Neil Koo

Neil Koo

Senior Gameplay Programmer

Montréal, QC · [email protected] · LinkedIn

Download résumé (PDF)

Senior gameplay programmer with 10+ years of shipping games on PC, console, and mobile, mostly gameplay systems and AI. Strongest at debugging: tracking down the intermittent bugs that hold a team up and fixing the actual cause. Comfortable owning a system end to end and helping newer programmers get their work shipped. Most recently shipped Rewind 99 1.0 (Unreal Engine 5) at Gunmetal Games.

Experience

Gunmetal Games
Senior Gameplay Programmer (Contract) Apr 2026 – Present

Rewind 99 (Unreal Engine 5), shipped 1.0 on Steam in Aug 2026

  • Ported core gameplay systems (checkout, rental and rewind stations, kiosks, store interactions) from the original Blueprint code to a new Unreal Engine 5.7 / AngelScript / ECS stack, preserved their existing behaviour, and shipped them in the 1.0 release in August 2026.
  • Built the project’s automated testing: a Gauntlet-to-AngelScript bridge, an in-game AutoTest suite, save/load parity checks, and unattended soak runs, all running in Buildkite CI and on packaged builds. The suite is now over 4,000 tests.
  • Cut ~10.5 s from every editor boot (source-control status 6.5 s → 0.8 s; test populator 4.9 s → 0.07 s) and reduced the per-frame cost of 150 dormant NPCs from 7.4 ms to 4.0 ms. Measured every change with before/after profiling runs.
  • Fixed compiler and cook-invalidation bugs in the engine fork so AngelScript StaticJIT is now on by default, saving ~0.65 ms/frame of script time (5–6% of game-thread time).
  • Developed NPC combat and crowd behaviour (weapon use, dropping aggro when out of sight) and fixed NPCs getting stuck in the checkout queue, after a load, and when leaving.
  • Wrote GitLink, an open-source Git source-control plugin for Unreal Engine that runs in-process on libgit2, with LFS file locking: github.com/CommitAndChill/GitLink.
  • Worked with AI coding agents (Claude Code): wrote the specs and plans, had the agents implement changes and write tests, and required every change to pass the test suite, measurement, and code review.
Invoke Studios Aug 2019 – Oct 2024
Senior Gameplay Programmer Nov 2022 – Oct 2024
Gameplay Programmer Aug 2019 – Nov 2022

WARLOCK: Dungeons & Dragons

  • Guided a newer team through adapting and extending tech from a previous project, so the playable prototype could be delivered on a tight schedule.
  • Debugged and stabilized gameplay systems through prototype and vertical slice.
  • Developed AI behaviour and core gameplay systems in Unreal Engine 5 (C++ and Blueprints).
  • Built reusable gameplay systems that later production work was built on, and reviewed code to keep it consistent with team conventions.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

  • Built the AI, progression, and encounter logic for major boss fights, including Hagedorn, Icewind, and the Lich, working with the designers.
  • Developed the core AI aggro behaviour using GOAP (goal-oriented action planning).
  • Built the skill tree by integrating a progression system and its UI.
  • Created and maintained an extensible gameplay debugger that connected to live gameplay systems.
  • Fixed major game-breaking bugs, including enemies that stopped responding or rubberbanded.
LuckyHammers
Programmer Dec 2017 – Jul 2019

Terraforming Mars, Carcassonne, Onitama (C# / Unity)

  • Developed and shipped Terraforming Mars for Asmodee and supported it after launch; took Onitama through launch; shipped DLC and updates for Carcassonne. At times the only programmer on a live game.
  • Brought onto other projects as the primary debugger for major bugs.

Earlier roles

  • Compulsion Games Sep 2017 – Nov 2017 We Happy Few (UE4): gameplay features in C++ and Blueprints.
  • Hibernum Créations Sep 2016 – Aug 2017 Dice With Buddies, Yahtzee, Dice With Ellen (C# / Unity): shipped features on tight deadlines, one of 4 code reviewers picked by the client, then moved up to the Production Tools team and maintained the Python build pipeline.
  • Real Programming 4 Kids Jun 2014 – Aug 2016 Taught video game programming (C++, C#, Unity) to students aged 10–18 in small classes.
  • Skopworks Inc. Dec 2011 – Jul 2015 2LoC engine, Tricky Block: All Mixed Up! (iOS): co-developed an in-house engine largely from scratch (including a custom STL library), ported it to iOS in Objective-C++, and shipped Tricky Block on it.

Skills

Languages
C++ · AngelScript · C# · Python · Blueprints · PowerShell
Engines & Tools
Unreal Engine 5 (custom source builds) · Unity · Jolt Physics · EnTT / ECS · Gauntlet · Buildkite · Unreal Insights · libgit2 · Git · Perforce · Rider · Visual Studio · JIRA · CMake
Workflow
AI-assisted development (Claude Code) · automated testing and CI · code review

Education

B.IT (Honours) — University of Ontario Institute of Technology 2008 – 2012

Specialization in Game Development & Entrepreneurship; Graduated with Distinction.