Perhaps best known as a video game developer, Corinne Yu is an accomplished computer programmer, technological researcher, aerospace software engineer and businesswoman. Yu studied electrical engineering at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona while working full-time as a programmer, and eventually pursued a career in video game development, working on early projects such as the King’s Quest series, and developing and selling her own custom 3D engines. It was during her early years in game development that she became the unsung legend who wrote the base code for Quake 2, which has continued to influence video game graphics engines to this very day. Throughout her storied career, Yu has gone on to develop pioneering modifications of Epic’s Unreal tech with shadow and lighting effects that again are still used as a base for game developers today. Her most well-published achievement (despite having prior written the base code for motherfucking Quake 2) is being hired by Microsoft as their principle engine architect for a then unknown studio known as 343 Industries, for which Yu played a central role to develop the current graphics technology used in the Halo series, personally programming their lighting and facial animation software, the latter of which was applied for a software patent. Corinne later left Microsoft to work for Amazon, helping develop automation software for their Prime Air program. Yu has also worked for Gearbox as a programmer for their Brothers in Arms and Borderlands series, and on coding with Naughty Dog on various Playstation 4 properties. Yu was later hired as Vice President of Engineering by General Motors to spearhead their research into fully automated vehicle software. Yu has also, of course, worked for Rockwell International as a programmer for the Space Shuttle program, and has created and operated LINAC (medical linear accelerator) software experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Though awarded Best In Engineering two years in a row at GDC, and being the only coder listed by Kotaku as one of gaming’s top 10 most influential women, Yu seems to be more interested in work than in the spotlight, and aside from a handful of interviews appears to most often keep to herself. Yu is married and has a daughter, continuing to work in software development today.