Zachary Howe
Founder at Nyx Studios (Entertainment)
Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolZachary Howe is a game designer-turned-founder with 14 years of creative and product experience, now leading Pamplemoose, Tracklix, and SiftId from Madison, Wisconsin. He blends hands-on systems and mechanics design with solo software development—builds he shipped in early 2026 using AI as his development partner despite not being a traditional engineer. At Nyx Studios he has led gameplay and production (including HAVOC) and previously honed storytelling and content skills as a writer and editor, giving him a rare mix of narrative, design, and product instincts. He’s contributed back-end features to popular open-source projects like the TShock Terraria server plugin, showing comfort with server-side systems and database-driven tools. A published novelist and father of two, he approaches design with a playtest-driven, delight-first mindset and a knack for turning problems he encounters into user-focused software.
14 years of coding experience
6 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Arts, English Literature, Bachelor of Arts, English Literature at University of Wisconsin-Madison
Github Skills (9)
database-management10
csharp10
sql10
mysql10
dotnet-core10
tso9
terra9
api8
apidoc8
Programming languages (1)
Github contributions (5)
Pryaxis/TShock
Jul 2011 - May 2020
☕️⚡️TShock provides Terraria servers with server-side characters, anti-cheat, and community management tools.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:11 releases, 76 commits, 12 PRs in 9 years
Contributions summary:Zachary contributed to the back-end functionality of the TShock Terraria server plugin, focusing on item and region management. The commits demonstrate the implementation of commands to add, delete, and modify item bans, regions, and groups, by interacting with the database. Additional commits include the conversion of configuration files into database entries, bug fixes for region and group management, and integrating new features such as support for journey mode.
terraria-serverotapiminecraftantimanagement-tools
Olink/TShock
Apr 2015 - May 2020
A server mod for Terraria that adds features everyone loves.
Contributions:2 PRs, 26 pushes, 15 branches in 5 years 2 months
modserver-modminecraftterraria
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