Volunteering with HBTZ

Volunteering with HBTZ is considered a privilege by its current staff. Our team is excited about producing these great games founded on Christian principles and timing. If you are interested in working on our current projects: "Visions" or "Chariots" please submit an application online to join our volunteer team. APPLICATION ...

Core Team

Laurene Wells
Owner and CEO of Heaven's Blessings Tiny Zoo
Resides in Oregon with her husband Ron Wells and homeschools their 4 children. Laurene attended the University of Idaho from 1986-1991. She was the owner and SYSOP of a WWIV BBS named The Tiny Zoo from 1990 through about 1996 when The Tiny Zoo migrated to a website on the internet. She owned a Dorling Kindersly Family Learning distributorship from 1997 through 2000. Laurene has carried leadership roles in an online game environment in three MMORPG titles, and worked as a volunteer for Sony Online Entertainment for 2.5 years. Laurene first registered Heaven's Blessings Tiny Zoo in the state of Oregon in 2003, enlisted her first volunteer in 2004 and has continued to grow the company through her team of volunteers. She has a natural talent with pencil drawings, especially animals, and has taught herself 3D art for game development. Laurene enjoys using her artistic talents to encourage learning, thus all of her game development efforts have focused on glorifying God by creating games that are both fun and meaningful. VISIONS is her company's flagship project, a Christian MMORPG set in the 2nd century holy land, currently in development. A secondary project which spawned out of the VISIONS development cycle is CHARIOTS, a Christian racing game set loosely in ancient history expected to be released in 2008. Laurene would like to thank every member of the team who has contributed their precious time to the success of this project, without whose help none of this would be possible. And she would most especially like to thank her husband for providing for their financial needs during this entire development process which has allowed her to stay home and work without pay all this time. She would also like to thank her children, from whom her inspiration comes; and her parents who have encouraged her to keep trying even in the face of impossible odds and who have been a strong spiritual foundation in her life. And last but certainly not least, she gives all the glory to God who has provided for every need along the way, who gave her the talents she was born with, and who has directed her path to this unexpected point that she might reach the world for Christ through games.

Ron Wells
IT Director
Managing the test servers for the game project, and keeping the local computers functional and online. He brings to the team a lifetime of experience repairing, maintaining, and networking computer technology. Ron has earned a B.S. degree in Automated Manufacturing Engineering, a A.A.S. degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, and certified as an MCP through Microsoft. He worked for 9 years in the high tech silicon industry and has worked for 4 years in as a Network Administrator for an esteemed wood products company.

Mark Dynna
Programming Team Lead
Mark leads the programming efforts for both the Chariots and Visions projects. He joined us from Canada in April of 2006 and quickly proved his worth as a core member of the team. He brings to the table a degree in Computer Science, and several years programming experience in a professional software development studio. One week after accepting the Lead Programmer position on our team, his paying job also promoted him to Team Lead. Mark has also accepted a position with Torqueschool.com as an instructor where he teaches students how to create games in TGEA. He has worked as a programmer on the Fantasci project as well, and has plans for developing some of his own game ideas with his wife in the future.

Branden Snowberger
Intership Liasaion and Brush Artist Team leader
Brandon is a self-taught 3D artist and programmer, focusing all of his education on game development. Branden works for an esteemed computer hardware company by day, helps his mother with her home business in the evenings, and volunteers his free time on weekends and during the in-between times. He brings to the company experience with 3D art, level design in the world editor, and beta testing. Branden has plans to develop a game idea of his own in the future but enjoys the experience of working with the volunteer team here and looks forward to celebrating our success when the games launch.

Andrew Engle
Quest Writer
Andrew is a homeschool sophmore living in Indianapolis, IN. He joined the Visions team in 2006 and quickly begain volunteering as a quest writer, He reasearched the physicians aspect of the game as well. He is currently learning 3D art for future use.

Stephen Sapaugh
World Builder
Stephen Sapaugh lives in Texas with his family. He brings to the Visons team over 10 years of gaming experience. Stephen joined the team in late August of 2007 as an apprentice. He has a natural talent with worldbuilding, and is enhancing his game development skills by learning Torque Scripting under the instruction of our Programming Lead.

Ross Leland
3D modeling and Wiki Manager
Ross is a self-taught 3D modeler who specializes in low-poly models and poly reduction. He has been reorganizing the wiki to be more user friendly. Ross joined the Visions team since in 2005, and attended the Christian Game Developer's Conference with the Visions team in 2006 in Portland Oregon. After a Leave of Absence he has returned to the development team in March 2008 and continues to advance his game development career.

Lance Sterling
Researcher
Lance holds a bachelors degree in art. He is a published author in the genre of Christian creative non-fiction. His book Seven Thunders Uttered isbn#1-4137-4025-1 uses math, science, astronomy, Egyptology and archaeology to support the Bible and prove its truthfulness. Lance is a Biblical & historical research developer for Visions. He finds detailed information and scriptual evidence for the team.