EMPACT - HTX Labs
EMPACT is an XR platform that provides immersive training content for the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Air Force. Through HTX Labs, EMPACT delivers almost a decade of XR mission-readiness content and solutions for VR, web, and mobile platforms. As a gameplay engineer from 2023 thru today, I designed, engineered, and collaborated on dozens of published training simulations for EMPACT's catalog. Besides a few public EMPACT procedures, the rest of my documentation, code, and overall work are private under HTX Labs
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Gameplay Engineer
- Created, documented, and maintained blueprints and C++ in Unreal Engine 4 and 5 to create immersive training simulations.
- Collaborated with multidisciplinary teams of artists, engineers, producers, QA, and product owners to deliver educational experiences that hit or exceed client standards.
- Contributed to scalable coding libraries to maximize gameplay efficiency and quality across our platform and contracts.
- Participated in code reviews sessions, whether over calls or async, to maintain internal standards, quality, and readability across strike teams as well as improving our existing tooling.
- Onboarded contractors to active projects and company practices, serving as an effective & reliable touchpoint through frequent syncs, code reviews, and collaboration. Fostered an inclusive, question-friendly atmosphere to encourage the team through challenges and roadblocks.
- Migrated existing projects and procedures from UE4 to UE5, overcoming the technical challenges of re-implementing functionality across engine versions, a living and changing internal platform, and timeline restraints.
- Profile & optimized Android builds to maintain 60+ FPS for smooth, performant experience on multiple VR platforms, tethered & standalone, as well as 2D web and mobile support.
- Traveled regularly to GDC (Game Developer's Conference) and other conventions to stay up to date with the industry and bring back topical reports to improve our workplace's workflows and explore R&D efforts.
- Commended for seeking self-growth and professional development opportunities, as well as bringing a friendly and communicative energy to our team culture.
Sound Design
- Led the documentation and organizational initiatives to create a readable, scalable sound library for use across all our internal products.
- Served as a primary touchpoint for contributions to our sound design library to ensure proper organization and quality for content development.
- Collaborated with sound engineers to renovate our existing sound systems to industry-standard audio practices and consistency across our products.
- Created foley using Cubase and Soundsnap's library to match our simulation needs, and refined their immersion with UE5 native features (i.e. sound cues, attenuation, sound classes, etc).
Technical Design
- Initiated and maintained documentation efforts to reduce ambiguity around procedure demos, project expectations, internal tooling, and highly-technical workflows to improve cross-team efficiency and clarity.
- Closely collaborated with project managers to transform project expectations into satisfying gameplay demos. achieve requirements and a satisfying gameplay feel for our customers.
- Participated regularly in UX design reviews to ensure long-term sustainability for gameplay requirements across VR and 2D platforms.