Gameplay Engineer Internship
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Language: Angel Script, C++
Duration: 10 months
My Role: Gameplay ENGINEER
Being a Gameplay Engineer Intern at Embark has given me great experience and insight into the industry. I worked towards deadlines alongside a talented team of other engineers, designers, artists, production and QA and produced work for ARC Raiders. My main contributions were within AI and related systems, but I also added functionality on the player character.
Overall, I was adding both entirely new features, improving existing systems and fixing bugs. To make sure my code and functionality was robust I also wrote automated tests for parts of my work.
I acted as middle ground between design and tech in meetings, giving- & receiving feedback and discussing features on both sides. Ensuring a good workflow while meeting both technical- and design requirements. By bridging the gap between AI functionality and other gameplay systems, I enhanced effectiveness in experimenting and prototyping.
AI Systems & Behaviors
I implemented networked AI archetypes and behaviors, one notable contribution being the “Snitch”. I worked with Behavior trees and created new BT components used by multiple AIs, in addition to working with AI- information systems, the game state management system and spawning of AI.
I also created a custom generative tool that handles AI movement, minimizing manual work but still enabling control for the designers to uniquely tailor the gameplay.
Personal Development
Embark has been a great place to learn and I’ve learned a lot from the very skilled and experienced game developers at the company. I received continuous and extensive mentoring, including code reviews, technical discussions on various topics, and conversations regarding different approaches. It improved both my programming skills and made me grow as a developer.
This mentoring and the working approach at the company ended up shaping the mindset that I’ve had ever since I entered this industry, to engineer gameplay systems in a way that is more than just implementing the functionality but also about setting a direction for the design.