Hi! I’m Hugo, a C++ gameplay engineer!

About Me

I’m a gameplay engineer in the games industry with 3+ years of experience on a major first-party AAA title developed in UE5. Having been involved with the development of Until Dawn 2024 from first conception to release, I have seen the entire development cycle of a AAA title; Due to the small team sizes at BM, I have also been responsible for a myriad of different systems & functions within UD. I was involved in multiple areas of development, including but not limited to: Rapid feature prototyping in a 2-person team, inital systems porting for all major systems within the title, development of custom asset/data porting pipelines from Decima to UE5, animation programming, multiple faccets of cinematic functionality (including branching narritive systems & prop continuity), dynamic mesh implementation on NPC & playable characters, and in-depth performance debugging using UE5’s built-in tools & the PS5 development suite.

I graduated with a First Class Batchelors of Science (BSc) degree in Video Game Development from BCU (2019 – 2021), and in my spare time I’m a volunteer community admin for Trans Game Dev. I was nominated for the GiG Inclusivity Champion award in 2022.

Skills

  • Engines:
    • Unreal Engine 4 / 5
    • Decima
    • Unity
  • Languages:
    • C++
    • C#
    • Lua
    • Python
  • Source Control
    • Perforce
    • Git

Work Experience

Until Dawn

2021 to 2024 – Software Engineer
Ballistic Moon
Unreal Engine 5

Steam
Playstation Blog

Overhauling such an interesting & genre-defining game for PS5 and PC was an incredible honour and presented a series of unique challenges. Having access to the complete source code for a successful title as my first industry experience has been pivotal in helping me understand how systems are structured, how each feature interacts with the wider game framework in different ways, and how they can be improved & adapted for the 2024 release.

Due to the team being so small (5 engineers when I started in 2021, eventually growing to 18 near release), I was able to pick and choose systems to work on and as such landed many fingers in many pies. This breadth of knowledge was recognised by production & senior leadership during the final polish stage, where I was given additional responsibilities and prioritised for A-class bugs & blockers due to consistent quick work and excellent debugging abilities. Ironically I still haven’t mastered the controller layout of the PS5, so I’m also voted “most likely to fail a QTE”.

Personal Projects

NAVIS

2021 – Solo project
Unity

Sushi Roll

2022 – Group Project
Unity

Read More

University Projects

Broken World

2021 – Group Project
Unity

I Need Space

2020 – Solo Project
Unity

Read More

Recommendations

Hugo Bailey is a programmer who could light up any room and bring together any team. On top of this, he manages to take on a massive workload and will soak up every area of the project he is working on. Hugo goes beyond what I would expect from him and does it very well. He is frequently complimented on the support and help he gives others and it is easy to see why. Hugo loves his craft and gives his all to any task put in front of him. A true gem and a must-hire.

Mark Storey, Engineering Lead @ Ballistic Moon
Lifted from LinkedIn

Hugo is one of the most helpful, empathetic individuals I have had the pleasure to work beside. He has a lot of patience and is willing to help and give advice to those who need it. Hardworking, attentive, and has the drive to see to see tasks complete on time. Hugo has never shy’d away from large tasks and will put time aside to help myself and others whilst managing their workflow effectively. Any team that has Hugo will have obtained a strong, dedicated individual with huge amounts of passion for the industry.

Corbin Jacobs, QA Tester @ Ballistic Moon
Lifted from LinkedIn

Working with Hugo over the past two years has been an absolute delight. Starting off as a Junior at Ballistic Moon, Hugo has far exceeded expectations in every aspect of his role. He has tackled complex technical challenges, such as developing sophisticated systems for data integration, and has gained a deep understanding of various Unreal Engine pipelines. His expertise has been invaluable in supporting other disciplines, including design, audio, and animation, throughout the project.

Jack Isaacs, Senior UI Engineer @ Ballistic Moon
Lifted from LinkedIn