Gameplay Engineer

Description

Devoted Studios is a globally remote game development company specializing in Co-development, Porting, and End-to-End Art Production for the global gaming industry. We collaborate across time zones to support projects on all major platforms, engines and styles - from AAA titles to emerging technologies.

Our team includes world-class talents who bring deep expertise in external development, pipeline optimization, and creative problem-solving. Whether it’s porting games to new systems, enhancing gameplay features, or crafting stunning visuals, Devoted Studios operates as a trusted, flexible extension of our partners’ internal teams.

We are proud to be the development partner of choice for industry leaders such as:

• Epic
• Xbox
• Meta
• Obsidian Entertainment
• Riot
• Gearbox Software

We are seeking a Gameplay Engineer who is a specialist e a specialist — deeply fluent in C++ and Unreal Engine, experienced shipping AAA systems, and capable of taking a brief from a gameplay designer and turning it into production-quality code that holds up on every platform and survives every patch.

Key Responsibilities

Core Gameplay Systems (~50%)

• Implement gameplay systems from designer briefs: combat, abilities, movement, AI behaviours, progression, inventory, interaction, camera — scope varies by engagement
• Build reusable, maintainable, testable gameplay code in C++ (and Blueprint where appropriate) within Unreal Engine 5
• Own Gameplay Ability System (GAS) implementation — AttributeSets, Abilities, GameplayEffects, GameplayCues — on engagements where GAS is in use
• Implement animation-gameplay integration: Anim Notifies, state-driven Anim BPs, root motion handling, blendspaces
• Implement multiplayer-safe gameplay code on engagements with networking requirements — replication, client-server authority, lag compensation

Quality & Performance (~25%)

• Profile and optimise gameplay code to target platform budgets — CPU frame time, tick overhead, replication cost
• Write code that is reviewable: clean, commented where logic is non-obvious, consistent with project standards
• Catch and fix gameplay bugs — including edge cases, exploit patterns, and regression from live updates
• Participate actively in code review: review peers' PRs with specificity, receive and act on feedback without defensiveness

Design Collaboration (~15%)

• Work directly with gameplay designers to translate design intent into engine behaviour — close the gap between what is specced and what ships
• Identify implementation risks in design briefs early — before they become rework — and propose alternatives when the spec is not buildable as written
• Expose gameplay parameters to designers in a way that is tunable without engineering involvement (Blueprint exposed properties, Datatable-driven tuning, etc.)

Documentation & Handoff (~10%)

• Document systems clearly — architecture decisions, integration points, known limitations
• Support technical handoffs between phases or teams: leave the codebase in a state that the next engineer can understand without a phone call

• 5+ years of professional game development experience with at least 3 years in AAA or mid-tier shipped titles
• At least 2 shipped commercial titles on PC or console as a gameplay engineer — prototypes and internal tools do not count
• Deep Unreal Engine 5 experience in C++: Gameplay Framework (Actor, Component, GameMode, GameState, PlayerController), GAS, CharacterMovement, Anim BP integration
• Strong C++ fundamentals: memory management, data-oriented thinking, performance-aware coding
• Blueprint proficiency — not just reading it, but building designer-facing tooling in it
• Experience with multiplayer gameplay replication (nice to have, not required for all engagements)
• Strong game design sensibility — can tell good gameplay from broken gameplay and can articulate why
• Remote-first habits: clear async communication, writes things down, doesn't create silent dependencies

Preferred

• Online multiplayer systems — Actor replication, GameplayEffects replication, ability prediction and correction
• Console platform experience: certification pipelines, platform-specific constraints
• Gameplay AI systems in UE5: Behavior Trees, EQS, AI Perception — not required but valuable for certain engagements
• Prior co-development or external development experience

This would he a full-time employment role with standard industry benefits in Canada