Ryan Hylland is best known for his video game test lead contributions on Oni [1] (2001), Halo: Combat Evolved [2] (2001), Halo 2 [3] (2004), Halo 2: Multiplayer Map Pack [4] (2005), and currently Forza Motorsport 3 [5] (2009). He also provided multiplayer test expertise on Age of Mythology [6] (2002), Age of Empires III [7] (2005), and Forza Motorsport 2 [8] (2007) in addition to tech support on Myth: The Fallen Lords [9] (1997), Myth II: Soulblighter [10] (1998), and Myth II: Chimera [11] (1999). He was raised in Minnesota, attended college at Northwestern University [12] outside of Chicago, and currently resides in Seattle with his wife Angela and dog Pavlov.

Ryan Hylland was born on August 17, 1974, to Mary Suzanne Hylland (now Sue Drury LaGow) and Larry Hylland at Immanuel-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Mankato, MN. The first years of his young life were spent on a farm in rural Minnesota, where he remembers not much more than the layout of the home and his father playing Pong on the front porch. In 1978, his parents divorced, and he and his mother moved to a duplex in Mankato, MN.

His mother recalls: "Even at a young age, Ryan was logical and resourceful. Once on a preschool field trip to the park, Ryan was accidentally left behind by his teacher and busload of classmates. Unfazed, Ryan found a payphone and reasoned that it was probably okay to talk to strangers in this instance, in order to get a quarter to call the YMCA and talk with the teacher who was supervising the trip to the park. When he called the YMCA and asked for his teacher, he was told she was busy getting the children settled for rest period. Ryan informed them that he was one of the 'kids' and had been left at the park, at which point they rushed to his aid. He was picked up and returned home safe and sound, much to everyone's relief and amazement. The teacher told me, 'If it had to happen to any of the kids, I guess I’m glad it was Ryan because he could handle it.'"

His Aunt Kay also recalls: "From an early age, Ryan had a frank, matter-of-fact way of communicating. I remember babysitting for him one night when he was 4 years old. When it came time to get ready for bed, he pointed out how the zipper on his footie pajamas ran the entire length of the garment. Ryan made it very clear that keeping sufficient zipper clearance as I zipped upward was a critical step. I can still picture that adorable little boy with a very no-nonsense look on his face warning me to be careful."

In 1982 Ryan's mother remarried, introducing a new father, Chuck LaGow, and two sisters, Barb and Patti, into his young life. Patti lived with her mother at the time, but the rest of the family moved into a townhouse together, as construction on a new home—built and designed by Chuck—commenced.

In the months leading up to kindergarten, Ryan was thrilled at the prospect of going to school. "I had told him he would learn to read in school, and he could hardly wait because he wanted to read more than anything," comment his mother, Sue. "But when he returned home from that first day of school, I was surprised to find him annoyed and upset. When I asked him why, he said he hadn't learned how to read that day. I then had to explain that it was a process that would take some time."

That experience was a good primer for his elementary years. "Ryan often learned well ahead of his classmates, much to his boredom and impatience," continued Sue. "As a result, he became a common sight in the principal’s office, where I was often called in to mediate with teachers on his behalf. Some teachers even proposed prescriptive measures, but I knew that wasn't the solution he needed. I enrolled Ryan in gymnastics to provide an outlet for his energy, which definitely helped. Then in third grade his teacher, Ms. Lincscheid, recognized that Ryan was simply very smart and very bored, and enrolled him in the school’s gifted program. He immediately excelled."

Ryan did manage to hold his tongue, however, when chided by a sanctimonious priest at his sister Patti’s wedding rehearsal. “Ryan being young, the priest made him repeat the word Corinthians a ridiculous amount of times, assuming he’d have problems with it,” said Patti. “At the actual wedding, Ryan pronounced it so deliberately and clearly that all of the family members had to refrain from clapping. The best part came after Ryan finished, and my husband’s older brother did his reading and ended it with, ‘and this is the WAR of the Lord, thanks be to God.'"

Ryan's love affair with technology also grew in the grade school years, when he began to dabble in programming on his Apple II and took some beginner classes at the local college. His step-mother Kristin recalls one particular illustrative story: "In 1987, the Minnesota Twins [13] were headed to the World Series [14]. Friends of my family lived in Bert Blyleven's [15] neighborhood and had gathered at Bert's home to celebrate a big win. Ryan was visiting and joined us for the party. For him, however, the opportunity to meet the Minnesota Twins’ star pitcher paled in comparison to the Blyleven's PC, which was the latest in home computing technology. Ryan spent the party checking it out, even when asked if he might like to come up to the party and have Bert sign a baseball for him instead."

In high school, Ryan excelled both in academics and sports (cross-country and wrestling) until he was forced to choose between the two. "He was offered a spot on the school’s renowned Academic Decathlon team, a spot which would require him to give up his wrestling career and a high chance of winning at the state level," said Sue. "Much to the incredulity of his wrestling coach, Ryan chose the Academic Decathlon and went on to lead his team to a 7th place ranking in the nation."

"Socially, Ryan did not belong to any one click," remembers fellow classmate Brian Durand. "He was equally friends with the jocks, populars, and nerds. You could find him anywhere people were having a good time—gathering with friends for bonfires in the ravine behind his home, making elaborate floats for homecoming, wave boarding in the Spring after half-Fridays, and vacationing with his family."

On one of these vacations, while suffering from snorkeling-induced pneumonia in Bonaire, Ryan and his family were informed that Ryan’s grandfather and Sue’s father, Herschel Drury, had suffered a stroke. "The attack was not fatal, but Herschel did not have much longer to live," said Ryan's beloved grandmother and Herschel's wife, Shirley Drury. "Shortly after our 50th anniversary party, he passed away. He never got to see Ryan graduate or even know that he was accepted into Northwestern University. Herschel was such a Big 10 fan. He would've been so proud of Ryan."

In 1993, Ryan headed to Evanston, IL, to pursue an Engineering degree at Northwestern. His first few weeks of school were spent on crutches, due to a car accident that resulted in reconstructive surgery on his left foot and a summer of bed rest. Sue recalls, "When he was brought into the emergency room after the accident, Ryan was delirious with pain and said to the attending physician, 'Just patch me up and get me out of here I leave for Cancun on Friday.' Needless to say, that was one trip he was forced to miss—twice as unfortunate for him, as he was the one guy traveling with nine fellow female graduates."

At Northwestern, he became quick friends with his freshman year roommate, Roger Torres, who coincidentally had grown up in Rochester, MN, a mere hour from Ryan’s home town. "We had never met before, but we remain friends to this day," commented Roger. "As roommates during those last months of 1993 and the first months of 1994, we spent most of our time moving their four pieces of dorm room furniture into every possible combination and trying out new inventions, which typically resulted in us running out of their dorm room in boxer shorts with the smoke alarm at full volume."

Ryan also became life-long friends with several other undergrads who lived on the same floor in his freshmen dorm, including Ramsey Lubbat and Jason Ayson, who would later join the Chi Delta Chi independent fraternity with him. Ryan would also later meet his future wife, fellow Northwestern student Angela Taylor, through another Chi Delta Chi fraternity member, Jay Zimmerman.

Jay recalls: "I remember one night Ryan tripped and fell on some broken glass, severing the arteries in his wrist. It looked like a horror movie had been filmed down the hallway of the fraternity house with blood splatters all over the walls. It left him in a cast, but did not slow him down. He was also quite fond of playing poker."

Adds his sister Patti: "Ryan is so fond of poker, in fact that, that all his nieces and nephews (ages 7-17) can now credit their Uncle Ryan for teaching them how to play Texas Hold 'Em, a skill much admired by their friends."

In addition to his fraternity’s social functions, Ryan spent the leisure time of his college years working at the Bean Counter café, trick rollerblading across campus, and hosting a 3:00am college radio show. Even though the radio show was 90 minutes, he ("Endo") and his cohost, John Schott ("D. Shiz"), named it The Gigantic Gospel Hour. "We didn't play any Gospel, either," Shiz stated, "but Ryan was an awesome host. He had great, spur-of-the-moment ideas. For example, our rotund friend Buddah was always up at 4:00 a.m. doing something stupid, so we would have the 'Buddah minute' where our friend would call in and inevitably break numerous FCC rules." D. Shiz also noted "in an interesting bit of NU trivia, Ryan and I were the last show at the old WNUR studios--he was the last person to sign off at that stinkhole of a studio. I tell you what, though, it was an awesome experience, and truly the best thing I ever did between 3:30 and 5:00 in the morning every other Monday."

Fraternity brother Milan Patel particularly remembers Ryan's inventiveness: "Once, we thought people might be stealing things from Ramsey's room in the fraternity house, so he created this crazy device. It released a tennis ball to hit the intruder right in the privates."

Shortly into his sophomore years of college, Ryan made the decision to change his major from Engineering to Radio, TV, Film. As part of this program, he was required to participate in an internship in this field. He had been playing the Marathon video game with his fraternity friends and noticed on the liner notes that the company was based in Chicago. A phone call and interview later, he had an internship with Bungie Studios, where he edited animation sequences and provided tech support for Myth: The Fallen Lords (1997), Myth II: Soulblighter (1998), and Myth II: Chimera (1999). ^[1]

Upon graduating from college, Ryan was offered a full-time job with Bungie and moved to a small studio in downtown Chicago, near Clark and Addison. He often biked the 7 miles to and from work and spent his evenings and weekends enjoying the nightlife of the city with his fraternity friends, who all lived in relative proximity to one another.

"Ryan and I knew each other at NU, but never dated back then," said his future wife Angela. "Oddly enough, we kept running into each other on the El after college, though, and then we serendipitously encountered each other at a random holiday party. It was cohosted by Ryan's Northwestern friend, Megan, along with Megan's roommate and my coworker, Jake Harrell. We recognized each other from Northwestern and began dating soon after."

Two years later, Bungie was purchased by Microsoft. ^[2] Angela recalls: "I encouraged Ryan to fly to Seattle and interview for the test lead position with the new Bungie Studio within Microsoft. We were both intrigued by Seattle, and I told him I'd be willing make the move with him, if he'd like." Ryan was offered the job and prepared to make the move west with Angela, but first he needed to perform a 6-month test lead stint in San Jose, where Bungie’s California team was wrapping up Oni. ^[3] "He quit his lease on his new one-bedroom Roscoe Village apartment," said Angela, "and temporarily moved all of his belongings into my apartment, while he temporarily took up residence in California.

The Oni team worked in a small San Jose office park located at 1150 S. Bascom Avenue, Suite 27, across the street from Del Mar High School. Ryan was jammed in the tiny office space with 15 other Bungie-ites who were all endured the miserable heat, as the space was not equipped to keep that many people and machines cool. Ryan, like all the rest of the Oni team, really learned the meaning of game developer crunch during this time. Their efforts were rewarded with the release of Oni on PC, Mac, and PS2 on January 28, 2001. ^[4]

In November 2000, Ryan and Angela made the move to Seattle. Ryan had only visited it for two days during his brief interview trip, and Angela flew out to her new home without ever having set foot in it before. It was truly the new frontier of their lives together.

Ryan and Angela spent their first three years in Seattle living in the eclectic, buzzing Capital Hill neighborhood in an apartment with panoramic views of downtown, the Olympic Mountains, and the Sound.

In 2001, Ryan contributed to the success of the original Halo video game as a tead lead on the project. ^[5] The first game of the Halo series, it was released on November 15, 2001, as a launch title for the Xbox gaming system, ^[6] and is considered the platform's "killer app." ^[7] Many game magazines have praised Halo as one of the best ^[8] and most important ^[9] games of all time.

Shortly after, Ryan and Angela were engaged. They married on August 23, 2003, in an outdoor ceremony on the shores of Seattle’s Lake Union.

In March of 2004, Ryan joined up with Microsoft's team La Bomba for Microsoft PuzzleHunt VII “Alice in PuzzleHunt.” ^[10] "Ryan cut his teeth on the 36-hour puzzle marathon with a caucus race around the campus that lasted through the wee hours of the morning," commented Bungie colleague and fellow quester Roger Wolfson. "He dispatched puzzles with the alacrity of a walrus confronted with oysters. He has remained with team La Bomba ever since."

In spring of 2004, Ryan and Angela purchased their first home, a new-construction townhouse in the quirky, artsy neighborhood of Fremont. "Ryan didn’t have much time to enjoy that summer, however," recalls Angela, "as he was in full-on crunch mode on Halo 2." Halo 2 was released for the Xbox video game console on November 9, 2004. ^[11] Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Halo 2 was the most popular video game on Xbox Live, ^[12] holding that rank until the release of Gears of War for the Xbox 360 nearly two years later. ^[13] Unlike its predecessor, Halo 2 allowed players to compete with each other via Xbox Live, in addition to supporting split-screen and system link multiplayer. ^[14] As the multiplayer test lead on the project, Ryan directly contributed to the series' ambitious, record-breaking foray into the multiplayer arena. ^{[15] [16]}

In between working on the Halo games, Ryan provided test assistance for several other Microsoft video game titles, including Age of Empires III and Age of Mythology. ^[17]

After the launch of Halo 2, Ryan also made the move out of Bungie Studios into Microsoft’s cross-studio test group and subsequently into the Microsoft studio Turn 10, where he worked on Forza Motorsport 2 ^[18] and currently Forza Motorsport 3. ^[19]

In April of 2007, Ryan and Angela sold their Fremont townhome to upgrade to a single-family home in the Greenlake neighborhood. Built in 1926 and in need of some love and care, the house required several immediate maintenance projects, which the young couple attacked with zeal. "By the end of the summer, we had refinished all of the wood floors, painted the entire interior of the first floor, had the outside of the house painted, built a kitchen breakfast nook, removed a damaged 30-foot tree from the back yard, and completed a laundry list of other maintenance projects," said Angela. "Since then, we've also remodeled the upstairs bathroom, expanded our yard, replaced the backyard deck, re-landscaped, and resided the garage. Next up on the list: completing the upstairs bedrooms and media room."

In April of 2008, Ryan and Angela also added a furry new member to their family. They rescued a 2-month-old Bernese and sable collie mix puppy from a shelter in Oklahoma City.