Lightning Toads was founded by two brothers, Alan and Andrew Fischer. Aided as needed by expert artist Justin Greiner, Mac programmer Brandon Meyer, and musician Eric Eichorst they form the core of Lightning Toads.
Alan Fischer - Chief Technology Officer and Lead Software Engineer
Alan starting programming on an old Commodore64 in the late 1980s, and completed a Masters degree in Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. He obtained his bachelors in Computer Science at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. His passion is software engineering, design, programming and computer graphics. Alan has extensive knowledge of C++/C and Java, in addition to a host of other languages such as Scheme, .NET and Python. Since he also makes a hobby out of microcontroller/embedded systems programming, squeezing maximum software performance out of minimal hardware is his specialty.
Andrew Fischer, PhD - Chief Executive Officer, Manager, Programmer
Andrew completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University. He also holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State and a bachelors in Physics from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Andrew's strengths include lower level programming for numerical modeling and simulation; his language choices are C/C++, Python, and some Fortran. Andrew ports code between various platforms, performs the necessary sysadmin work, and finds the time to manage Lightning Toads.
Justin Greiner - Lead Artist
Justin began work with video games creating artwork for numerous Half Life modifications, including Lightning Toad's first unofficial project Wizard Wars. He has since worked on artwork for every Lightning Toads title. Justin has a BFA in animation from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He currently works at Gasket where he creates design and animation for commercial work. Justin creates a variety of artwork, but specializes in 3d modelling using Maya and 3D Studio Max.
Brandon Meyer - Software Architect and Programmer
Brandon has been developing programs on various platforms since the early '90s. Brandon is the founder of Tigsoft, a small company specializing in consulting and developing mathematical and scientific software applications (which are currently in use at NASA, Lockheed Martin, and GE). His languages of choice are Objective-C, Java, C++, .NET, SQL.
Eric Eichorst - Music Director and Lead Sequencer
Eric currently teaches elementary music in Las Vegas, NV, where he also maintains a modest electronic home studio. He earned a bachelors degree in music education and performance at the University of South Dakota, and is completing a Masters degree in music performance. Several of his instrumental compositions have been performed in recitals over the years, and past electronic projects have been used in educational software. Armed with Cakewalk's Sonar 5, an Alesis QS8.1, and a dash or two of software synths, Eric's goal is to provide a diverse, thematic collection of material to fit Lightning Toads' visions.