Available to hire
Hi, I’m Son Nguyen, a dedicated gameplay programmer with a passion for creating immersive and engaging game experiences. I specialize in Unreal Engine 5 and C++, leveraging my skills to build robust AI systems, responsive gameplay mechanics, and optimized game engines. Collaboration is key for me—as part of large development teams, I partner closely with artists and designers to bring games to life, ranging from AAA horror to kart racing titles.
Currently, I’m pursuing my Master’s degree in Interactive Technology while simultaneously developing my own game engine and contributing to various exciting projects. I’m enthusiastic about blending technical programming expertise with creative game design to deliver high-quality interactive entertainment.
Experience Level
Language
English
Fluent
Vietnamese
Advanced
Work Experience
Gameplay Programmer at Mirrored Phantoms
August 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024Engineered a robust AI system employing Behavior Trees, BTTasks, and dynamic Animation Notify States to drive responsive and engaging player-AI interactions. Partnered with the art team to develop immersive game cinematics utilizing the Sequencer tool. Collaborated with a 21-person development team to develop and publish a AAA horror title.
Gameplay Programmer at Fastival
January 1, 2024 - May 31, 2024Engineered a responsive UI system, combining UMG elements with 3D actors on the Menu screen. Implemented a versatile cross-platform controller key mapping system, ensuring support for the simultaneous use of up to four controllers. Collaborated as a developer within a 47-person team to develop and publish a AAA kart racing title.
Engine Programmer at Westlake Engine
August 1, 2023 - June 7, 2025Engineered a C++ game engine with a custom DirectX 11 renderer. Implemented core systems including multi-threaded job management, event handling, audio processing, networking, and save/load mechanisms. Developed key engine components such as raycasting libraries, XML parsing tools, and vertex drawing utilities. Designed and built math and physics libraries, including narrow-phase collision detection for 3D primitives and 2D convex shapes.
Engine Programmer at Westlake Engine
July 1, 2024 - May 31, 2025Developed a 3D physics engine in C++ within the Westlake Engine, implementing rigid body dynamics and collision detection optimized with octree spatial partitioning, achieving a 3x performance increase. Engineered a hierarchical skeletal system enabling realistic articulated character movement and animation. Integrated Verlet Velocity for stable and accurate simulation of both positional and orientational motion of skeletal nodes. Designed and implemented a Pin Constraint to maintain positional relationships and enforce parent-child orientation alignment within the skeletal structure.
Gameplay Programmer at Simple Miner
May 1, 2024 - July 31, 2024Engineered an infinite open-world game environment leveraging Perlin Noise for procedural generation. Implemented a chunk-based architecture to manage and render the expansive game world efficiently. Optimized game performance by 20x by implementing multithreaded chunk activation and deactivation processes. Developed a sophisticated light propagation system utilizing a custom HLSL shader and a game constant buffer for realistic lighting effects.
Gameplay Programmer at Mirrored Phantoms
August 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024Engineered a robust AI system employing Behavior Trees, BTTasks, and dynamic Animation Notify States to drive responsive and engaging player-AI interactions. Partnered with the art team to develop immersive game cinematics utilizing the Sequencer tool. Collaborated with a 21-person development team to develop and publish a AAA horror title.
Gameplay Programmer at Fastival
January 1, 2024 - May 31, 2024Engineered a responsive UI system, combining UMG elements with 3D actors on the Menu screen. Implemented a versatile cross-platform controller key mapping system, ensuring support for the simultaneous use of up to four controllers. Collaborated as a developer within a 47-person team to develop and publish a AAA kart racing title.
Engine Programmer at Westlake Engine
August 1, 2023 - June 22, 2025Engineered a C++ game engine with a custom DirectX 11 renderer. Implemented core systems including multi-threaded job management, event handling, audio processing, networking, and save/load mechanisms. Developed key engine components such as raycasting libraries, XML parsing tools, and vertex drawing utilities. Designed and built math and physics libraries, including narrow-phase collision detection for 3D primitives and 2D convex shapes.
Engine Programmer at Westlake Engine
July 1, 2024 - May 31, 2025Developed a 3D physics engine in C++ within the Westlake Engine, implementing rigid body dynamics and collision detection optimized with octree spatial partitioning resulting in a 3x performance increase. Engineered a hierarchical skeletal system to enable realistic articulated character movement and animation. Integrated Verlet Velocity for stable and accurate simulation of both positional and orientational motion of skeletal nodes. Designed and implemented a Pin Constraint to maintain positional relationships and enforce parent-child orientation alignment within the skeletal structure.
Gameplay Programmer at Simple Miner
May 1, 2024 - July 31, 2024Engineered an infinite open-world game environment leveraging Perlin Noise for procedural generation. Implemented a chunk-based architecture to manage and render the expansive game world efficiently. Optimized game performance by 20x by implementing multithreaded chunk activation and deactivation processes. Developed a sophisticated light propagation system utilizing a custom HLSL shader and a game constant buffer for realistic lighting effects.
Gameplay Programmer at Mirrored Phantoms
August 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024Engineered a robust AI system employing Behavior Trees, BTTasks, and dynamic Animation Notify States to drive responsive and engaging player-AI interactions. Partnered with the art team to develop immersive game cinematics utilizing the Sequencer tool. Collaborated with a 21-person development team to develop and publish a AAA horror title.
Gameplay Programmer at Fastival
January 1, 2024 - May 31, 2024Engineered a responsive UI system, combining UMG elements with 3D actors on the Menu screen. Implemented a versatile cross-platform controller key mapping system, ensuring support for the simultaneous use of up to four controllers. Collaborated as a developer within a 47-person team to develop and publish a AAA kart racing title.
Engine Programmer at Westlake Engine
August 1, 2023 - May 11, 2025Engineered a C++ game engine with a custom DirectX 11 renderer. Implemented core systems including multi-threaded job management, event handling, audio processing, networking, and save/load mechanisms. Developed key engine components such as raycasting libraries, XML parsing tools, and vertex drawing utilities. Designed and built math and physics libraries, including narrow-phase collision detection for 3D primitives and 2D convex shapes.
Engine Programmer at Westlake Engine
July 1, 2024 - May 11, 2025Developed a 3D physics engine in C++ within the Westlake Engine, implementing rigid body dynamics and collision detection optimized with octree spatial partitioning, increasing performance by 3x. Engineered a hierarchical skeletal system for realistic articulated character movement and animation. Integrated Verlet Velocity for stable simulation of positional and orientational motion. Designed and implemented Pin Constraint to maintain positional relationships and enforce parent-child orientation alignment within the skeletal structure.
Gameplay Programmer at Westlake Engine
May 1, 2024 - July 31, 2024Engineered an infinite open-world game environment leveraging Perlin Noise for procedural generation. Implemented chunk-based architecture for efficient management and rendering of the game world. Optimized game performance by 20x by implementing multithreaded chunk activation and deactivation processes. Developed a sophisticated light propagation system utilizing a custom HLSL shader and game constant buffer for realistic lighting effects.
Education
M.S. at Southern Methodist University
August 1, 2023 - May 31, 2025B.A. at Quinnipiac University
August 1, 2018 - May 31, 2022M.S. at Southern Methodist University
August 1, 2023 - May 31, 2025B.A. at Quinnipiac University
August 1, 2018 - May 31, 2022M.S. at Guildhall
August 1, 2023 - May 31, 2025B.A. at Quinnipiac University
August 1, 2018 - May 31, 2022Qualifications
Industry Experience
Gaming, Software & Internet, Computers & Electronics, Media & Entertainment
Experience Level
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