 - March 2024
Bachelor's Program — Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
2012 - 2013
Started the program in 2012 and didn't finish it.
Associate of Applied Sciences, Simulation and Game Design
Stanly Community College
2009 - 2012
Where the game work formally started — modeling, animation and design, alongside the programming.
