O’Neill is a leader in the gaming industry, with development experience spanning more two decades in video games, including serious games that utilize gaming technology for non-gaming purposes, as well as traditional entertainment game development on PC, mobile, console, and VR. He is a recognized expert in game development across multiple platforms, genres, and markets, business development and professional relationship management, consulting and advising to help small businesses survive in the changing landscape of the game industry.O’Neill began working in the gaming space prior to graduating from N.C. State in 1996, working at MicroProse on the popular Civilization II Strategy Game. He then joined Vicious Cycle Software where he served as Director of Business Development. In January 2008, his entrepreneurial passion won out and he broke out on his own to create his company - Spark Plug Games. The company started out strong with the development of Innov8. The game took a more serious approach to gaming, and was used by IBM to help train MBA students in business process management. The idea was a success, and found itself to be the subject of a feature story in Business Week magazine. The company is also a leading provider of employee training games for Dairy Queen. Spark Plug Games is also a significant player in the commercial gaming space with popular commercial hits like Lost in Time: The Clockwork Tower, MechRunner and Plight of the Zombie. Under O’Neill’s leadership, Spark Plug Games has emerged is a leading independent games developer for a variety of platform including Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii & DS, Microsoft Xbox and Apple iPhone. The studio culture embraces the slogan that O’Neill inspired, “We ignite fun!” Continuing the entrepreneurial spirit, O’Neill has been a founding member of four additional companies, with three of them established in North Carolina. These include a marketing agency specializing in self-reliance practices, a second game development studio specializing in bridging the gap between physical and digital, a technical consulting agency assisting small businesses in the fast-paced world of application development, and an international-based corporation developing products designed to assist non-native English speakers to improve and track their language abilities. O’Neill continues to work with students from universities all around the world and guide them in the complex and competitive space that is today’s videogame industry.O’Neill has emerged as a catalyst and influential voice in the gaming space, frequently serving as a technical evangelist and working with international corporations in emerging hardware technology. He has also taught game development courses at NC State University, and has served as a member of the computer science Strategic Advisory Board.