Senior Unreal Developer

After many years of game development in Unity, we are now growing our expertise in the Unreal engine and need to scale up our senior development team. In particular, one of our upcoming titles features complex game mechanics in multiplayer VR, and prior experience in this area would be an asset to the team.

Your Job Description

• Build core game systems for upcoming VR/AR games & attractions.
• Prototype game mechanics, including: camera-based navigation, procedural placement of 3D content, management of different camera views / UIs, character interactions, behaviour trees, puzzles, scoring and leveling systems, player progression, etc.
• Build vehicle simulations, work with motion tracking systems, and new VR/AR technologies for theme park rides.
• Integrate 3D assets from the artistic team, develop content pipelines, add visual effects, and optimize the game for performance.
• Develop tools and other specialized systems to perform non-standard development within the engine.

Your Core Qualifications

• Have worked heavily with Unreal 5.
• Have worked on a team that shipped a commercial title using the Unreal Engine.
• Hold a degree in Computer Science or related discipline.
• Have 3+ years in professional game development (school / hobby doesn’t count).

Your Skills & Competencies

1. Have intimate knowledge of modern Unreal Engine development
   • Understand best practices for architecture, project structure, and building tools in C++ versus blueprints.
   • Experience with new Unreal frameworks such as Enhanced Input, Gameplay Abilities, Lumen, Niagara, Chaos, and VR.
   • Understand the technical art pipeline (modeling, animation, texturing, lighting, effects).
     
2. Experience with multiplayer programming for Unreal
   • Strong knowledge of multiplayer network replication, RPCs, state management, client-side prediction, and determinism.
   • Experience with different multiplayer architectures (eg, dedicated servers vs listen server model)
   • Experience with cross-platform multiplayer and cross-play.
   • Experience with backed tools and online subsystems (eg, Steam, Oculus, Epic Online).
     
3. Have a high degree of competency in C++
   • Have strong knowledge of object-oriented design, data structures, and extensible design patterns.
   • Be disciplined in creating and maintaining modular codebases.
   • Understand threads, memory management, and performance optimization.
     
4. Have knowledge of general game programming concepts
   
   • Strong knowledge of 3D math, computational geometry, and physics
   • Expert understanding of input systems, management of scenes / states / levels, character controllers, camera systems, and gameplay.
   • Understanding of the 3D rendering pipeline, culling, level of detail, visual effects, lighting, materials/shaders, etc.
     
5. Work well as a team lead
   • Ability to create technical designs and then communicate and organize a team to execute.
   • Ability to perform code reviews and oversee other developers, validating their code for function, form, and efficiency.
     

About Hololabs

Hololabs was founded in 2011 by researchers in intelligent systems and veterans from AAA gaming, and has developed a diverse portfolio ranging from theme park rides to mobile games and virtual reality. We thrive on technically challenging and ambitious experiences, and have won several awards for our success. The studio spends about half of its time / team on work-for-hire projects that are typically interactive installations, themed entertainment projects, or AR/VR apps for clients. The remaining time is devoted to internal video game projects. Our most recent game, Sky Haven, is a location-based mobile puzzle game that mixes mechanics from games like Pokémon GO with merge games like Merge Mansion. It features our proprietary sky-based AR system, map navigation with our own database of playable POIs, and an engaging alternate reality narrative. Prior games include a kids game based on a book series called The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, and a breakdance battle game called Floor Kids, which was developed in collaboration with infamous turntablist, Kid Koala, and superstar animator b-boy, JonJon.

Location

While we support remote and hybrid employment, candidates willing to work at least periodically in our downtown office in Victoria, BC will be prioritized. We may consider candidates residing in Vancouver or elsewhere on Vancouver Island as long as they are willing to visit the office in Victoria, BC for on-site meetings from time to time. Also, please note that we can only consider applicants legally eligible to work in Canada (Citizen or Permanent Resident).