Charles E. Winston

Gameplay Engineer at Skydance Interactive

Worked closely with designers, animators, SFX artists and the audio team. Contributed to combat gameplay including weapon-based progression, mini-boss fights and special attacks, applying 3D math to enhance immersion with haptics and audio. Familiar with AI techniques such as Behavior Trees and Enumerated Goal System (EGO); State Trees to create realistic NPCs.

Senior Software Engineer (Gameplay) at Certain Affinity

Worked in the Slipspace (Game Engine) sandbox, fixing animation bugs and streamlining the animation system. Collaborated with animators and content teams to resolve issues. Worked on user interfaces in Slipspace utilizing Microsoft’s MVVM paradigm. Used Lua to connect gameplay systems to the user interface and handle player interactions. Created custom gameplay abilities using Unreal 5 and Unreal's Gameplay Ability System (GAS). Conducted R&D on GAS and wrote proposals for future development work.

Senior Software Engineer (Gameplay) at Cubic Corporation

Worked with game designers and UX designers to create custom game mechanics. Created data-driven gameplay systems. Utilized Slate components to add usable functionality to UMG components for improved UI, and created reusable UI components. Refactored Blueprints to C++ enabling collaborative development. Used Entity Component System (ECS) to build server-side entity components to enhance gameplay.

Unreal Virtual Reality Developer at General Motors

Led Vehicle Visualizer project in Unreal 4 with Need for Speed–style UI to customize vehicles. Led VR training application for manufacturing and Safety departments using Unreal and C++. Employed C++ and Blueprints to create gameplay for a VR training application. Used Python to automate bottleneck processes in the artist pipeline, including material and asset updates. Created a custom C++ Actor for reusable vehicle configuration functionality and collaborated with Epic Engineers when testing enterprise Unreal builds. Used Datasmith to import large assets with metadata into scenes. Created AR visualization app for Android to test car paints on another platform.

Lead Software Engineer at IndiLogic

Designed and architected the IndiController client and server applications using Qt (C++), QML (JavaScript), and the IndiVirtualBus API (C++). Created mobile application enabling users to control their PC's inputs (Keyboard, Mouse, Xbox360 Gamepad, or DualShock4) via a phone. Led and mentored a team, managed work assignments and delegated responsibilities. Utilized QML for client-side UI and custom components. Designed systems to leverage a mobile device's sensors as steering and camera controls. Built modular, extensible systems using standard OO patterns. Created a custom C++ API for QML to interface with the client-side presentation logic. Developed a custom communication protocol using JSON and WebSockets for two-way client-server communication.

Flash UI Programmer at Edge of Reality

Created HUD for Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark. Used JSFL to extract existing code from timeline and create new classes for better UI integration. Worked with designers and UX artists to realize visuals. Used memory tools like AMP for Scaleform to optimize memory on older consoles. Refactored existing ActionScript 2 code for HUD to follow MVC, enabling faster bug fixes. Interfaced with .NET code (C#) to send data from the game engine to UI.

Game Developer/ Technical Artist at Technotainment Studios

Created custom projectile-based weapons in Unreal 5 using the Lyra sample project. Developed custom racing gameplay and track entities/actors. Built a C++ Vehicle Dynamics Library modeling engine, transmission and aerodynamics; created a Qt/C++ test application for vehicle dynamics and data editing. Implemented vehicle dynamics in CryEngine with a custom C++ movement class for race cars. Implemented API functionality to integrate the dynamics library into CryEngine. Designed custom QML components for tools and in-game use, and built a cloud-enabled world builder for heightmaps using elevation data.