A Gameplay Engineer is a professional who holds a key role in the video game development process. They are responsible for bringing a game's mechanics, systems, and interactions to life, ensuring an engaging and immersive player experience. Gameplay Engineers bridge the creative and technical aspects of game development, making them essential members of a game development team. In this blog post, we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Gameplay Engineers.

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Main Responsibilities of a Gameplay Engineer

The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Gameplay Engineer:

Adapt

Adapt gameplay for different platforms.

Assist in

• Assist engineering leadership in API implementation across entire project team.

• Assist in creating work estimates and support team members in achieving project deadlines.

• Assist other engineers with their features in a programming capacity or otherwise.

Build

• Build amazing experiences in Halo Infinite.

• Build and expand systems / tools to improve development.

• Build physics engines and systems for realistic interactions.

• Build sustaining gameplay systems, suggest new ideas, concepts, and provide feedback.

Collaborate with

• Collaborate closely with other disciplines as a true team player.

• Collaborate daily with a multi-disciplinary team to build, maintain, and extend our codebase.

• Collaborate with designers to encourage tight cooperation between design and code.

• Collaborate with level designers on gameplay elements.

• Collaborate with producers and design staff to optimize gameplay tools and mechanics.

• Collaborate with team members to cultivate and improve various gameplay systems.

Contribute

Contribute input on the game's vision and helps champion that vision to team members.

Create

• Create AI behavior patterns and logic for non-player characters.

• Create and integrate particle effects for visual feedback.

• Create and maintain design documentation for abilities systems and component effects.

• Create and maintain design documents.

• Create and maintain tools for designers and artists.

• Create prototypes to test and iterate on game ideas.

Design

• Design and code player control systems.

• Design and implement well-engineered, reliable, maintainable, and bug-free code.

Develop

• Develop and integrate user interface elements.

• Develop and maintain tools and technology for specific project requirements as needed.

• Develop and test code, fix bugs, and profile and optimize code as directed.

• Develop cutscenes and dialogue systems.

• Develop deep understanding of our high-level gameplay and scripting systems.

• Develop designs and tests that enable new features without sacrificing existing functionality.

• Develop features & gameplay functionality, primarily in JavaScript and GoLang.

• Develop scripting and event systems.

Document

• Document and peer review technical designs with other software engineers.

• Document and peer review technical designs with teams.

Drive

Drive our culture of learning and development through mentorship, hosting talks and lunch & learns.

Estimate

Estimate time and effort required for assigned technical tasks and schedule them accordingly.

Explore

Explore and integrate new and developing technologies and APIs.

Focus on

Focus on improving the player's experience.

Follow

• Follow best practices, development processes, and coding standards.

• Follow best practices, processes, and coding standards.

• Follow development processes and best practices.

Identify

• Identify and fix gameplay bugs and glitches.

• Identify areas to extend the creation pipeline, including but not limited to building new tools.

Implement

• Implement camera control systems for optimal player view.

• Implement character progression systems.

• Implement core game mechanics, such as movement and combat.

• Implement multiplayer features and networking code.

Improve

Improve existing systems that aren't performing to required standard.

Integrate

• Integrate 2D and 3D assets into gameplay.

• Integrate character animations into gameplay.

• Integrate sound effects and audio cues.

Interact with

Interact with and manage various key internal and external stakeholder groups.

Investigate

Investigate complex issues arising in the engine, underlying script.

Keep up to date

Keep up to date on state-of-the-art software engineering methods, practices, and technologies.

Maintain

Maintain confidentiality of gamigo's internal information.

Make

Make forays into client code to expose those features to the user.

Manage

Manage the game's state, transitions, and progression.

Mentor

Mentor other engineers as needed to increase their abilities and productivity.

Optimize

• Optimize code as directed.

• Optimize gameplay code for smooth performance.

• Optimize memory usage for performance.

Oversee

Oversee project dependencies, both internal and external, ensuring contingency plans are in place.

Prototype

Prototype new ideas and games for the studio.

Provide

• Provide design leadership and coach other owls in design and prototyping best practices.

• Provide hands on coding solutions to help solve complex problems or blockers.

• Provide high level direction on projects, features, or complex systems.

• Provide scalable and re-usable solutions for a variety of gameplay problems.

• Provide support and communicate updates, changes, and resolve issues with the team.

Research

Research new technology to deliver the best solutions.

Seek

Seek and integrate feedback from a variety of stakeholders - including playtests.

Stay updated with

Stay updated with game development trends.

Streamline

Streamline and improve the character and abilities content creation process.

Take

Take ownership over and deliver on key milestones.

Test

Test and fine-tune game balance for player enjoyment.

Understand

Understand and organize complex systems to simplify and communicate to other departments.

Use

• Use scriptable objects to configure game data.

• Use scripting languages (e.g., Lua, Python).

Work with

• Work closely with designers and level artists to iterate daily on gameplay experiences.

• Work closely with QA on comprehensive test plans and fixing combat game-play related bugs.

• Work closely with quality assurance teams.

• Work closely with the Lead Engineer and integrate into a fully cross-functional team.

• Work cross discipline to design, build, and deliver new features to a recently released game.

• Work primarily within our server code to implement features from combat to crafting to guilds.

• Work with other engineers to review and evaluate script architecture and system designs.

• Work with other teams, both internal and external, to discuss new technologies.

• Work with production to provide estimates and updates on progress and identify potential setbacks.

• Work with QA, providing information needed to fully test developed code.

Write

• Write and maintain production-quality C++ code that follows good coding standards.

• Write clear, maintainable, portable, and highly functional code that is scalable and cross platform.

Most In-demand Hard Skills

The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Gameplay Engineer:

1. Programming Languages (e.g., C++, C#, Java)

2. Game Engines (e.g., Unity, Unreal Engine)

3. Physics and Mathematics

4. AI Programming and Behavior Trees

5. User Interface Tools (e.g., Unity UI)

6. Multiplayer Networking (e.g., Photon, UNet)

7. Animation Systems (e.g., Unity Animation)

8. Scripting Languages (e.g., Lua)

9. Game Testing and Debugging Tools

10. Performance Optimization Techniques

11. Version Control Systems (e.g., Git)

12. Physics and Collision Detection

13. Sound Integration and Middleware (e.g., FMOD)

14. Design Patterns (e.g., MVC, Observer)

15. Particle Systems (e.g., Unity Particle System)

16. Scriptable Objects and Data-Driven Design

17. Character Progression Systems

18. Cutscene and Dialogue Tools (e.g., Unity Cinemachine)

19. Cross-Platform Development Tools

20. Efficient Memory Management Techniques

Most In-demand Soft Skills

The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Gameplay Engineer:

1. Creativity and Innovation

2. Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking

3. Team Collaboration

4. Communication and Documentation

5. Attention to Detail

6. Adaptability and Flexibility

7. Time Management

8. Passion for Gaming and Player Experience

9. Ability to Accept and Provide Constructive Feedback

10. Continuous Learning and Self-Improvement

Conclusion

Gameplay Engineers are instrumental in creating interactive and enjoyable gaming experiences. By mastering the hard and soft skills outlined in this post, they can contribute to the success of video game projects and immerse players in captivating virtual worlds.