I am an ambitious and driven person, always learning new things, tackling new problems, and bringing a spark of curiosity and joy wherever I go. I have worked primarily with Unreal Engine as an engineer developing tools and systems for various multiplayer games. 3C’s, project automation, tools, plugin development, and combat are places I have primarily worked.

Nikolai Shkurkin

I am an ambitious and driven person, always learning new things, tackling new problems, and bringing a spark of curiosity and joy wherever I go. I have worked primarily with Unreal Engine as an engineer developing tools and systems for various multiplayer games. 3C’s, project automation, tools, plugin development, and combat are places I have primarily worked.

Available to hire

I am an ambitious and driven person, always learning new things, tackling new problems, and bringing a spark of curiosity and joy wherever I go.

I have worked primarily with Unreal Engine as an engineer developing tools and systems for various multiplayer games. 3C’s, project automation, tools, plugin development, and combat are places I have primarily worked.

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Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Intermediate
Beginner

Language

English
Fluent
Spanish; Castilian
Beginner

Work Experience

Principal Gameplay Engineer at Distinct Possibility Studios
January 1, 2024 - November 23, 2025
Extending and refactoring combat and item systems to be flexible and scalable for a multiplayer game; supported designers, animators, and VFX with APIs, documentation, and one-on-one guidance; led code architecture, code reviews, and technical discussions; triaged and fixed issues across gameplay systems; developed internal debugging/tools to improve iteration and deployment.
Sr. Systems Engineer at Heart Machine
January 1, 2024 - January 1, 2024
Supported combat design and gameplay systems; extended internal Debug Menu; collaborate with Creative Director, Design, Animation, and VFX teams on features and systems; contributed to weapon/item systems, damage pipelines, player abilities, camera, and enemy AI behaviors; led UI and tooling improvements; created and rolled out automated testing/monitoring utilities.
Sr. Software Engineer at Deviation Games
January 1, 2022 - January 1, 2022
Gameplay, graphics, tech art, tooling support; CI/CD, issue triage, and performance optimization for a canceled AAA title; collaborated across design, engineering, and production teams to ship features and tooling; contributed to multiple subsystems and pipelines.
Business Development Engineer at Green Hills Software
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2020
Demo prototyping and driver development for cutting-edge automotive processors; debugging of large-scale applications; public speaking and customer relations; robust and clean coding; implemented core device drivers (serial, I2C, storage) for automotive processors; ported OpenGL demos; created Python tools and a CI/CD pipeline to manage cross-office workflows.
Software Engineer (Intern) at Apple
April 1, 2015 - April 1, 2015
Objective-C/WatchOS software development on core Watch OS apps and production systems.

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
September 17, 2012 - June 6, 2016

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Gaming, Software & Internet, Media & Entertainment, Professional Services, Other

Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Intermediate
Beginner