Ben Garney
Founder / CTO building game tech, streaming, AR/VR, backends
Eugene, Oregon, United States
Summary
Technical founder and operator: Ben has repeatedly founded and led engineering-focused companies and teams, building product-focused consultancies and studios (The Engine Company, Marble It Up leadership, Rifflix) where he serves as a hands-on technical leader and CTO. theengine+2
Game-engine and game-technology expertise: He has deep experience building and maintaining game engines and middleware (Torque, PushButton Engine, Loom) and shipping games (Marble Blast Ultra and Marble It Up! Ultra), reflecting long-term involvement in engine architecture and gameplay engineering. bengarney+2
Streaming, video, and low-level tooling work: Ben has produced open-source tooling and curated resources for streaming (HLS/DASH lists, ffmpeg forks) and solved performance and playback challenges across clients and backends. github+2
Community-facing developer and speaker: He participates in community Q&As, conference talks, and regional game events, engaging with players and developers (Reddit AMAs, conference appearances, game jam judging) and supports community tooling like level editors. reddit+2
Work
Projects
Writing
Sequels: Hubris, Distraction, and Obsession
May 1, 2025Blog essay reflecting on factors that influence whether long-running game franchises thrive or decline, drawing on the author's experience with multiple long-lived franchises.
Video Game Optimization
January 1, 2010Co-authored book on techniques and practices for optimizing video game performance and systems (published 2010).
amazon.com