Good Kill!

My role

As Lead Programmer at Gamegine Games, I designed the gameplay architecture and guided the team through implementation. My work combined hands-on programming, technical research, code review, and mentoring junior and mid-level developers.

Gameplay architecture

I established a modular, component-based framework for gameplay, weapons, quests, and game flow. I taught component-based design and dependency injection, helping the team build systems that could be extended without tightly coupling every feature.

Combat, AI, and animation

• Designed the weapon architecture and guided work on shooting, aiming, reloading, ballistics, hit detection, and damage.
• Researched utility-based AI and supported its implementation and third-party integration.
• Built a dismemberment system and procedural FPS animation, including sway, breathing, recoil, and ADS transitions.
• Designed the physics-based helicopter system, guided implementation, and took responsibility for production bug fixes and optimization.

Performance and team workflow

I worked on tick batching, object pooling, and distance-based animation updates to address CPU and animation overhead. I also mentored programmers through code reviews and implementation discussions, and helped the art team with Unreal Engine workflows.

The core challenge was making these systems work together while keeping the code understandable for the team.

Status: Available in Steam Early Access since 11 November 2024.

Measurable contribution

I increased Good Kill!’s frame rate from 40 to 120 FPS through LOD and texture optimization, CPU-side AI improvements, object pooling, and work on the helicopter system. I also led a team of up to 5 people through code review, mentoring, and technical problem solving.